{"id":20995,"date":"2013-08-04T01:50:19","date_gmt":"2013-08-04T05:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=20995"},"modified":"2013-08-04T01:50:19","modified_gmt":"2013-08-04T05:50:19","slug":"breakers-concede-late-in-whitehills-coaching-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=20995","title":{"rendered":"Breakers Concede Late in Whitehill’s Coaching Debut"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>

Photo Credit Italo Alexander Photography<\/p><\/div>\n

SOMERVILLE, Mass- Cat Whitehill\u2019s coaching debut did not go as planned for the Breakers, as they gave up a two-goal lead late and tied the Western New York Flash 2-2 at Dilboy Stadium on Saturday night in front of 2,899.<\/p>\n

Whitehill, who filled the role of player-coach after Lisa Cole\u00a0departed the club on Friday,\u00a0helped the Breakers open the scoring in the 17th<\/sup> minute, playing a cross into the penalty area that Kyah Simon volleyed home. Lianne Sanderson doubled the lead in the 65th<\/sup> minute off a corner kick by Heather O\u2019Reilly. But the Flash\u2019s Vicki DiMartino and Carli Lloyd both scored within eight minutes of one another late in the second half to take away a key result for the Breakers.<\/p>\n

“It was a bit unlucky for us,” Whitehill said. “We\u2019re all very disappointed. But the silver lining is that we\u2019re not out of the playoffs yet. We\u2019ll be back Wednesday versus Portland.”<\/p>\n

Although Whitehill said after Saturday\u2019s game that she one day sees herself coaching full-time, she did not expect to be\u00a0counted upon to play.\u00a0Fortunately for the veteran defender-turned-coach, former Breakers midfielder\/forward Kristine Lilly arrived at Dilboy Stadium to step in and fill the assistant coaching void left by Maren Rojas’ departure.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s a brilliant soccer mind,\u201d said Whitehill of Lilly. \u201cNot just from playing, but from coaching. She was doing \u201cx\u2019s\u201d and \u201co\u2019s\u201d like it was easy and simple. It was a blessing and I\u2019m so glad she was able to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

“They asked me to come to be there for some support,\u201d explained Lilly, who also said that she\u2019s not actively thinking of stepping in to coach the Breakers full time. \u201cI\u2019m happy to do it. This is professional sport, these things happen. It\u2019s never easy for players when this happens. I\u2019m just here to help the team. Cat stepped up as the player coach. The captain is the leader on the team. I\u2019m just the support staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Breakers\u2019 makeshift coaching duo appeared to be on the right track for most of the game. Boston dominated possession and only rarely allowed the Flash to have a chance at goal. But a series of lapses and conditions that were out of Boston\u2019s control allowed the Flash to crawl their way back into the match.<\/p>\n

In the 76th<\/sup> minute, Boston midfielder Mariah Nogueira was elbowed by Abby Wambach, forcing her off the field for treatment. Nogueira came back into the game, but only after the Flash pounced on her absence. In the 77th<\/sup> minute, DiMartino curled a shot into the back of the net off a cross from Wambach, who was left all alone to deliver a pass in the area Nogueira had been covering.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe injury to Mariah hurt us,\u201d explained Whitehill. \u201cWe need someone like her in there. That\u2019s why we were willing to wait, because she has a presence.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the 85th<\/sup> minute, the Flash completed the comeback through Lloyd, who first-timed a shot into the back of the net past the outstretched dive of Breakers goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher. Two minutes off added time were awarded, but the Breakers couldn\u2019t do better than earn the point at home.<\/p>\n

The tie will feel like a loss to Boston, since they led and dominated for most of the game. They\u2019re not out of the playoffs yet, though they will have to win their last three remaining games to have a chance at clinching a postseason berth.<\/p>\n

The Breakers have pressure on them and are dealing with a difficult situation. Cole\u2019s departure was bad timing. But the team has put its faith in Whitehill and will attempt to make the most of what remains in the season.<\/p>\n

Some Breakers players said\u00a0that they had never been in a situation which saw a teammate step into a coaching role mid-way through the season. Neither has Lilly, whose professional career spanned\u00a0over 20 years. Player-coaches are rare, but not unheard of. In 2011, Wambach led magicjack to the postseason as a player coach while the club was in turmoil. Whitehill has comparable experience to Wambach, the Breakers aren\u2019t in turmoil, and she seems to have the respect of her teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cCat\u2019s a fantastic role model,\u201d added Simon. \u201cTo have such a leader in the group is a credit to her. She\u2019s really steered us in the positive, right direction. It\u2019s comfortable for us to know she\u2019s here leading the back line and us, in general, in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m willing to take it on for this team because I love this team and I love this organization,\u201d said Whitehill. “I love everyone\u2019s encouragement to me. I had so much from my teammates, my friends, and family.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told them, ‘The hardest part is that I\u2019ve been your friend all season.’ Now I\u2019m in a difficult situation of naming that starting lineup. I want to do what\u2019s best for this team,” Whitehill said. \u00a0“And to be honest, nothing\u2019s changed.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Breakers defense surrendered a late two-goal lead and were forced to a settle for a 2-2 draw to the Western New York Flash on Saturday. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20995"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20995"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21006,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20995\/revisions\/21006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}