The New York Fury and Western New York Flash each had to settle for their first tie of the Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL) Elite League season on Sunday night, as the teams played to a 0-0 draw at Hofstra Stadium.
Both teams had excellent chances, but neither was able to capitalize as each goalkeeper came up with big saves to preserve the double clean sheet.
“I was disappointed with our performance,” said Fury head coach Paul Riley after the match. “We did not play particularly well tonight, I think the Flash were the better team, but neither team had much edge to them.”
The Fury dominated play in the first half, and came close to breaking the deadlock in the 24th minute when team scoring leader Merritt Mathias played the ball to Meghan Lenczyk, but Flash goalkeeper Allison Lipsher made the stop. In the 33rd minute, Mathias again found Lenczyk, but she could not connect on her shot. Kim Yokers, who scored two goals in Thursday’s 3-0 win over Philadelphia Fever, missed just wide of the post in the 39th minute.
The Flash started the second half out strong and had several opportunities off corner kicks, but they were unable to convert. A nice combination in the 56th minute almost led to a Fury goal, when Gina DiMartino’s low cross was backheeled by Yokers into the path of Lenczyk. Goalkeeper Lipsher managed to get her fingertips on Lenczyk’s shot to push it over the bar.
U.S. National Team player Meghan Klingenberg was a threat for Flash all night, making dangerous runs behind the Fury. Her best chance came midway through the second half after a corner kick was cleared by the Fury. Central Defender Kim Brandaohooked the ball back in behind to Klingenberg who brought the ball down with her chest and looked to volley the shot, but was called offsides.
The Flash continued to push numbers forward in the dying minutes of the game and had two key chances in the 90th minute. McCall Zerboni whipped in a corner kick from the right hand side and the ball was headed across the goal by second half substitute Toni Pressley. The U.S. U-23 National Team member leaped over a Fury defender, but Betos made the save and the rebound was cleared off the line. Moments later, Zerboni bent in a shot that Betos managed to get her fingertips on it as it went off the crossbar.
“It’s a good point, we beat them up there, so for us it’s four points out of six,” said Riley. “We keep them behind us. As long as you keep teams behind you, it opens up the channel a bit.”
The Fury improve to 3-1-1 with ten points, while Flash move to 1-2-1 with three points. Fury hit the road for back-to-back games next weekend, playing the Chicago Red Stars on Friday June 8 and FC Indiana on Sunday June 10. Meanwhile the Flash return to Western New York where they face off against the New England Mutiny on Saturday, June 9.
