Breaking On Through

ALLSTON, Mass. – The Breakers had some veteran presence on the field, but it was the rookies and unsung heroes who made the difference in last night’s 2-1 victory over Magicjack at Soldiers Field. 

The Breakers had to cope with the World Cup duties of defenders Rachel Buehler, Amy LePeilbet, and Stephanie Cox plus midfielders Kelley O’Hara and Lauren Cheney.

But the Breakers proved that they were capable of carrying out a positive performance even without the seasoned veterans who are away on World Cup duty.  

And they were emphatic from the start, too.  Meghan Klingenberg, who started in place of O’Hara on the right in a 4-4-2 formation connected well with her teammates even though she only arrived in Boston via a trade with Magicjack last week.  Klingenberg delivered against her former team, creating the first goal before scoring the second.

Klingenberg was left open on the flanks in the opening minutes, giving her ample time to put dangerous services into the penalty area that nearly led to a goal. 

But it wasn’t until the 8^th minute that Klingenberg would serve the decisive cross, sending the ball into the penalty box from the wing into the path of Katie Schoepfer.  Schoepfer settled the cross with her left foot and volleyed a looping shot that curled into the net for her first score of the season.

“It was my dream to score in the WPS and I’ll take them however they come, ugly, pretty- a goal is a goal,” said Schoepfer.  “I just wanted to get a hit on the ball and hopefully send it toward goal because it was early in the game and I just wanted to test the keeper a little bit.”

Magicjack gave the Breakers a brief scare in the 17^th minute when Ella Masar’s chip clipped the outside of the crossbar with Alyssa Naeher off her line.  But the Breakers regained possession and swiftly moved down field, Liz Bogus playing a cross into the box that found Klingenberg , who one-timed a shot past Brett Maron to double the lead in the 19^th minute.

“I haven’t really scored a lot of goals in college, I play out on the wing a lot,” said Klingenberg.  “I consider myself more of an assister, but I’ll take any goals I can get.  It was an incredible cross and I saw it coming in and I said ‘let’s put this on frame’ and I saw it hit the back of the net.”

“That’s what you want to do when you’re playing against the team that just traded you,” said DiCicco.  “Scoring the goal is just a bonus.  We got two goals from two players who never scored in the league before.”

One of the few veteran presences on the field was Leslie Osbourne, who combined well the entire night with Keelin Winters in central midfield. 

The Breakers were able to keep the ball moving through midfield and had the better of the possession, forcing Magicjack to shoot from well outside the penalty area in the first half.  But Magicjack changed their approach in the second half and adjusted their 3-5-2 formation into a 4-3-3, giving them an extra attacker to play as a target and to hold the ball.

“They played in a three front and their three attackers are really fast and put on a lot of pressure and close you down really well,” said Kasey Moore, who started in central defense.  “They don’t give you a lot of time on the ball and when you do get time they come at you full force.”

Magicjack was rewarded with a goal in the 68^th minute, a twenty yard ball over the top finding the foot of Kristen Press who rounded Naeher and scored on an open net to cut the lead in half.

“They’ve got a lot of speed up front and their dangerous,” said DiCicco.  “Unfortunately, we made a mistake and let them back in the game.”

The Breakers managed to re-establish control of the midfield and kept Magicjack from creating any more dangerous opportunities in the waning minutes of the game.  Boston had a bid for a third goal in the 83^rd minute, but Kelly Smith’s shot on an open net from a Taryn Hemmings pass sailed over the cross bar.

Smith, who has one goal and four assists so far this season, is expected to be named to the England World Cup roster, which will be announced on June 8th.  Another Breakers player who’ll likely join Smith on the roster is fullback Alex Scott.

“It’s a great opportunity for players to get a chance to play,” said DiCicco. “They needed to step forward and I thought they did.

“This is the team that’s in practice day in and day out together so we’ve gotten to know each other well and our tendencies,” added Moore.  “I think it’s good to see the work we put in at practice get a result on the field.”

“The players that have stepped in have done really well,” said Smith.  “Obviously, it’s hard playing with different players and so many coming in but I think we did really well tonight and picked up the points we needed.”