Athletica Ended Scoring Drought But Can't Hold Off Freedom

Could Hope Solo lead St. Louis Athletica to their first win of the season?

Most that tuned in to last Sunday's match on FSC when FC Gold Pride took on Washington Freedom would admit it was one of the better women's soccer matches in recent time.

Some would even go as far as to say one of the best soccer matches, men or women, in recent time. If you are on the long list of those that got to see the match, you probably didn't expect this week's Freedom vs Athletica match to live up to the excitement of last week.

Boy were you in for a surprise!

Entering the match Athletica had yet to record a goal or a win in the first three matches of their inaugural season. They were hoping that their first nationally televised match would be the perfect time to end those slumps.

The Freedom were coming off their first win of the season the week before in their FSC thriller vs FC Gold Pride as mentioned above. Athletica v  Freedom was tagged Solo v Wambach, as the pair shared words after Solo called out former Women's National Team head coach Greg Ryan for benching her in a critical World Cup match.

I'm not suggesting there is still bad blood between the two though; the past is the past and I personally think they have made amends. With that being said both Wambach and Solo are very competitive so everyone was aware it was going to be a battle.

My thought was if Solo could stop Wambach, Athletica would win. I was not prepared for the skill shown by the rest of the Freedom's offense. Enough rambling, here's the starting line ups and a break down of the match.

Athletica Starting Lineup:

#1 Solo
#21 Francielle	#8 Ellertson	#6 McNeil	#12 Weber
#10 Daniela	#17 Chalupny	#7 Stoia	#11 Woznuk
	#14 Tancredi	#9 Aluko

Freedom Starting Lineup:

#8 Bompaster		#20 Wambach	#9 Long
#3 Sawa	#6 Lindsay		#15 Dedycker
#21 Singer	#22 Sauerbrunn	#4Whitehill	#3 Gilbeau
#61 Spisak

First Half

Athletica ended their scoring drought just six minutes into the match. After a tremendous save by Freedom's goalie KJ Spisak the ball came out to Eniola Aluko who mis-struck her shot allowing the ball to fall to the feet of Daniela who hammered it home.

Certainly wasn't the prettiest of goals, but it was enough to put Athletica in the lead for the first time this season. The goal was a wake up call for the Freedom who dominated the attack for the remainder of the half.

Athletica defender Tina Ellertson made an excellent defensive play in the 20th minute, chasing down Washington Striker and French International Sonia Bompastor and spoiling her breakaway. Washinton tied the game eight minutes later when Midfielder Jill Gilbeau sent a cross into the box and 5'4 Sonia Bompastor headed it in past a diving Hope Solo.

It appeared to be a save-able ball & Solo was clearly upset that she let it sneak by. Athletica took the lead again in the 41st minute with another tally by Daniela. She took a touch around a Freedom defender and blasted it into the right side of the net from about 25 yards out.

Was an excellent strike by Daniela that Spisak clearly was not expecting. Daniela's goal gave Athletica the 2-1 lead into the second half.

Despite the three goals tallied in the first half, the story was clearly the lack of fouls called by Referee Shane Butler. Athletica defender Kia McNeil had several blatant fouls on Freedom Striker Abby Wambach that went mostly unpunished throughout the first half.

The first took place in Athletica's goal box at around the 22nd minute when McNeil disregarded the ball and plowed into an airborne Wambach. From my perspective Freedom should've been awarded a penalty kick but lucky for Athletica, I wasn't reffing the match.

McNeil was finally punished with a yellow card in the 39th minute for a take down from behind on Wambach at around midfield. Perhaps the most blatant foul took place at the top of the Athletica box late in the half.

Wambach received an excellent through ball and just had Solo to beat when McNeil came from her left completely disregarding the ball and throwing Wambach to the ground. If ever there was an obvious foul for a referee to call, that was it.

