Freedom overtakes Boston with win

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Jul 30, 2009

[WPS] Abby Wambach's second-half goal gave the Washington Freedom a 1-0 win over the visiting Boston Breakers that propelled it into third place ahead of the Breakers and eliminated last-place FC Gold Pride from playoff contention.

Wambach took a through ball from Lisa De Vanna, beat a defender and shot the ball past goalie Ali Lipsher in the 73rd minute to break the deadlock with her team-leading sixth goal of the year. It snapped Boston's shutout streak at 396 minutes.

Boston played the last 85 minutes of the game with 10 players after defender Alex Scott was shown red for a foul on Sonia Bompastor.

The game marked the return of Breakers star Kelly Smith after an absence of more than three weeks with a nagging knee injury. She came on as a second-half sub and nearly equalized in stoppage time when she forced goalkeeper Erin McLeod into a fine save.

Standings
TEAM W L T GF GA P
Los Angeles 11 2 5 24 6 38
-----------------------------------
St. Louis 8 6 3 15 14 27
Washington 7 6 5 27 28 26
Boston 7 7 4 17 17 25
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Sky Blue FC 6 7 5 16 17 23
Chicago 4 9 5 15 22 17
FC Gold Pride 3 9 5 13 23 14

Leading Scorers:
Marta (Los Angeles) 9
Camille Abily (Los Angeles) 8
Cristiane (Chicago) 6
Christine Sinclair (FC Gold Pride) 6
Abby Wambach (Washington) 6
Kelly Smith (Boston) 5
Natasha Kai (Sky Blue FC) 5
Lisa De Vanna (Washington) 5
Eniola Aluko (St. Louis) 5
Sonia Bompastor (Washington) 4

Schedule:
Saturday, August 1
FC Gold Pride vs. Washington, 6 pm ET
Saint Louis vs. Boston, 8 pm ET
Sunday, August 2
Chicago vs. Los Angeles, 6 pm ET (FSC)
Wednesday, August 5
Sky Blue FC vs. FC Gold Pride, 7 pm ET
Saint Louis vs. Chicago, 8 pm ET
Saturday, August 8
Washington vs. Sky Blue FC, 7 pm ET
Sunday, August 9
Boston vs. Los Angeles, 6 pm ET (FSC)
FC Gold Pride vs. Saint Louis, 8 pm ET

Tiebreakers:
Two-way tie:
1) Head-to-Head record
2) Head-to-Head goal differential
3) Overall goal differential
4) Overall goals scored
5) Away points
6) Away goal differential
7) Away goals scored
8) Coin flip

Three or more teams tied:
1) Head-to-head. The first level is head-to-head in points-per-game against the other teams. If this results in a tie, then the next level is goal differential in head-to-head competition. If there is an imbalanced head-to-head schedule, then the tiebreaking moves to the second tiebreaker.
2) Overall goal differential
3) Overall goals scored
4) Away points
5) Away goal differential
6) Away goals scored
7) Coin flip