WPS Championship: Meet Sky Blue FC, the Road Warriors of 2009

Let it be known that home field advantage is an illusion. Especially when you are the Los Angeles Sol.

All right, to be fair, the Washington Freedom and St. Louis Athletica can feel the empathy for not getting the chance to rumble with the regular season champions at the Home Depot Center on Saturday.

The Sky Blue Football Club, carrying the Cinderella hopes of New Jersey and New York, went into the Toolbox as a group of committed players on a mission: to complete a journey of three road matches en route to the 2009 Women's Professional Soccer Championship presented by MedImmune.

Mission complete. And one large silver cup is heading on the plane back to Piscataway, New Jersey.
Heather O'Reilly's winner in the 16th minute gave Christie Rampone's club a 1-0 victory over the Sol on a late summer afternoon in Carson, Ca.

The victory was the culmination of a postseason journey across the land that saw victories over the Freedom (2-1) in the first round and Athletica (1-0) in the Super Semifinal.

“It’s a special team we have here with Sky Blue,” said Rampone after the match. “It was a great run for us just battling back to get into the playoffs.”

For Sol manager Abner Rogers, the red card to Allison Falk in the 27th minute might as well have been the turning point for Los Angeles, who played with only 10 on the field the rest of the game.

“I didn’t feel it was a red card. I thought it was a poor decision,” Rogers said following the match. “Stephanie Cox was a recovering player so [Falk] wasn’t the last defender. And it wasn’t a blatant tackle.”

O'Reilly might as well have counted her blessings, as she was spared her marching orders with a tackle on Aya Miyama inside the penalty box in the 51st minute.
The Sky Blue back line of Rampone, Jen Buczkowski, Keeley Dowling and Meghan Schnur held firm in stopping the Sol's offensive onslaught. “They did a great job,” said Rampone. “They did a good job of being mindful of where [Marta] was and dropping when they needed to and stepping when we needed to.”

Sky Blue FC goalkeeper Jenni Branam, who has made a habit of coming off her line to make stops on a tightrope as of late, made four saves in the victory.

“Jenni was a huge part of our success," said Rampone on her performance. "She allows the backline to hold a higher line at times because she comes off her line.

"She basically won a lot of these games for us. She does get hit and she goes down, but I know nothing is going to keep her off the field.”

“When the season started, we had a lot of goals. And we accomplished all of them but one,” said captain Shannon Boxx after the match. “I’m not disappointed in our whole season. I think we played very well all year.

"Does this one hurt? Yeah, it hurts a lot.”

Los Angeles finishes their season 12-4-5, while Sky Blue FC ends their campaign 8-8-5, becoming the first team with a .500 record to win a WPS Championship. Rampone also becomes the first WPS player/manager in history to lead her team to the title.
Los Angeles Sol (12-4-5) vs. Sky Blue FC (8-8-5)
Saturday, August 22, 2009 — Home Depot Center

FINAL

SCORING SUMMARY:
Team 1 2 F
LA: 0 0 0
NJ: 1 0 1

NJ: Heather O'Reilly 3 (Natasha Kai) 17'

LOS ANGELES SOL — Karina LeBlanc, Manya Makoski, Brittany Bock, Allison Falk, Stephanie Cox, McCall Zerboni (Sharlota Nonen, 36'), Aly Wagner (Katie Larkin, 63'), Shannon Boxx, Aya Miyama, Marta, Han Duan (Lyndsey Patterson, 79')

Substitutes Not Used: Liz Bogus, Johanna Frisk, Val Henderson, Keri Sanchez

SKY BLUE FC — Jenni Branam, Keeley Dowling, Jen Buczkowski, Christie Rampone, Meghan Schnur, Kacey White, Yael Averbuch, Francielle, Heather O'Reilly (Noelle Keselica, 84'), Rosana (Collette McCallum, 72'), Natasha Kai (Kerri Hanks, 68')

Substitutes Not Used: Cori Alexander, Kelly Parker, Julianne Sitch, Katie Hooker

TEAM STATS:

                        LA NJ

Shots             8 12
Shots on Goal  4 5
Fouls             10 10
Offsides          3 1
Corner Kicks    6 5
Saves            4 4

MISCONDUCT SUMMARY:
LA: Allison Falk (Ejection) 27'
LA: Brittany Bock (Caution) 52'

Referee: Kari Seitz
Referee's Assistants: Marlene Duffy, Veronica Perez
4th Official: Margaret Domka
Attendance: 7,218