Breakers’ Postseason Hopes Over

The title dreams harbored by the Breakers came to an end on Wednesday in a 3-1 loss to the Chicago Red Stars at Sahlen’s Stadium in Rochester, NY.

Lauren Fowlkes (14′), Lori Chalupny (54′) and Julianne Sitch (66′) all scored for the Red Stars while Amanda DaCosta (80′) provided the Breakers with a late consolation goal.

“We just didn’t have it,” Breakers Head Coach Lisa Cole said in a post-game release. “We were outmanned in the midfield. We needed people to step up, and it didn’t happen. ”

Chicago dominated most of the early play, putting high pressure of the Breakers’ backline. The scoring started in the 13^th minute, when Fowlkes headed a corner kick by Chalupny into the back of the net past Alice Binns.

Though the Red Stars only managed to score once in the first forty five minutes, they resumed their dominant play immediately after the start of the second half.

A minute after the second half whistle, Chalupny collected a feed from Ella Masar and drilled the ball inside the lower left corner of the net to double the lead.

“We had too many pieces missing with Cat (Whitehill) missing and losing Courtney (Jones) early,” Cole said. “We came out and had a good attack (in the second half), and they countered, and our midfield didn’t recover.”

The insurance strike came in the 66th minute, when Sitch sent a cross from the right flank into the penalty area that rebounded right back to her. On her second attempt, she squared the ball for Masar, who slotted the shot into the back of the net for the three-goal advantage.

Boston offered its only response in the 80th minute when DaCosta capitalized on poor clearance attempt by the Red Stars defense that resulted in a shot over the head of goalkeeper Jamie Forbes into the net.

After winning the regular season title, the Breakers were favorites to win the WPSL Elite playoffs. But a tough semi-final draw with Chicago, the only playoff team to beat Boston during the regular season, spelled the end of their quest for a championship.