Damb you, Adam.... 'A lot to recover from', said one of the 'rays announcers... Lineups: Us: Zabala, Alfiler, Hall, Tietjen, Benson, Connors, Demko, Fair, Tullock, Clemens, Koleski. Them: Beene, Borgman, Bryan, Brandi, Lindsey, Nanez, Sissi, Pretinha, Venturini-Hoch, Katia, Bell.
Wow, interesting line-up. Five starters out. Well, some were right...Zabala gets the start. Good for her.
fair had a good chance around 12th minute. beene made a huge mistake, but we couldn't quite capitalize on it. charge is playing very aggresive, fighting for every ball
Caution for Pretinha, 9th minute, hard foul on Benson. Vicious, actually. Benny OK, tho. Clemens had an open net but Lindsey clears it out; Borgman and Beene had a collision, but the corner was to no avail. Sissi free kick in 13th minute, Zabala save. Would be nice if Tullock could get her first point tonight. Corner for Charge, 15th minute. Too close to Beene, though and a routine save. The brownout of CN8 ended with the Charge game and we didn't miss anything.
Tullock looks good. The female commentator (sorry, didn't catch her name) is impressed with how well the Charge are playing without five starters. Says they look like they've all been playing together all year. Credit to coach and team.
Charge have settled down a little; 22nd minute. Venturini-Hoch shot too high. Offside call made a millisecond before Hall crashes into Katia and would have probably been a free kick. First corner for San Jose, 26th minute, but Katia sends it wide left. Half hour gone. And the Rays announcers are worried that the team doesn't have the urgency that they need. 32nd minute; corner for SJ, first swing moment - Chastain point blank shot, Zabala bobbles on the line, and saves. Katia forces another corner and blew by Alfiler. Katia shot, Zabala save. It's been in the Charge end for the majority of the game. Fair down; Lindsey clipped her hard, no call, 35th minute.
Halftime... Atlanta-San Diego still at square one. Sissi collides with Clemens, latter goes down, but OK. 40th minute. Left side of the field a bit too cozy for the Rays to run down it. Corner for 'Rays, 44th minute. 2 minutes stoppage. Second corner, Zabala save. Scoreless. A moral victory...
Zabala looks good. Like Judymd said, she's in good position. Tietjen playing well. Usual calmness under pressure.
Charge are playing for the tie... Stats: Shots: 5-2, SJ SOG: 2-0, SJ Fouls: 6-4, SJ Offsides: 2-1, SJ Corners 5-2, SJ Saves: 2-0 Philly
win or lose, moral victory or not, i give these players a great deal of credit. they have played an excellent first half. the game will be decided on a mistake, i think. otherwise, we'll end in another scoreless tie.
Here we go.... Bad sign...Clemens with a big-a$$ kneepad on. Charge have picked it up in the opening couple minutes... And as I say that, near disaster; Bell on Zabala, she fumbles, Bell hits woodwork, no defense around, Venturini-Hoch takes a stab at it, off a charge defender, corner. No dice. Rays are attacking at will now. Charge counterattacking. But the left side has acres of room. 52nd minute, corner by SJ. Goal, Venturini Hoch COMPLETELY unmarked.
Whew, there is some crazy soccer going on here. lol Charge look a little disorganized and Zabala scrambling a little. Bummer about the goal. Maybe Charge will start pressuring now. Had a nice run after the goal was scored.
SJ taking over the game now...57th minute. Sub for the hosts: Eagleson for Bell. Rally killer of a save by Beene, 59th minute. Charge outshot 11-3 (!!) so far. Caution for Tietjen on a handball.
French for Borgman, 62nd minute. What would have been the reason to shut the set off was called for an offside - Katia goal waved off in minute 64.
The woodwork has been kind to the Charge. Third such bounce off it and by rights, it should be 4-0. Sissi's kick. Charge defense is just being run ragged right now. Iverson would have made a difference out there.
Corner, 69th minute, Zabala save, but her throwout bounces off the shoulder of a CbyerRays player into the path of another, with the ensuing shot on goal way high. All SJ has to do now is let the air out of the ball. 73rd minute . And Tietjen's putback to Zabala, who tries to kick it out, lands right in Katia's path and there's almost another goal. This is awful, folks.