Gee this is a first for me... The Boston Breakers website shows +3 points in the standings for the good guys (1-0 Courage over Boston, woohoo!)... The scoring summary is something else... Scoring Summary: CAR -- Erin Baxter 1 (Brooke O'Hanley 2) 35 Hmm... Should be interesting to hear how this one turned out the way it did. Yeah Courage!
The rain held off... but still wreaked havoc on the Turf... ball went one way after another..and perhaps the wind was playing a 12th man factor, too. So all in all 13 entities on the field... Except when Carolina scored- there were only 21 bodies-- Boston had not subbed in Gulbrandsen for Aldama- who left the field with what appears to be a serious (?) injury. 3 yellows in the match- guess it's better than Boston's last- 3 reds. Same ratio too: 2 for Carolina (Prinz and Fotop) and 1 for Boston (O'Grady). Carolina appeared to be a half-step behind when Boston attacked. They did well shutting down Mugneret-Beghe and Meinert- at times. Lots of double teaming. LeBlanc came up big for Boston... some key saves that would have qualified her for Player of the Match. Carolina appeared to be tired, slow at times.. Again, I believe weather played a big ole factor in this one... and perhaps Boston's 2 week lay off was a factor.... not withstanding the absence of Hucles (red card suspsension) and Aldama's costly absence. Game was reffed well... not sure either team will have much to complain about, but I could be wrong. 6265 for attendance.. nice.. Special Olympics night at Nickerson Not the best game... by any means.... hopefully 8/06 will bring better weather, attendance, and play.
Thanks for the details! The tiredness factor could have been due to the all-star game for Lehn, Prinz, Fotop, TR, and Bre. (Did I get that right?). And no rest for the weary with two more road games in the next week.
Heeligan- You definitely hit it on the head... tiredness was a factor for many of the Courage players. Lehn seemed to provide more of a spark than in the past (from what I recall- then again, the last time Carolina was at Boston was 8 June 2002 I believe, so 1 year 13 days can change a lot). Prinz had some dangerous runs.. her speed stood out on a slow night- rain, fatigue, field. On the flip side- Lilly had at times (80 % or so.. maybe more, maybe less) an absolute True Kristine Lilly nights and shredded Carolina's defense. Late in the 2nd half she had some give and gos on the right side... very very nice. Think they were with Meinert, but I was so far away, I couldn't see. She was also able to sneak into the center of the field and wreak havoc.. perhaps not what you Carolina folks want to hear, but you gotta give credit to brilliant players. Back to tiredness- Bre definitely seemed to be feeling it, as did others on D.... I want to say also TR. It seemed that Carolina was spending another day in Boston..so perhaps some rest will occur, especially given the downpour that is occurring now. Players on both sides seemed quite tired of the weather..... well.. make that both organizations.... indeed some funny wonderings occurred Carolina also seemed to have a decent sized grouping in the stands.
Lilly is great and has always been hard to stop. Those of us who are dual Carolina fans (UNC as well as the Courage) are proud of her even when it hurts.
Maybe the Courage were tired because they only used one sub. Anybody have any idea what that was all about? Carolina Courage -- Kristin Luckenbill, Staci Burt, Breanna Boyd, Nel Fettig, Erin Baxter, Tiffany Roberts, Unni Lehn, Brooke O'Hanley, Venus James (Danielle Slaton 46), Danielle Fotopoulos, Birgit Prinz.
Hats off to Jay Entlich. This season started off worse than anybody could have imagined, and now they're right in the hunt for the playoffs. Truthfully, they're more enjoyable to watch now that the offense works all over the field, not just straight up the middle or over the top. So, kudos to the new guy for figuring out how to use the talent he has.
WOOHOO! We're in sixth place, we're in sixth place!! The sky is NOT falling, the sky is NOT falling. WOOHOO!