The Boston Breakers enter the second half of the 2012 Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL) Elite League season with a “W” tonight and move into a tie for first place with Chicago Red Stars. Australian international Kyah Simon scored the first hat trick of her Boston Breakers career, giving the home team a 4-2, come-from-behind win over the New England Mutiny Wednesday night at Dilboy Stadium in Somerville, Mass. The win sends Boston’s record to 6-2 on the season and puts them into a first-place tie in WPSL Elite with the Chicago Red Stars.
“There haven’t been many games we’ve been down 1-nil within 20 minutes, so it definitely was a wake-up call and really got us kicked into gear,” Simon said.
“Having two (goals), I had it in the back of my head that I was near a hat trick, but I was still working on assisting other people and playing good football. I was thankful that the third goal came, and at the end of the day, I can say I scored a hat trick.”
In front of 2,147 fans on a sweltering hot night at Dilboy, the Breakers fell behind, 1-0, on a goal in the 12th minute from Mutiny forward Riley Houle. A defensive breakdown by Boston led to the goal. Houle jumped on a loose ball in the box as Breakers keeper Alice Binns came out to challenge. Houle then knocked the ball into the open goal to give the Mutiny a 1-0 lead. It was Houle’s second goal of the season.
It took the Breakers a while to find their rhythm, but once they did, they didn’t let up. It began in the 41st minute on Simon’s first goal of the night. Katie Schoepfer played a great through ball to Simon, who then slipped it past Mutiny keeper Vicki Alonzo to tie the game at one apiece. Four minutes later, Simon scored her second of the night to give Boston a 2-1 lead, putting home a pass from Courtney Jones.
The Breakers took a 2-1 lead into the second half and added to their advantage just five minutes in. Schoepfer took a ball into the Mutiny box and was tripped up, resulting in a penalty. She stepped up to the spot and buried the PK past Alonzo to put Boston ahead, 3-1. It was Schoepfer’s sixth goal of the season. But the Mutiny did not back down and pulled one back in the 59th minute.
Kate Howarth took a ball played into the box from Kelsey Hood and beat Binns far post to make it a 3-2 game. It was Howarth’s team-leading fifth goal of the season.
Boston added some insurance in the 66th minute when Simon completed her hat trick. It began when Jones played a ball over the top from 40 yards out. Simon read it all the way, and when the ball came down into the box, she headed it past Alonzo for her league-leading seventh goal of the season.Simon also leads WPSL Elite in points with 16.
“Both Shep Schoepfer and Courtney set me up with some really good goals. Courtney is very talented in getting the ball in behind the defense, as with Shep as well. It’s hard to defend against,” Simon said. “All the credit to them for setting me up. But at the end of the day, it was a team goal, and I’m happy to walk away with a win.”
“Kyah has been getting opportunities to score. We’ve been focused on her finishing. It’s been our focus for the past couple weeks, so I’m excited for her,” Breakers Head Coach Lisa Cole said. “We’ve been focused a lot on our final third play. I feel that’s a part of our game that if we’re a little cleaner, we’ll be in good shape. There were some good balls played in, and I think it was because of our mobility.”
The Breakers return to action Saturday to take on the third-place New York Fury at Dilboy Stadium at 6 p.m.
