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Rookie Lauren Cheney has added a significant physical presence to the Breakers' attack. (Photo by CHRIS ADUAMA/aduama.com) |
While his team played well enough to get the three points, head coach Tony DiCicco said he liked most of what he saw in Sunday’s home opener.
“We wanted to get three points for the home fans, but that’s the game of soccer. I think the more important thing is that we played well,” DiCicco said after Friday’s training session. “I think we dealt with a very strong, physical team, and we actually wore them down. Good teams have to be able to play a lot of different ways…and I think we’re capable of doing that.”
One of the lynchpins of the Breakers’ attack in their first two games has been Lauren Cheney, the rookie center forward from UCLA. Cheney began to establish herself with the U.S. national team at the Algarve Cup in March and has carried that into the WPS season. She scored just six minutes into her debut against Washington, and dealt with a strong, physical Philadelphia back line last week, holding up the ball and getting teammates involved in the attack.
That skill is just one of the things that teammate Kelly Smith says Cheney brings to the table.
“She’s a good back-to-goal player. She can spin her defenders easy and get in behind,” said Smith, who has scored Boston’s other two goals this season. “She’s quite quick, intelligent with her runs and easy to find.”
Cheney often dropped deep - almost to midfield - to get the ball against Philadelphia, and it was her ability to hold the ball and shield defenders that drew the foul that led to the free kick that Smith scored on early in the second half.
DiCicco thought enough of Cheney to draft her with the second overall pick in the collegiate draft in January, and says she has more than lived up to the billing.
“Cheney is a really good player; she’s better than I thought she was,” DiCicco said. “She’s just a really good player. She has areas that need to improve in her game, like heading. She had that great chance at the end of the game (against Philadelphia). She’ll get better.”
Cheney spent almost half an hour after Friday’s practice working on her heading near goal.
“I really don’t think I’ve ever been taught how to head the ball, which is weird because I’m a bigger girl,” said the 5-foot-10 Cheney. “It really doesn’t come easy to me, so I want to get better at it.”
The Breakers’ attack has it work cut out today as it takes on a talented St. Louis Athletica team, led by national team keeper Hope Solo. Athletica finished second in the regular season standings last season, and added Shannon Boxx, Tina DiMartino and Aya Miyama through the dispersal draft to a midfield already anchored by Lori Chalupny. Sixth round draft pick Carolyn Blank has played all 180 minutes in midfield so far this season.
With English international striker Eniola Aluko (scorer of both her team’s goals in its 2-0 season opening win over FC Gold Pride) leading the line and a tough back line led by Tina Ellertson, it’s hard to find holes in this Athletica squad.
“They’re going to be a tough, physical team,” Smith said. “They’ve got some great players on their team, and they drafted Boxx and Miyama, so they’ve got a lot of quality in their team - but so do we. We’ve already proved we can win on the road this year against Washington, so there’s a lot of confidence on the team.”
Good scoring chances figure to be at a premium for the Breakers, who will need to improve their finishing from last week.
“Our build-up play is good; obviously it’s just that final bit of composure that we lacked in the last game,” Smith said. “But we’ve done plenty of shooting this week, and hopefully that will roll over into the game.”
Said Cheney, “I think our combination play is going to be key. They (St. Louis) have a good and fast back line, so to be able to combine with each other to get through is going to be a big thing, and we’re going to have to get numbers into the attack for sure.”
Boston will also have to pay attention to its defending, particularly on set pieces. The Independence got its goal Sunday when Allison Falk - a 6-foot tall defender - was left practically unmarked in the penalty area on a free kick from the right flank.
The Breakers spent a good amount of time at Friday’s training working on its set pieces in an effort to not let such an easy goal happen again.
“That’s a goal we’ve already given up twice in preseason this year, and I thought we corrected it,” DiCicco said. “Evidently, we didn’t. But we worked on it again today. We’re good enough to avoid that type of goal, and we need to.”
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