[SEA-CHI] Barnes for Oyster! Available substitutes tonight are Addo, Andrews, Bauer, Betos, Nielsen, Spencer, and Yanez #LetItReign #SEAvCHI pic.twitter.com/EhhIzWBUxj— Seattle Reign FC (@reignfc) May 20, 2018 Business Trip#SEAvCHI pic.twitter.com/9lV6E8X6SQ— Chicago Red Stars (@chicagoredstars) May 20, 2018 Seattle: Q Oyster / OUT Averbuch J.Johnson Chicago: Q none / OUT DiBernardo McCaffrey Short
07' 0-0 Rapinoe passes to Taylor clean through box top right post. Taylor veers left to 12m left post, muffed left instep shot has neither pace nor placement, skitters softly directly to Naeher. Shiba says 'mlem'.
Note for next week: Lavelle could come off the injury list! Jim Gabarra said post game that Rose Lavelle could suit up on Wednesday. #NWSL— Jordan Small (@jols98) May 20, 2018
90+2' (of +3') 0-0 Half-chances and scrambles in both boxes, but mostly we stopped each other. FT 0-0. Lack of edge. Both GKs were way too good for the wistful fluff that reached them. Lack of fans, too
Well, of course, when I predict NC to win by 1-0, they decide to win by 2-1. But at Least Lloyd's goal let me have the goal difference right. (Awful week for my overall predictions, anyway! )
Regarding the Seattle/Chicago game, it proved that both Rapinoe and Kerr are mortal. Gilliland and Huerta stuck to Rapinoe like fly-paper most of the game. Chicago couldn't get the ball to Kerr often -- and Seattle's back line kept her away from the goal. Fishlock for Seattle seems prone to minor injury these days -- not as durable as she has been in past years. Jasmyn Spencer very impressive for Seattle in her 20 minutes on the field -- although recalling past seasons she usually has problems getting shots on goal. Player of the Match? Hard to say. The center backs of both teams were equal to the task. Maybe Naughton for Chicago? Or Gordon of Chicago? I've complained often that Chicago's offense underperforms. That seems to be true this year, as well as in the past. Maybe Huerta should move into attacking mid-field, the number 10, role? She has played that a little bit and seems good at it.
My game report from NC at Sky Blue. I had fun chatting with @LucyFearsTheMorningStar and meeting some of the Cloud 9 crew. I also met Mike and his family who came down from Rochester. Mike’s daughter has the same birthday as Sabrina D’Angelo; they were, of course, disappointed that D’Angelo was not there. Over the years, they have won some of the Flash jersey raffles, including Adriana Martin and Liz Eddy. From very early in the day, it rained and rained and rained and rained and rained. Fans stayed sheltered underneath the stands even during the pre-game warm ups. Wonderfully, the rain stopped for the game. The field was in excellent shape, aside from its blotchy coloring. In the second half, the temperatures dropped a bit and the surface was more slippery than the first half. Fog appeared as well – it was very hard to distinguish players who were on the far side of the field. The lights were reflected back up and diffused like car lights do when driving in a fog. I enjoyed the battle between McCaskill and Hinkle in front of us during the first half. If one didn’t know better, one might have thought that Hinkle was the outside forward and McCaskill was the right fullback from where most of the confrontations took place. After Sully’s fair charge bump that left McCaskill on the ground, I remembered something Riley said about her and I decided that I would refer to her as Denise (The108 Pound Beast) O’Sullivan. During the game, I was bemoaning how nearly all free kick shots were going over the goal. The pros practice these all the time – in my mind, it should be like taking a basketball free throw – they should be able to hit either top ¼ of the goal every time. Carly Lloyd made my point in stoppage time. When her shot went in I thought: “That is how you do it.” As further proof that gambling can have a negative impact on sports. I actually felt kind of happy when Lloyd’s shot went in because it made my game prediction score exactly right.......... P.S. Jill Ellis was at the game. Before it started she was up in the stands and crossed through the empty seats in front of me to make her way back to the press box.