[NJ-NC] 27' 0-0 Dahlkemper right ck, outswings way out to 22m arc left. O'Sullivan collects, passes to Hamilton at 12m box left. Hatch steps past the line too soon (behind Freeman at 8m 6-left), Hamilton scoops a cross to 7m 1/3 left, Hatch jumps straight up and twist-heads past Casey's dive, into center back low. No goal, Hatch offside. 27' 0-1 Off the fk/gk restart, Casey sails it to circle half-front left, Hamilton jump-heads it back upfield -- over Sky Blue's (too-)high backline way up at circle back. Hatch outpounces Richardson and O'Hara, dribbles through box top arc left to 8m 4-left, shoots left instep across mouth past Casey's left hand, bounces into back right 1/5 high. Wow, don't let your entire trap line get beat by one free header. 27' - Not to be denied, @ash_hatch33 scores her 6th goal of the season to give @TheNCCourage a 1-0 lead. #NJvNC pic.twitter.com/cLi44QtN0W— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) September 24, 2017 The other problem was that Sky Blue's line wasn't uniformly high: Freeman was 2m behind the other 3, and that let Hatch accelerate freely to get big separation before she crossed Freeman's line. Even O'Hara doesn't have the speed to overtake Hatch.
41' 0-1 S.Mewis passes up wide right off the edge of the camera -- which does not pan Camera finally pans -- to T.Smith down in a heap at arc top wide right, holding her right knee and pinching her nose -- to stop tears. Ball still in play, cleared up NJ's left touch -- into touch. Stoppage. 42' 0-1 Trainer flexes T.Smith's right leg. Smith walks off field unassisted -- whew? NJ resume with 10 ... 44'? 0-1 T.Smith returns, seems to be running OK. +2'. Was pain from an impact, not from something tearing? 45+2' (of +2') 0-1 Tiernan receives at 35m wide left, T.Smith steps up to her. Backpass to Richardson, she tries to pass inside-out to Tiernan backpedaling to left touch -- but underweights it. T.Smith collects at own 30m right touch, dribbles up wide right past midfield -- sees Stanton curling over to press, does her toe-poke-and-turbo-chase speed move up wide right and motors past Stanton to 30m, as Stanton just concedes that race and pulls up. Freeman slides over to arc top mid-right, T.Smith eschews the quick pass to Hamilton cutting left-to-right past spot, cuts inside to 19m right post. Left foot shot blocked by Freeman, way out to circle back right touch. OK, Smith can still run: she did that same move against Ali Riley in the 2nd New Zealand friendly. It's a pretty good trick! HT 0-1.
75' 1-1 O'Hara fk at 35m box right, to 15m right post, S.Mewis clears it to circle top right. Richardson volleys it back high toward spot, Rowland comes out -- Kerr jumps left-to-right across Rowland, glance-heads(?) down to 16m right post as Rowland's momentum carries her well past. Rodríguez out-pounces Erceg from box top, ankle-duels her to 8m right post, finally pokes a shot past Dahlkemper, into back right low, with Rowland still out at 9m. 75' - Following pressure by @samkerr1 off the freekick, it's @SkyBlueFC's @raque_rocky with the goal to tie the game at 1-1. #NJvNC pic.twitter.com/YxuangW9gv— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) September 24, 2017 FT 1-1. North Carolina's magic number to clinch the Shield remains at 2 pts over Portland, with 1+1 matches left, while Portland has 1 match left. North Carolina trails Portland in GD, so if they take only 1 pt from 2 matches and Portland wins to catch them on 47 pts, then Portland's GD lead will widen, and they get the Shield.
[SEA-KC] 23' 0-1 Moros stands at 31m left touch, dinks a pass right that just misses Kelly's foot -- ball skips to Leroux at 26m box left, she turns centerward and dribbles at half-speed to 24m arc left. Groom make a diagonal cut from arc top center toward left post past Pickett not leaning and McNabb's back, Leroux rolls a vertical through-ball past arc left between McNabb and Corsie. Groom catches up to ball at 8m 5-left, one-touch left instep shot across mouth beats L.Williams under her left hand, into back right low. Vertical pass to a diagonal cut as many in-state college teams nod 23' - @sydneyleroux with a beautiful pass to @SheaGroom who scores to give @FCKansasCity a 1-0 lead. #SEAvKC pic.twitter.com/KpRV7SWagK— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) September 25, 2017 45+2' (of +1') 0-1 LaBonta counters alone to 24m wide right, early inswinging cross is too high and far for Kelly running 1-v-2 up the 1/3 left lane. HT 0-1. Seattle's haphazard offense sent in some low crosses, none converted, and some through-balls, none as good as Leroux's.
