(July 9, 2011) - In a battle of the league's top two teams, the Philadelphia Independence (7-2-3; 24 pts.) beat Western NY Flash (6-2-2; 20 pts.) by a score of 2-1. The Independence extended its win-streak to five, a franchise record, and now sit in first place with a four-point margin over the Flash in league standings.
Saturday’s game welcomed a packed Widener stadium, 90-degree heat, members of the Spanish press, the WPS Commissioner, and a delegation of United Arab Emirates (UAE) women's soccer players.
Tasha Kai jump-started the game early in the 9’, slipping past a falling defender and capitalizing a shot sent to her by Christina DiMartino. This was Kai's eighth goal of the season and her fourth goal in just two games, continuing her reign as the leading scorer in WPS.
Philadelphia’s offense continued to dominate play for much of the first half, with the Western NY offense rarely pressing the Independence defense. Late in the first half, in the 44’, Sinead Farrelly scored the second goal of the game, giving the Independence a 2-0 lead and picking up her first career WPS goal.
“I think Tasha did most of the work and shot the ball and I was just in the right place at the right time,” said Farrelly. “I was just glad that I was there, and didn’t hit it over. I think the more games I play, the more confident I’m getting on the ball and the more responsibility I feel like I need to take to get the goal and assists.”
While the Independence racked up two goals early on, teammates Nikki Krzysik and Jen Buczkowski each surpassed 1,000 minutes of game-play in the victory over the Flash. “It’s just great overall where the team is, and I’m happy to be able to get over 1,000 minutes,” said Buczkowski. “It’s great for the team to be sitting in first place; to get the win tonight. It’s exciting and I’m glad I could be a part of it, but overall it’s just a great team effort.”
The Flash picked up momentum in the second half, when all-star Canadian forward Christine Sinclair, who recently came back from playing in the World Cup, came off the bench and scored in the 81’ on a controversial PK.
“They’re [Flash] going to be a handful in the playoffs make no mistake about it,” said Independence head coach Paul Riley. “I’m just happy for us. We were 12 points behind them four weeks ago and now we’re four points ahead of them—that’s a 16 point turnaround for us. We couldn’t ask for anything more from the players. ”http://www.womensprosoccer.com/
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