Sky Blue FC settled for a 1 – 1 draw after relinquishing a late goal in a hard-fought match against first place Seattle Reign FC.
Sky Blue was just minutes away from beating the Reign in Seattle, where they haven’t lost in two seasons, when Seattle midfielder Jess Fishlock scored the equalizing in 90th minute of the match.
The play started when Seattle forward Kim Little gathered possession just outside the left side of the box when she saw Fishlock making a run toward the back post. Little sent a chip in to Fishlock who met it with her head and directed it past a diving Sky Blue goalie Brittany Cameron. The assist was Little’s league-leading seventh of the season, and the goal was Fishlock’s seventh of the season.
“It is disappointing to not get the result that the players deserved, but that has been a little bit of an unfortunate theme for us this year,” Sky Blue FC Technical Director & Head Coach Jim Gabarra said. “We have been playing like one of the best teams in the league as of late, which is how we envisioned this team when the roster was put together. Against a really good Seattle team, we were able to make them chase us, and we created an awful lot of opportunities. Overall, I thought we defended really well and made it difficult for them to penetrate our blocks of eight. While it is disappointing to not get the three points, it is very gratifying to see the way our team has continued to compete this season.”
Sky Blue opened the scoring early when they earned a free kick outside the right of the box. Forward Nadia Nadim stepped up to take the free kick and struck a shot into the left side of the net. Seattle goalie Hope Solo was able to get a hand on it, but it wasn’t enough to keep it out of the back of the net.
After the opening score the Sky Blue defense was able to settle in and keep the Reign off the scoreboard. The offense, on the other hand, struggled to get anything going for the remainder of the game. After Nadim’s goal, Sky Blue only managed take one more shot for the remainder of the match.
“Sky Blue were the better team tonight. They came here to win,” Reign Head Coach & General Manager Laura Harvey said. “I told the players at the half that they had a choice… I think they showed a lot of character and that’s what this part of the season will take. The ability and the character. We showed that 100%.”
Sky Blue managed to pull out two draws in their three-game series against the top-ranked Seattle Reign. After initially winning just one of their first 11 matches, Sky Blue turned their season around and has lost one of their last eight.
With the draw Sky Blue sits in fifth place on the table, though they are an unreachable seven points behind fourth place FC Kansas City whom they play next week. The Seattle Reign sits at the top of the table as they had already clinched the NWSL Shield.
Sky Blue has one game remaining this season when they will meet FC Kansas City at home at Yurcak Field in Piscataway, NJ on Wednesday September 2nd.
