NWSL Week 11 Recap

Sky Blue FC vs Portland Thorns FC 0-0

This is a hard draw to swallow for Sky Blue, who couldn’t defeat Karina LeBlanc despite 20 shots and seven on target. The scoreline is misleading. Portland barely showed up, got outplayed and relied on LeBlanc to clean up after them.

Sky Blue dictated the tempo on Saturday night, putting up more shots and defending better than Portland. If it were not for LeBlanc’s performance between the posts, Sky Blue would have walked away with a convincing victory.

Lisa De Vanna had five shots on the night, but was denied over and over. LeBlanc made two stops in one-on-one situations and stopped a pair of long efforts from De Vanna as well.

Alex Morgan was not supported up top which caused the Thorns to suffer offensively. Christine Sinclair was deep in the midfield and did manage to seldom link up with Morgan but in those moments after Sinclair fed her the ball, Morgan was alone and stifled by diligent defending by Christie Rampone and Coco Goodson.

Morgan’s best opportunity on goal came in the 17th minute when she mishit a strike wide in front of an open net. Morgan forced Brittany Cameron off her line and despite controlling the ball well, Morgan could not direct it on frame.

FC Kansas City vs Washington Spirit 2-0

Washington could not contain Lauren Cheney on Sunday as she lifted FCKC to a 2-0 win with goals in each half..

Kansas City started and ended on Sunday’s match on a good foot, gaining possession early and maintaining it throughout. The Kansas City players that produced results for the team while the NT players were away earned starts on Sunday which helped immensely with FCKC’s set pieces.

The opening goal for FCKC came in the 18th minute on the back of a powerful strike from Cheney. Erika Tymrak linked up with Jen Buczkowski ,who shipped a short pass to Cheney, who finished from outside the box to earn a 1-0 lead.

Cheney and Courtney Jones tried to close the first half with a bigger lead but their shots were blocked by Ashlyn Harris. The Washington defense continued to struggle into the second half and Cheney notched her second goal of the night in the 64th minute. Merritt Mathias served a dangerous ball inside the box to Cheney, who was unmarked on the post and finished comfortably.

Western New York Flash vs Seattle Reign FC 1-1

Seattle’s struck first in the 28th minute to earn a 1-0 lead, but gave away a second half penalty kick that was converted by Abby Wambach.

Megan Rapinoe surprised the Seattle supporters by making her debut a week in advance from when she was expected to suit up. Rapinoe’s presence on the field was felt immediately, with her crossing providing something that the team lacked previously. Coach Laura Harvey took a different than anticipated approach with Rapinoe, taking the experienced midfielder and placing her up front alongside Kennya Cordner and Christine Nairn.

Seattle took the lead in the 28th minute. Adrianna Franch made a couple of early saves, but couldn’t keep Keelin Winters’ effort out of the goal. Winters netted her first goal of the season after receiving a through ball inside the box from Theresa Noyola and slotting the ball into the corner.

Shortly before the Flash equalized, Seattle found another golden opportunity to double their lead. Cordner lobbed the ball over Franch on the edge of the 6-yard box but the ball hit the goal post and Franch recovered to scoop it up.

Kiersten Dallstream picked up a yellow card earlier in the match before taking down Abby Wambach inside the box to gift the Flash a penalty kick, which the star striker converted, along with a man advantage for the rest of the game. Seattle had very few opportunities to score after that and did well to hold on for a draw.