The Wait Is Over

NWSL 2002 Matchday Fifteen

The final match day before the Americans, Canadians, and Australians headed off to camp for a set of friendlies opened in Chicago, with the Red Stars looking to finally move ahead of the Olympias at the top of the West standings. LA's platoon had been working fantastically, as both Katelyn Rowland and Sammy Jo Prudhomme accounted for clean sheets since being reunited during the July international break. Today was Rowland's turn between the pipes and it didn't take long for her team to stake her to a lead, as Christen Press turned home an Ashley Hatch cross in the 11th minute. Just before the half, Kristie Mewis blistered Hallie Mace down the left flank before crossing the ball to a wide-open Sofia Huerta, whose tap-in sent the teams to the locker rooms even.

The pace in the second 45 was a LOT slower than the opening stanza, with both teams looking comfortable at ending the match in a draw. With the game in stoppage time, a free kick just behind the center stripe was taken by Shelina Zadorsky. The ball got a surprising gust of wind behind it and went over the head of Katie Naughton. Lynn Williams tracked it down before Alyssa Naeher could get to it and chipped it over her head for the winning goal. With the win, Los Angeles moved four points ahead of Chicago in the Western Conference.

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The second half of Lifetime's doubleheaader came from Orlando, where the battle for second place in the East took place between the Pride and the Atlanta Storm. The charmed couple of Lindsey Horan and Emily Sonnett were on opposite sides for the second time in five weeks, with the funnier of the pair picking up the points on Matchday 11.

Jenn Hildreth: Live from Orlando City Stadium, the NWSL on Lifetime is proud to bring you tonight's match between the second-place Atlanta Storm and third-place Orlando Pride. Good evening, I'm Jenn Hildreth. When these teams met in Atlanta on July 2nd, the Storm got a brace from its new arrival, Canadian international Janine Beckie, to hand the Pride a 3-1 defeat. Tonight, they will look to sweep the season series and move further ahead of Orlando in the chase for a home playoff game on October 1st. As we look at the standings, there seems to be no way anyone is going to catch the Boston Breakers, who sit at 11-1-3 for 36 points and, as a result of the Courage's loss last week, are the first team to punch a ticket into the NWSL playoffs. With me tonight is Kate Markgraf. Kate, what do the two teams need to do to get the W?

Kate Markgraf: The Storm has figured out how to grind out results and they will need to do that again if they want to stay ahead of Orlando in the standings. For the Pride, if the three-headed monster of Lindsey Horan, Alex Morgan, and Ashley Sanchez can find a couple of goals between them, it should be good enough to withstand having a lackluster defense in front of Ashlyn Harris.

The cat-and-mouse game between Tom Sermanni and Rebecca Nolin's sides lasted well into the second half, when Horan and Sanchez linked up on a tally in the 73rd minute. The Storm's move to a 3-4-3 with Kayla Duran replacing Brooke Elby paid off quickly, as Duran and Beckie teamed up for the equalizer on 76 minutes. With the game nearing stoppage time, a foul on Sanchez by Danelle Lindo gave Orlando a free kick 25 yards out and slightly left-of-center. Stephanie Catley and Alex Morgan stood over the ball, with the left-footed forward looking to be the taker, as Catley backed off the ball and appeared to be returning to her position. After taking a few steps away, she came back toward the ball which was struck to her by Morgan, leading to a one-time shot that bent around the shifting defense and landed in the far post corner past a screened Lydia Williams. The 2-1 result took the Pride ahead of Atlanta by a point (28 vs. 27) and within eight points of Boston temporarily. In an unprecedented move by Lifetime, the second half of the Courage-Breakers game was picked up and broadcast.

Dean Linke: Welcome to those of you tuning in on Lifetime. At the half, the Breakers hold a 1-0 lead over North Carolina. I'm Dean Linke. The biggest news of the first half was that Kyah Simon looked to have re-aggravated the hamstring injury that kept her out of the match against Philadelphia two weeks ago and which limited her to a substitute's appearance last week against Portland. Sarah Troccoli was brought on for Simon in the 19th minute and would end up scoring the Breakers' opening goal, deflecting a Sam Mewis shot past Kelsey Wys.

Play in the second half tipped heavily toward the Courage as a second injury substitution needed to be made for Boston, as Morgan Andrews limped off after turning her ankle, resulting in Dani Rhodes coming on for her, with Jessie Fleming shifting to the left and Troccoli sliding back beside Mewis. Steph Labbe stood tall to claim her eighth shutout of the season as the Breakers' unbeaten streak reached double digits and the Eastern Conference leaders extended their gap on second place to 11 points.

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Chicago 1 Los Angeles 2 (Huerta/Mewis; Press/Hatch, Williams/Zadorsky)

North Carolina 0 Boston 1 (Troccoli/Mewis)

Portland 2 Sky Blue 1 (Heath/Corboz, Quinn/Gibbons; Kerr/Killion)

Seattle 0 Vancouver 1 (Rose/Andresssa)

Orlando 2 Atlanta 1 (Horan/Sanchez, Catley/Morgan; Beckie/Duran)

Kansas City 3 Houston 2 (Newfield/Groom, Flynn/Eddy, Labonta pk; Turnbow/Earle, Sullivan/Tennant)

Washington 3 Philadelphia 1 (Jordan/Dougherty Howard, Pugh/Smith, Agnew; Ertz/Pickett)