I did not hear the original comment, but I did hear Dorrance apologize for it and definitely say it was inappropriate.
[NJ-WAS] 43' 1-0 Haracic gk, to circle back left. Hayes outjumps Church, heads upfield to 27m mid-right, starts her own trailing run up centerline. Kerr chases with inside position, shoulder-bumps scrambling Kallman off-balance into a forward shoulder-roll, stays on her own feet and spins ccw to 23m arc right, pokes ball square left past Zadorsky to Hayes. Hayes drags ball past 11m right post, Haracic slides out as Hayes slides down, Haracic's left toes poke ball square right just before -- Hayes's right toes slide into Haracic's lower abdomen. Kerr overruns ball, slides down and quick left-foot dink blocked by Zadorsky back into her knees on ground. Haracic stays down on knees and forehead, all play on, Zadorsky pokes ball away to 8m left post. Hayes calmly collects, touches to 7m left post, shoots left foot rising past 3 into 1/8 left back high. Washington's defense howl in protest, but ref not giving foul either way. Brief stoppage: Haracic regains breath, eventually resumes. Mayhem and carnage. 43' - @SkyBlueFC takes a 1-0 lead as @Hayzee11 and @samkerr1 combine on the play but it is Hayes who gets the goal. #NJvWAS pic.twitter.com/CjRcgqV7OT— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) September 10, 2017 HT 1-0. [BOS-POR] HT 0-0. Some carnage here, too: Leon backpedaled toward box top right to head a served ball, Reynolds lunge-jumped without seeing her -- landed upon Leon's horizontal back -- and then squashed her face-first into the grass, instead of rolling over her. Foul for that.
I suppose Boston will lose in the end -- but they have cleaned Portland's clock in the first 60 minutes. Looking good, Boston. Don't blow it.
Portland has historically struggled in Boston. It hasn't been the best place for them to get results.
[BOS-POR] 72' 0-1 Franch gk, square pass right to Sonnett(?). Sonnett longball past midfield wide right, Sinclair back-heads upfield past circle top right. Raso challenges Oyster to the bounce, gets bodied off from the inside outward, gets past Oyster and backs up on the inside to the ball -- now she's got inside leverage -- cuts inside to 21m arc right. Nutmeg cut behind Oyster, Raso chases to 18m right post -- King overtakes and disrupts, ball squirts out to 15m 6-right. Sinclair, trailing unnoticed through box top mid-right, steps to ball, one-touch right instep across mouth beats A.Smith's dive, bounces into back left low. Raso is such an Energizer bunny 72' - @sincy12 scores her eighth goal of the season to give @ThornsFC a 1-0 lead with a clinical finish. #BOSvPOR pic.twitter.com/WY6I1QEGJP— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) September 10, 2017
[NJ-WAS] 74' 1-0 Sky Blue hoof from the back, promptly lost around circle top -- bad close-up on Kerr spinning in center circle, looking frustrated. Pan out to Dougherty Howard dribbing to 30m mid-right, flick right outstep to Farquharson at 25m wide right. Return pass outside-in to Dougerty Howard, rolls through 12m box right. O'Hara has inside position, slide-tackles over at 9m just inside box right -- follow-through clips Dougherty Howard's right ankle. Dougherty Howard gets up gingerly, resumes. 75' 1-1 Zadorsky right ck to 8m left post, Church outjumps Tiernan and heads perfectly just inside left post 1/2 high, past Sheridan's dive. 75' - It is @whitchurch17 with the goal for @WashSpirit to tie the game at 1-1. #NJvWAS pic.twitter.com/BXKGtcz5tg— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) September 10, 2017 76' 1-1 Sky Blue subs in (2 of 2) #11 Raquel Rodríguez for #73 Madison Tiernan. It was planned from about 74', not punishment for losing her mark
85' 1-2 Dydasco out-dribbles 1 with cutbacks at circle top right touch, taps forward to Farquharson. Pass ahead to Pugh, she comes back away from pressure, switches left to Kallman. Pass to box top left, Richardson wins it and hoofs up wide right. Church(?) backpass to Haracic (with Kerr on her back), return pass to Church, pass to Kallman at midfield left touch. Kallman dribbles up to 35m wide left, square pass right to Agnew at 35m box left. Agnew spins ccw and dribbles to 25m arc left, spins cw away from Richardson lunging in, taps into Pugh's stride running past her. Pugh drifts to 22m arc left, cuts centerward over one halfhearted toe-poke try, to arc top uncontested. Right foot shot past Freeman, against the direction of her run -- into 1/8 left back low hard, past Sheridan's dive. Screened and just late -- I think Pugh totally planned that. Let the Death Star clear the planet, and then pull the shot against the grain through the planet's shadow, so that the -- ground troops are screened 85' - From the top of the box, @WashSpirit's @MalPugh fires a low shot into the lower left corner of the goal for a 2-1 lead. #NJvWAS pic.twitter.com/stJqgVbEUC— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) September 10, 2017 90+2' (of +2') 1-2 Haracic fk at arc right past circle right, headed upfield to circle top right. Richardson heads strongly back the other way, to Kerr at circle top (her) left. Kerr juggles up, 2nd touch roundhouse bicycle -- and O'Hara perfectly times her back-cut past Church, 3m ahead to a high bounce. Haracic races O'Hara to arc tangent left -- O'Hara taps ball past Haracic, chases through arc right, net empty. Church bisects the angle to 6-top right post, O'Hara shoots from 9m 7-right -- off Church's hamstrings, bounces slowly back to O'Hara as Haracici finally gets back. O'Hara stands on ball, 1-v-5, backpass to 13m 3-right. Corboz steps up from arc right, one-touch right instep rising to 1/3 right, Haracic double-blocks ball up and rightward. Ball drops at 6m 7-right, O'Hara golfs a half-volley low across mouth, Haracic sprawl-blocks ball across 3m, Dydasco blasts it out through box top. Pugh collects at own 24m, dribbles to midfield, Farquharson goes to the right corner flag. 92+ - An amazing sequence at the end with multiple saves by @WashSpirit defense to deny @SkyBlueFC. #NJvWAS pic.twitter.com/zKCJtbEnJP— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) September 11, 2017 FT 1-2. Sky Blue is eliminated from the playoffs. Even in last place with all those injuries, Washington has a sting.
After Week 20: pts, sum of remaining opponents' ranks/games remaining ~~~~ clinched semi host ~~~~ 45, 18/3 North Carolina (at 6.NJ; 4.ORL; at 8.HOU?) 43, 07/2 Portland (at 4.ORL; 3.CHI) ~~~~ mathematically alive ~~~~ 36, 10/2 Chicago (at 8.HOU; at 2.POR) 36, 03/2 Orlando (2.POR; at 1.NC) 31, 16/2 Seattle (7.KC; at 9.WAS) ~~~~ eliminated ~~~~ 29, 2 Sky Blue 27, 2 Kansas City 23, 3 Houston 19, 2 Washington 16, 2 Boston
Yes, but the first two teams in the rankings already clinched their targets, so they could rest half of their players. There is a tiny hope for Seattle, but actually I don't think Orlando can lose both games vs Portland and NC. Actually I guess the schedule IS quite kind to Orlando: it would have been much worse for them if they had played those teams while they were still looking for points!
In terms of quality of play, that was one of the worst weeks all season. I've never seen so many players put in such bad performances all at once.
Wow I've missed this place. I wasn't on much of a holiday per se just a self-imposed change of routine. But I should be here more often going forward