KENNESAW - Atlanta Beat coach James Galanis knows he has a young team but still needed to send them a halftime message Sunday against Western New York.
"I told them to pick it up or they were going to have training (today) at 8 a.m.," he said.
The Beat came out aggressive in the second half after a timid first half and played their way to a 2-all tie against what appears to be the Women's Professional Soccer's most experienced team at KSU Soccer Stadium.
Atlanta (1-1-1) came out nervous and it showed early in the first half when the Flash's Christine Sinclair scored on a Brit Brock feed in the third minute. Bock picked up the ball after a turnover from Beat midfielder Carli Lloyd.
The Beat spent the rest of the first half battling just to keep the ball out of their side of the field. Goalkeeper Allison Lipsher, who finished the game with 13 saves, made several key stops in the first half and got help from defenders Cat Whitehill and Keeley Dowling and from using a 4-1-4-1 formation that kept a large number of players in the back to defend.
"Most of the team is young and haven't gone through the cycle of playing every team," Galanis said. "Playing experienced teams does funny things to the mid if you are a young star. We defended well in the first half but we weren't moving it like we should have been on offense."
The Beat's lone scoring chance in the first half came in the 29th minute. Cat Whitehill placed a cross into the box that found forward Meghan Lenczyk's head despite a diving attempt by Flash goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris to punch the ball out. The ball bounced over Harris, but trailed off to the left and wide of the net.
The Beat came out a different team in the second half, despite the Flash starting WPS superstar Marta in the second half. They only managed four second half shots, though of two of them were goals.
After Beat midfielder India Trotter subbed into the match at halftime for Lauren Sesselmann, Atlanta became more offensively minded. Four minutes after halftime, Beat midfielder Lori Chalupny beat Flash defender Kandace Wilson and was taken down outside of the penalty box on the near side. Another four minutes later, Chalupny created a run down the middle with Lenczyk running toward the far post, but cut inside toward center back Candace Chapman cleared away the danger.
In the 56th minute, Chalupny would not be denied. From outside the penalty box, she cut the ball inside onto her right foot and scored an unassisted goal by firing a shot from the near side of the box that bounced off the inside of the right post and into the net.
Even though the Flash retook the lead in the 66th minute on a running header by Marta off a Sinclair feed, the Beat maintained its momentum.
It became more clear three minutes later that the Beat would not be denied at home when Lloyd atoned for her first half mistake by firing a shot outside of the penalty box that beat a diving Harris and tied the score at 2-all.
"We came in at halftime disappointed because we weren't playing our game," Chalupney said. "I think we were giving (Western New York) a little too much respect and my goal helped us to build our confidence and we played much better in the second half."
Atlanta had a couple of chances to take a lead on a couple of open shots by Kristina Larsen. Harris made a finger tip save on her first attempt and Larsen's second shot attempt was blocked by Harris.
Lipsher, who now has 24 saves in two games for the Beat, was at her best during the final 5 minutes of the contest when the Flash threatened. She made two key saves during injury time. No save was more important in the match than the one she made in the 87th minute. She was able to put a fingertip to a ball headed over her head from Caroline Seger, but redirected over the net for a corner kick. Two minutes later, a poor clearance by midfielder Colleen Flanagan allowed Sinclair to have a chance at her second goal of the match, but, once again, Lipsher deflected the ball with a fingertip and it smacked off the crossbar and out of danger.
"If you look at who they have up top, it's going to put a lot of pressure on us," Lipsher said. "All I can do is play, stay focused, do all the basics and keep everything in front of you."
The Beat will play its first road game next Sunday when the team travels to Rochester for a rematch with Western New York (1-1-0).
Jordan Angeli scored the opening goal after 18 minutes to put
Kasey Moore then capped the scoring with a spot kick of her own in stoppage time to complete the resounding
The other game taking place on opening weekend saw the Philadelphia Independence rally from two goals down at halftime to claim a 2-2 draw at Sky Blue FC.
The home side seized the advantage through Laura Kalmari in the 18th minute, with Casey Nogueira adding to the lead nine minutes before halftime.
But Amy Rodriguez found the net for
The Silverbacks returned to the field, with over 3,500 fans in attendance. Ultimately, they lost 2-1 in an exciting game against
The multi-colored seats at the Silverbacks’ stadium near Spaghetti Junction were filled with revelers on Saturday night as the team opened its season against the Minnesota Stars. They made an exciting comeback in the second half, but ultimately fell 2-1 when a goal was scored against them with seconds left to play.
The crowd was an interesting mix of Little League teams and international residents, all of whom dug out their red and black and renewed their passion for the team, which had taken a two-year hiatus from play. The Silverbacks said that 3,543 people were in attendance.
Both teams seemed to be getting their footing in the first minutes of the game. The visiting team took the lead when Kentaro Takada hit a close shot in the 57th minute.
The Silverbacks held the majority of possession in the second half, according to stats released by the team, as the crowd and fan section became increasingly animated.
The Silverbacks gave Stars midfielder Andrei Gotsmanov a free kick with seconds left on the clock. It was just outside the reach of the Silverbacks’ goalkeeper, giving
The Silverbacks will play
The Beat roster includes Olympic gold medalists Carli Lloyd and Heather Mitts, who have been regulars on the U.S. National Team and are expected to be chosen to the American roster for the World Cup this summer. Mitts has two gold medals to her name in addition to over 100 caps for the U.S., while Lloyd’s game-winner in extra time gave the U.S. a 1-0 win over Brazil in the 2008 Olympic gold medal game in Beijing.
The Beat is undefeated in its current preseason schedule with wins over several college programs including perennial power
Admission to tomorrow’s game is free and both teams will sign autographs afterwards. Athens sports talk radio station 960 The Ref will broadcast live from the stadium’s press box from 4-6 p.m. leading up to kickoff.
Wanted to send a friendly reminder that the final tryout for the Georgia Revolution will be help this Saturday, April 2nd at the RYSA soccerplex from 4:30 - 7pm. We have had nearly 100 players from 15 colleges and 13 countries already attend. Your players don't want to miss this opportunity to play in the Revolution's inaugural season in the NPSL. This year, the NPSL's Southeastern conference will feature the Revolution, the Atlanta Silverbacks Reserves, Chattanooga FC, Rocket City FC, the Knoxville Force, and the newly-added Jacksonville United. Please be sure to pass this information along to yoru players. Anyone who is interested can email Fields Brown at fields@rysa.net to confirm their attendance at this Saturdays tryout. The cost of the tryout is $20 and includes a Revolution training shirt. We hope to see your players here this weekend! |
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