Continuing the curse of some storm god, another week of nice weather led into a brutally sudden switch in winds and temperature for the Freedom’s game against the Boston Breakers on Saturday. There were high winds throughout the day, tempered with a nice dose of sunshine in a clear blue sky. But as the game kicked off at 7, dark clouds began gathering to the west, so that the sun disappeared behind them in an early sunset that only predicted the cold to come. A somewhat sparse opening audience filled out as the game got underway, but numbers began to drop as spectators fled for warmer climes. Besides the stalwart Bravehearts, the fans who remained could be seen huddled under massive blankets.
The game itself got off to a slightly different start from last week’s crushingly efficient lineup, as both Lisa De Vanna and Homare Sawa were away for the AFC Asian Cup tournament, for national duty with Australia and Japan’s teams, respectively. Thus deprived of this season’s leading goal scorer (Sawa with 2) and second goal scorer (De Vanna with 1, tied with Sonia Bompastor), would this match be a rehash of the first time Boston played at the Soccerplex and dominated the field with 2 early goals that was barely matched with a late 1 goal by the Freedom?
Hopefully not, as the lineup and synergy has certainly solidified over the last few games. Instead, the wildcard this game were the increasing winds. At one point a gust could be seen blowing a cloud of dirt across the field, and the temperature was increasingly cold. Several lofted balls by both teams were caught by the wind, including a shot on goal by the Breakers that literally curved back away from Erin McLeod into a better striking position directly in front of the goal! Luckily Erin was able to contain that dangerous placement as no one could really predict where it was going.
The first half definitely was dominated by the Freedom, but seemed to lack the spark of the last game. Play remained largely in the center of the field, until near the end of the half. Boston had a shot that Erin McLeod batted out of the way, and then a dangerous series of crosses fluttered in front of the Freedom goal as the half drew to a close, but no shot materialized as players from both squads rushed back and forth.
The second half was even windier, and colder. One break around Erin McLeod seemed to be destined for a goal, but the Breakers slowly tried to dribble into position in the mix, giving time for Erin to recenter and shut it down. Two yellow cards were given to the Breakers after some rough tackles, and Lene Mykjåland went out for Brittany Bock’s first appearance of the season in the 78th, as Brittany has been recovering from injury. Christie Welsh had come on for Jill Gilbeau in the 61st. That seemed to be all the subs Coach Gabarra planned on using for this game, until Abby Wambach’s rush towards the goal at the very end of the game led to her colliding with the Breaker’s keeper, and while they both fell to the floor, Abby took a cleat in her face, leaving her face down with a broken and bloody nose. Beverly Goebel was the last minute replacement after Abby walked off the field after being tended to and was unable to return, in the 91st.
So a few scary moments, but not many exciting ones. One item of note is with Becky Sauerbrunn’s completion of this game, she is now the only WPS player to have played every regular minute since the league started last year!
