Sky Blue FC struck early on an eighth minute goal by midfielder Katy Freels, but were not able to hold on as they had to settle for a 1 – 1 draw, and one point against the Boston Breakers.
Firing right out of the gates, Sky Blue was able to create five shot attempts in the first 17 minutes of game time. While Sky Blue looked like the better side for a majority of the competition, they were not able to come away with three points.
“It is a disappointing result,” Sky Blue FC Technical Director & Head Coach Jim Gabarra said. “Over our last two games, we have squandered an awful lot of goal scoring chances. We really should have left these past two games with six points. One point is just not good enough.”
Sky Blue came inches away from taking a lead late in the 78th minute on a shot taken by forward Meg Morris, who had just checked into the game a minute earlier. The ball struck right off the bottom of the crossbar and bounced straight down and out. It appeared that the ball bounced on the other side of the line in goal before coming out, though the goal did not count.
The Breakers lone goal came from forward Stephanie McCaffrey in the 60th minute. Goalie Brittany Cameron did all she could, making some fantastic saves and sending the ball away several times on the attack by Boston. The Breakers were just too relentless and managed to take advantage when Cameron was slightly out of position after punching out a previous cross.
Sky Blue has done a fantastic job through their past two games of creating scoring chances, they just have not been able to capitalize. Taking 34 shots over the past two matches, they’ve only managed to put the ball in the back of the net just once.
“We have to do better with our chances,” Gabarra concluded. “In the second half, we sat back a little bit and took our foot off the gas. All of a sudden, we make one mistake and end up level instead of being comfortably ahead. We played really well and built off our momentum from last week, but we are at a point where we have to start finishing and coming away with wins.”
While Sky Blue has done a great job creating scoring chances recently, they have still only managed to score one goal or less in each of their seven games this season. They’re going to have to start scoring if they want to move up the table.
The draw moves Sky Blue up from eighth to seventh in the standings now with a record of 1-3-3, while the Breakers sit at sixth with a record of 2-3-1.
The road trip is over and Sky Blue returns home to Yurcak Field in Piscataway, NJ for their next match against the Houston Dash on Sunday, May 31.