51' 0-1 Nairn switches from circle top to Stott at 30m box right. Stott dribbles to 19m mid-right, one stepover shakes Kelly to create a tiny pocket. Stott flicks left to Kawasumi at 18m 6-right, continues her own vertical run splitting Moros and Kelly. Kawasumi pokes a diagonal pass to 8m 7-right, Stott runs on and shoots one-touch awkward right foottop rising -- over Barnhart's left glove, off crossbar, bounces up and over. 51' - What a shot by @ReignFC's @stotty_13, who blasts a 🚀 from close range that rattles the cross bar. #SEAvKC pic.twitter.com/LcDa49GoVt— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) September 25, 2017
57' 0-1 RB Stott is so far up in attack that Seattle are essentiallly in a 3-back. Leroux lurks in the hole at Seattle's RB, LaBonta chips over the top to 12m box left. Corsie scrambles back to challenge, Leroux cuts inside to 16m mid-left, shoots right instep two-skipper to left post low, L.Williams dives and blocks but can't hang on -- ball rolls over endline left. 57' - Some nice work by @sydneyleroux to get a shot off and earn the cornerkick for @FCKansasCity. #SEAvKC pic.twitter.com/FO3oN763Yh— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) September 25, 2017 61' 0-1 Seattle subs in (1 of 3) #33 Katlyn Johnson for #2 Christine Nairn. Here she comes to save the daaaaaay -- 65' 0-1 Kansas City subs in (1 of 3) #13 Brittany Kolmel for #10 Yael Averbuch. She was B.Taylor until the excused absence last week
75' 0-1 Seattle subs in (2 of 3) #17 Beverly Yanez for #9 Merritt Mathias. Seattle now looks like: Kawasumi, Johnson, Rapinoe Utsugi, Yanez, Fishlock, Stott <= yes, she's really up this high Pickett, McNabb, Corsie 78' 0-1 Seattle subs in (3 of 3) #7 Elli Reed for #13 Rebekah Stott. Reed's swan song(?), before she retires at the end of this season. She seems to be DM-ish in a diamond midfield? 81' 0-1 Kansas City subs in (2 of 3) #88 Alexa Newfield for #44 Maegan Kelly. Attendance 4,901!
82' 0-1 Wow, Seattle have gone to Pickett/Corsie/McNabb across the back. 83' 0-1 Rapinoe pass to K.Johnson at box top center, she spins adroitly, square pass left to Kawasumi at arc left. Return pass to K.Johnson at arc tangent right, she still can't get a one-touch shot off -- spins ccw, pass right to Reed. One-touch cross toward 3m left post, just over Yanez diving into goal. 84' 0-1 KC left throw-in deep in their own end, up wide left, reaches Leroux at ~25m box left. Square pass right to Newfield, diagonal pass to Groom through box top mid-right to 15m, quick shot rises over bar high.
88' 0-1 Utsugi slips a pass to Kawasumi at 12m box left. Return pass to 15m left post, Utsugi one-touch left foot shot but her plant foot slips, shot sails high. +3'. 90+1' (of +3') 0-1 Fishlock spins ccw at arc left, pass right to K.Johnson at 15m mid-right -- backheel to Rapinoe. Rapinoe drives to 0.5m box right, fast cross headed away. Fishlock steps to it at arc top center, shoots high. Just not happening. 90+3' (of +3') 0-1 K.Johnson receives at 24m mid-right, dumps it down wide right for Rapinoe, Moros clears it away. 90+3' (of +3') 0-1 Yanez heads ball from arc top to 12m 6-right, Utsugi swings chest-high right roundhouse -- into Sauerbrunn's midsection. Foul. FT 0-1. Seattle is eliminated, Orlando advances to the semis. Also, Seattle's 28-match home scoring streak ends. And Elli Reed rides off into the sunset, probably happier than anybody else in blue. (Actually, she's stuck with the team for 1 more week, at Washington next Sat) Just not enough all year long. Every team had one threat we can't stop and can't match.
A very good defensive showing by KC. Sauerbrunn was outstanding. She should be considered for defensive player of the year (again). Logically, the award should go to somebody from NC or Portland, the two best defensive teams in the league. But I don't think Dahlkemper from NC was better than Sauerbraunn. For Portland maybe Menges was the best, but again not up to the Sauerbrunn standard. I like Sydney Miramontez. Unheralded, undrafted, she has been excellent for KC. And KC has been much better since she joined the team. 3-7-4 before Miramontez, 5-2-2 since Miramontez. Not all or even most due to Miramontez, of course, but she had something to do with it. A highly technical center back (and fullback) who fits KC's possession perfectly. Keep an eye on her in the future. . Shea Groom has looked better during this second half of the season. Groom has a bad reputation from her reckless play, but seems to be in a little better control of herself now. A right forward for the NT? She may deserve a tryout.
For those who wondered, Rapinoe stayed in the locker room during the national anthem. Four KC players (Sauerbrunn, Leroux, Averbuch, Scott) also did not come out onto the field until after the national anthem: .@beckysauerbrunn@Yael_Averbuch @sydneyleroux @MsDScott11 were the four for #FCKC https://t.co/TJ1ww0uwJm— jeffhusted (@jeffhusted) September 25, 2017
Sorry for my ignorance: I remember from the circumstance when Rapinoe had taken a kneel in the past, but why did this happen again yesterday in particular?
I'm trying to think of a tactful answer that won't go too far into politics and get off-thread. Googling "Trump and NFL" should get you enough information. Suffice it to say, that the NWSL players were taking part in a nationwide protest against racial injustice happening mostly in the NFL but also in the WNBA, MLB, and perhaps other sports.
Ok, thank you for being informative and tactful at the same time. I then found enough stuff on the net to clarify what you said. I can understand some subjects are sensitive, but sometimes readers outside USA can have difficulty in understanding what people are talking about, if it's something that didn't really reached out of the States much. I assume there's probably some thread in the political section of BS where people can speak their minds about this subject while remaining on topic (although people knows that I am not againt slightly off-topicness in threads: but I can see this particular subject could lead to very long and heated discussions that probably don't have a place here).
While I thought Sauerbrunn had a phenomenal game last night (she almost single-handedly shut Seattle down), her performance over the entire season has not been up to that same standard. Looking at the whole season, Dahlkemper and Menges have been better. You could even argue that the Johnson/Naughton pairing for Chicago was better.