Beat Ties With Independence at 0-0 in Season Opener

The battle of the expansion teams ended in a tied game at 0-0 for the Atlanta Beat and the Philadelphia Independence Sunday night at Farrell Stadium. The inaugural game opened up in front of a stadium packed with more than 6,000 Women’s Professional Soccer fans.

The Beat head coach, Gareth O’Sullivan, said that he was pleased with his team’s performance. “It was a very even game where we had the better of the early chances, and for long periods of time, we looked like we were going to score.”

The first shot for the Beat took place when midfielder Angie Kerr took a shot on goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc, but it hit just wide of the goal. There were many shots following this that almost scored points for the Beat, but were just short of a goal.

The second instance took place when midfielder Amanda Cinalli made a header that hit the goal post. During the first half of the game, Atlanta took four shots and Philadelphia took six.

In the second half of the game, Kerr took another shot towards the goal, but LeBlanc saved it with a dive. Coach O’Sullivan said that forward Johanna Rasmussen had “many clear-cut chances” also. “That being said, it was a close enough game that we could have lost it right at the end,” said O’Sullivan.

Beat defender Kia McNeill received a yellow card for unsporting behavior due to a hard tackle with under a minute remaining. Atlanta Beat goalkeeper Allison Whitworth saved a shot made by Amy Rodriguez within the last seconds of the game to keep the score tied at zero.

The Beat’s next match will take place at 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 18 against the Washington Freedom at the Maryland Soccer Plex.

GAME STATS
	Atlanta	Philadelphia
Shots	8	12
Shots on Goal	5	11
Fouls	4	12
Offsides	1	0
Corner Kicks	2	4
Saves	9	5

Photos courtesy of Women's Professional Soccer