Marta's Sol remains perfect

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Apr 20, 2009

[WPS] Starting her first game of the season, two-time Olympic gold-medalist Aly Wagner set up Brazilian star Marta for the only goal to lead the Los Angeles Sol to a 1-0 win over FC Gold Pride for its third consecutive shutout victory of the season.

In the 47th minute, Wagner chipped a ball over the backline that found Marta running in stride through the 18-yard box. Marta settled the ball down, took a quick touch and placed it past FC Gold Pride keeper Nicole Barnhart.

"Marta made a great run and was in the gap," said Wagner. "I played a ball over the backline into an open space and she did a great job finishing it."

WASHINGTON-BOSTON. The Breakers earned their win of the season to take over second place with a 3-1 win at the struggling Washington Freedom.

Kelly Smith matched Marta with her third of the season, converting a penalty kick after Freedom goalkeeper Briana Scurry fouled Angela Hucles in the box in the 56th minute. Four minutes later, Lori Lindsey evened the score, but Boston broke the game open with two goals in a five-minute span by Canadian Christine Latham and Hucles.

The Freedom has allowed twice as many goals as any team in the league.

"That ball had eyes," said Scurry, who got a finger on Latham's header. "Latham got up well for it. It was like that in the first half too but fortunately we were able to get our heads on the ball. You've got to be careful, you've got to be tight. You've got to have everybody in position at every moment with [Boston] because they have such great attacking weapons. They're going to punish you if you're not careful."
 
CHICAGO-SKY BLUE FC. The Red Stars and Sky Blue FC played to a 0-0 tie in a game marred by rain that make for slippery conditions on the field and kept the crowd down to 5,824 for Chicago's debut at Toyota Park.

Chicago held a 18-7 advantage in shots, but Sky Blue FC goalkeepers Karen Bardsley and Jenni Branam split the shutout -- Sky Blue FC's first of the season -- with Bardsley recording four saves before leaving the game at halftime with back spasms. Branam posted two saves in the second half.

Despite the scoreless tie at home, Red Stars coach Emma Hayes liked the way the Red Stars attacked.

"Our game plan was to use as much width as we can," she said. "We've been struggling of late to create opportunities out wide.  I thought we did a great job of that.  The girls executed the game plan and the performance was considerably better than the last two games."

Results:
April 18 in Boyds, Md.
Washington 1 Boston 3. Goals: Lindsey (Moros) 60; Smith pen. 56, Latham 1 (Scott) 76, Hucles 81.
Boston -- Luckenbill, Mitts, LePeilbet, Weber, Scott, Moore (Bishop, 61), Hucles, Lilly, Smith, Schmedes (Tomecka, 84), Rodriguez (Latham, 68).
Washington -- Scurry, Janss (Gilbeau, 45), Whitehill, Sauerbrunn, Singer, Lindsey, Sawa, Long (Moros, 45), Bompastor, Wambach, De Vanna (Zimmeck, 84).
Yellow card: Boston - Smith 70.
Referee: Daniel Fitzgerald.
Att.: 4,232
April 19 in Carson, Calif.
Los Angeles Sol 1 FC Gold Pride 0. Goal: Marta (Wagner) 47.
Los Angeles - LeBlanc, Falk, Bock, Cox, Makoski, Wagner (Sari, 82) , Boxx, Miyama, Abily (Larkin, 92), Marta, Welsh (Bogus, 67).
FC Gold Pride - Barnhart, Buehler, Robinson (Graczyk, 57), Wilson, Dew (Erika, 15) , DiMartino, Osborne, Formiga, Weimer (Milbrett, 67), Sinclair, Arakawa.
Yellow Card: Los Angeles - Wagner 10.
Referee: Veronica Brito.
Att.: 6,119.
April 19 in Bridgeview, Ill.
Chicago Red Stars 0 Sky Blue FC 0.
Chicago - Jonsson, Dalmy, Dieke, Krzysik, Klein (Oakes, 76), Lloyd, Igwe, Rapinoe, Tarpley, Cristiane (Masar, 63), Carney.
Sky Blue FC - Bardsley (Branam, 45), Sitch, Dowling, Asante, Schnur, White, Buczkowski, Parker (Kai, 62), McCallum (Averbuch, 85), O'Reilly, Walsh.
Yellow Cards: Chicago Red Stars - Masar 78; Sky Blue FC - Sitch 26, Schnur 60.
Referee: Jennifer Bennett.
Att.: 5,824.

Standings:
TEAM W L T GF GA P
Los Angeles 3 0 0 5 0 9
Boston 2 1 0 6 3 6
Chicago 1 0 2 2 1 5
FC Gold Pride 1 1 1 3 3 4
Sky Blue FC 0 1 2 1 3 2
Washington 0 2 1 2 6 1
St. Louis 0 2 0 0 3 0

Leading Scorers:
Marta (Los Angeles) 3
Kelly Smith (Boston) 3
Lindsay Tarpley (Chicago) 2

Schedule:
Saturday, April 25
Saint Louis vs. Los Angeles (in St. Louis), 4:00 pm ET
Chicago vs. Boston, 8:30 pm ET
Sunday, April 26
FC Gold Pride vs. Washington, 6 pm ET (TV: Fox Soccer Channel)