Breakers Miss Chances Against Athletica

Saint Louis Vaults Into Second Place With 1-0 Win

By Mark Goodman

June 15, 2009

The Boston Breakers’ winless streak reached four Sunday night, as visiting Saint Louis Athletica left Harvard Stadium with a 1-0 win on a goal from Eniola Aluko.

There was plenty at stake in the match, as the winner would jump over Washington into second place in the WPS standings, albeit 11 points behind league-leading Los Angeles. With three games in hand, however, overtaking the Sol would still be a possibility.

Candace Chapman

Candace Chapman (left) defends Athletica striker Eniola Aluko during Sunday night's game. Aluko scored the game's only goal to lead visiting Saint Louis to victory. (Photo by CHRIS ADUAMA/aduama.com)

That’s looking less and less likely for the Breakers (3-4-2, 11 points) after a contest that saw them control much of the play and create decent chances, but to no avail.

Athletica’s primary attacking strategy - particularly in the first half - was to counter-attack and send balls up the middle through the air, likely to test Canadian international Candace Chapman, who was making her first WPS start in central defense. It paid off in the 44th minute, as Lori Chalupny controlled a 50-50 ball against Kelly Schmedes in midfield and passed to Kendall Fletcher, who lofted a ball up to Aluko.

The English international beat her mark to the ball, and with Boston’s Kristin Luckenbill charging off her line, Aluko slotted it through the keeper’s legs from just inside the penalty area for the 1-0 lead.

“We had numbers back, so you gotta close up the middle,” said Boston head coach Tony DiCicco. “But their game was to counter-attack. They let us in, they tried to win the ball in the midfield and then counter-attack, and they did a pretty good job of it. But we still had chances. We got in, too…We’re just not finishing those chances right now, and that’s the next step for us.”

The goal came somewhat against the run of play, as the Breakers had a couple decent chances to score in the 10 minutes prior to Aluko’s strike. In the 34th minute, a cross from the left flank by Kristine Lilly went just inches over the head of Schmedes in the box.

Six minutes later, some nice interplay between Jenny Nobis and Alex Scott resulted in a Nobis cross toward Smith in the middle of the box. Smith was unmarked but had to contort her body just to get a foot to it, and the volley went well over the net.

The trend continued in the second half, with Athletica (4-3-2, 14 points) content to sit deep and defend. In the 52nd minute, Nobis found Smith in the box with a chance to shoot, but St. Louis midfielder Amanda Cinalli made a last-ditch tackle to keep Smith from firing on goal.

Smith had a decent look at Hope Solo’s net from about 23 yards out in the 70th minute, but put a little too much on the shot and sent it over the crossbar. A couple minutes later, Boston midfielder Angela Hucles was wide open at the edge of the box off a corner from Lilly, but skied her shot well over the net.

In the 76th minute, a Heather Mitts free kick went into the mixer and second half substitute Kasey Moore headed it across the six-yard box, where Smith just missed getting a head onto it.

Kristine Lilly

It was a tough night for Kristine Lilly and the Boston Breakers, who haven't won since May 2. (Photo by CHRIS ADUAMA/aduama.com)

Such was the story of the night for the Breakers, who are 0-4-1 when conceding the first goal.

“We’re digging ourselves a hole, and then we come out and start playing when we’re already in a hole a little bit, so I think that’s making it more difficult for us,” Lilly said. “I don’t know what’s going to be the difference - just keep creating opportunities…We need to get some more shots on goal.”

The Breakers did finish with 17 shots - compared to just seven for Athletica - but only four were on target, and Solo wasn’t truly tested all night. Boston also finished with an 8-1 advantage in corner kicks.

“I was pleased with the team, I’m just disappointed in the result,” DiCicco said. “But give St. Louis credit, they got the goal and then they really defended well.”

For Athletica, the result was a far cry from their first visit to Harvard Stadium, a 2-0 loss April 11.

“The last time we came here, we got educated in a way,” Aluko said. “It’s amazing, looking back now and thinking it’s the same team. And I think it would be fair to say out of all the teams in this league we’re the ones that have grown the most.”

Saint Louis was at the bottom of the standings in early May, but have earned 12 of 15 possible points in its last five games to vault all the way up to second.

Chalupny, the team’s captain and a U.S. international, credited much of the team’s success to its defense, which features former Boston College standout Kia McNeill and Tina Ellertson.

“Our back four has been incredible the whole season, really. They’ve kept us in a lot of games when we haven’t been scoring a lot,” Chalupny said. “Now that we have (left back) Stephanie Logterman in the lineup, we have a set backline.”

Mark Goodman can be reached at newsdesk@soccernewengland.com.