NWSL week 5 preview: Sky Blue FC is showing some promise and Raquel Rodriguez is the reason why

On game days, the grass and gravel of the parking lot outside Yurcak Field is filled mostly with kids engaged in small-sided games, wayward balls rolling toward parked cars, small children in shirts that always look four sizes too big chasing after them without much regard for the incoming traffic. Nearby, small groups of adults huddle at the backs of their SUVs, sipping beers and making small talk. It feels fun and festive, though slightly subdued. It’s almost more like a family picnic that a bunch of polite strangers also showed up to than a full-on tailgate. Inside, too, the game-day atmosphere is still something of a work in progress. It’s improved some in recent years, as more adults have showed up sans kids and Cloud 9, Sky’s Blue supporters group, has become more vocal. The addition of a beer garden probably hasn’t hurt either, though we’re still a ways away from stopping the screeching for [USWNT player] even though she’s on the other team thing entirely.

In 2013, as Sky Blue and professional soccer returned after a yearlong hiatus, the atmosphere at Yurcak was particularly library-like. Sky Blue wasn’t even especially bad then -- they even made the playoffs that season. Still though, it took a lot to get the crowd in the bleachers to look away from whatever important research and Dewey Decimaling they were doing and get up off those metal seats.

Lost in De Vanna’s acrobatics, though, was the chip that had made said acrobatics possible. If you watch the video, you’ll see another Sky Blue player run, ball and all, straight into a Breakers defender, then regain possession and scoop the ball over that defender to the oncoming De Vanna. That other player -- the one who’s not De Vanna -- was Katy Freels.

So when Freels announced in February that she had decided to step away from soccer for the 2016 season, Sky Blue suddenly had a pretty big hole to fill. A lucky thing then that they’d just drafted Costa Rica international Raquel Rodriguez.

So far this season, Rodriguez has started all four games for Sky Blue, playing all but 44 minutes of a possible 360. And while she’s at times seemed to struggle some with the speed of play and physicality of the NWSL, Rodriguez has begun to adapt well to the professional game, and it’s starting to show in Sky Blue’s attack.

Rodriguez tallied her first professional assist last weekend in Sky Blue’s 2-1 loss to Western NY, threading about as perfect a through ball as you’ll see between three Flash defenders to Maya Hayes for Sky Blue’s lone goal. And though the game was a loss, it was also the most complete offensive performance Sky Blue has put in yet this season. There are still some kinks to work out -- through balls sent under the very misguided assumption that Flo-Jo was not only still alive, but also playing for Sky Blue, runs not timed quite right, clumps of players reminiscent of those parking lot games played in t-shirts too big, but there was also some potential there.

Realizing that potential will come in large part with how well Sky Blue can work out those kinks and get on the same page offensively, and much of that starts with Rodriguez. It’s a big test for a rookie who’s going toe to toe with some of the world’s best players every week, but if the first four games are any indication, it’s a task Rodriguez is up to, and a role she’s already started to grow into.

The Reign will face off against the Thorns for the first time this season on Saturday in Seattle. It’s certainly the biggest rivalry game the NWSL’s got, at least for now, with the two teams the closest to each other geographically and perhaps competitively.

Historically, Portland has a slight upper hand, winning five of the nine meetings between the two teams, but the last of those victories came in August of 2014. The Reign has outscored the Thorns, 11-7, through all nine games, though five of those Seattle goals did come in one game in 2014.

Portland was the dominant team in 2013, winning all four of the meetings between the two, and shutting out the Reign in all but one of those games. Things changed in 2014 though, as the new-look Reign took two of three from the Thorns, a trend that continued with two more wins in the two meetings between the two in 2015.

While Sunday’s match won’t feature either team at full force, don’t fret too much, the two will meet three more times this season, including a game at Providence Park in just two weeks. Heath should be back for that one, assuming she can keep her “I just pushed someone over but will now act like I just scored a touchdown” antics to a minimum next week. The other two games will take place at the end of July in Portland and at the end of August in Seattle.

Friday

Saturday