Talked to some people after the game and the word is Jill Ellis was at the Red Stars / WNY game at Toyota Park.
Gulati was also at the Fire match earlier, could very possibly have been at the Res Stars game as well.
Well, I hope that Jill Ellis gets to see what a gem Julie Johnston is. She defends, she passes, she scores. The Red Stars are so lucky to have drafted her. I have only seen one other person that can switch the ball from one side of the field to another on a dime like Julie Johnston does and his name is Hristo Stoichkov who played for the Fire some 10 years ago or so.
I'm definitely impressed with the rookies as well! I knew they were going to be good - CHI had one of the best, if not THE best - draft of the nine teams, but it's always a pleasure to see rookies adjust to the pro game so nicely. I guess a team-first mentality like what's present in CHI is probably one of the best environments for a recent grad to mature as a player.
Current Power Rankings: 1.) Seattle Reign 2.) Chicago Red Stars 3.) Portland Thorns (by default because they have 4 points, but they don't look like a Top 3 team) 4.) WNY Flash 5.) Washington Spirit (would be #4, but WNY beat them head-to-head last week) 6.) Sky Blue (the teams above them on this list have more points, but Sky Blue is still overachieving so far) 7.) FCKC 8.) Houston Dash 9.) Boston Breakers
Well Fishlock isnt vertically challenged cause she can leap. Be interesting to see whether Fishlock or Dunn can jump higher.
There's also a study that's been done of GK psychology. In general, GKs would much rather dive for a ball and have it scored down the middle than stay in the middle and have it go in the corner. And, the higher percentage pk shot is down the middle. I don't know where that study went, I think I used to have it.
OK Wash-KC I thought Lindsay was the key...she got people the ball in good places and allowed them to play Matheson out wide. I think KC is playing 4-4-2 to help with the transition when Hagen arrives. They should go back to a 5-1 and worry about Hagen when she gets here. I thought Harris played well as did A-Rod Chi-WNY Chicago is fun to watch even tho I dont really love the style they play. Hoy reminds me of Morgan in that she always seems to be going at full speed. Chalupny and DiBernardo paired better than I thought they would. Johnston is an old pro trapped in a young body. I know they werent but WNY really seemed to be playing for a tie. First they seemed content with 0-0 then turned it up a notch to try to get 1-1. Odd performance. Port-SB Schmidt had a nice game as did Johnson. Portland connected a lot more passes but missed some easy shots. No excuse to miss a PK in injury time. No excuse to not put it on frame.
One question about Sky Blue. Why is Monica Ocampo getting only 10 minutes or so per game? She was, in my opinion, one of the 3 or 4 best forwards in the league last year.
I have to say I was very disappointed by the performances of both Kerr and Zerboni yesterday. Neither one played well at all. Kerr was partly to blame for letting Johnston get open to score, and Zerboni was just not effective at all. I'm not surprised she got pulled. I pity anyone who had Mautz on their team this week. 3 fouls and a booking will hurt big time.
Fitness probably. Same thing happen last year and this year she came in camp late so you can deduce there may be some lack of fitness going on. I hope she see some minutes soon because Hayes have been ineffective as a lone striker.
I really think this long break will benefit WNY. Their preseason was really unusual with all the late signings and what not. In the last two games, you could tell they just wanted to get it over with. Lloyd by her standards have been un impressive and looked tired at times. It'll be interesting to see how they all play once Wambach is on the pitch.
Between the grainy picture and many of the Red Stars players wearing black cleats, the stream definitely had a 1990s feel to it. Funny how neon-colored cleats are so ubiquitous now, plain black actually stands out.
Houston lineup: McLeod, Hein, Romero, Washington, Ohale, Richardson, Jackson, Edwards, McCarty, Masar, Ochs Houston replaces the injured Bock and Ohai with Richardson and McCarty. Boston lineup: Naeher, Avant, Whitehill, Jones, King, Lohman, Kyle, Sanderson, O'Reilly, Pathman, De Vanna DeVanna for Schoepfer is the only change for Boston.
Hope Devanna has a good game today as I have her in my FL. I saw good things from the Boston team last week and I'm hoping they can keep that up.
Anthem, teams on field, honor guard at the 25 yard line. Harvard Stadium far bowl is utterly empty, with about 30 fans standing up along the track sideboards. Awesome: Boston bench players have to climb over the sideboard, as in ice hockey. Harvard be harvarding
[BOS-HOU] home team first 0'55" 1-0 De Vanna surges to circle back left, diagonal pass across centerline to 25 yard line right hash finds #9(c) O'Reilly not-so-fast but behind the 2 CBs Washington and Ohale. The CBs catch up and sandwich her, O'Reilly stumbles through box top arc left ... weak left foot tap, McLeod sprawls flat right and blocks ball at the gridiron goallie ~ 8m -- but does not gather, ball sits loose! O'Reilly follows first, taps into empty net.
Their supporters sound great though . I'm trying to be positive about these football fields it's not like we Seattle fans have much to be proud about.