McNeil should consider herself lucky that she was not thrown out of the match for the antics she pulled. I love physical, aggressive soccer but you have to play the ball. There is no place in the game for players that continuously disregard the ball and throw people down.

Second Half

The Freedom started the second half with Australian Lisa De Vanna entering the match replacing Allie Long. In the 64th minute Kristin DeDycker injured her ankle in a tackle with Daniela and was replaced with Rebecca Moros. I thought DeDycker had a great first half performance for Washington. 

Athletica made their first sub in the 66th minute with Notre Dame grad Kerri Hanks entering the match in replacement of Canadian Melissa Tancredi.

Just two minutes after the sub St. Louis midfielder Lisa Stoia laid a beautiful ball out for Striker Eniola Aluko to run onto & Aluko tucked it perfectly into the bottom left corner of the net putting Athletica up 3-1. 

In the 73rd minute Niki Cross entered the match for Tina Ellertson who appeared to be experiencing some discomfort. Washington started mounting their come back in the 79th minute when Wambach lofted a ball to the far left post and an onrushing Lisa De Vanna headed it past Hope Solo.

This was goal number two of the match that Solo should have saved. It seemed like she came a little too far over to the post and couldn't get enough of a touch to stop the ball from sneaking by her into the back of the net.

At the restart following that goal, Athletica strikers played the ball back to Daniela who was the recipient of a late slide tackle from Wambach.

Daniela was carried off on the stretcher and according to the Washington Post passed out from the extreme pain in her right knee. She was taken to the hospital after the match & no word is yet available on her condition.

Wambach told the Washington Post following the match: “She took a long touch so I charged and slid into it, slipped a little bit. She came in late, I came in late, I definitely think I deserved a yellow card, but I don’t think it was malicious. I wasn’t intending to try to take her out. I was going for the ball. That’s not my game.”

Solo was not pleased with the tackle & had this to say to the Post: “There was no excuse for it, I know Abby means well, I know she has a good heart and she would never want to see a player go down, but in the emotions of a game, it was right after the kickoff after they scored, and she went in two-footed.”

Wambach was given a yellow for the challenge. I personally had no problem with the tackle. Yes, it was a foul but I didn't feel it was a card-able offense. For those of you out there that think this was retaliation for McNeil's fouls on Wambach in the first half, dream on.

And allow me to point out that Wambach was actually going for the ball. You can see the foul at the 2:00 minute mark of the highlight video posted below.

Sheree Gray entered the match in replace of Daniela. The match continued to be physical and Kerri Hanks was given a yellow in the 89th minute for a questionable challenge. Washington was awarded a free kick from their own 25 yd line.

Cat Whitehill took the kick, playing the ball all the way into the Athletica box. There is was headed backwards by an Athletica defender and Sonia Bompastor beat 3 Athletica defenders and headed it over Hope Solo for her 2nd goal of the match. Solo was clearly not happy that three of her defenders were beat.

It was quite an exciting match but unfortunate that Athletica gave up the lead. It would have been a great story to end both their scoring and winning slumps in front of a national audience. Losing Daniela will be quite a setback for the team though.

After scoring two goals and assisting on the third, you have to wonder if the Athletica offense will enter another slump without her offense prowess. I will post an update as soon as any word is made available on her condition.

Women of the match:

St. Louis: Daniela & Ellertson
Washington: Bompastor & DeDycker

Needed some improvement:
St. Louis: Hope Solo & Kerri Hanks
Washington: KJ Spisak

Other matches:
Boston Breakers 2 La Sol 1
FC Gold Pride 1 v Sky Blue FC 0

Next Week's Matches:
Saturday May 9th:
FC Gold Pride @ Athletica

Sunday May 10th:
Boston Breakers @ LA Sol
Sky Blue FC @ Chicago Red Stars

NEXT MATCH: Saturday May 9 vs FC Gold Pride 7 PM ct @ SIUE. Mother's day specials available by calling 1-888-STL-GOAL