The Sky Blue FC look to continue their climb towards the playoffs as they take on the Boston Breakers Sunday night at 5:00 p.m. at Soldiers Field Soccer Stadium.
Sky Blue (4-4-4 16 points) can also sweep the season series with a win over the Breakers (1-10-1 4pts), who currently sit at the bottom of the table.
Sky Blue are peaking at right time
With so many other NWSL teams facing numerous and crucial losses of personnel due to the upcoming Olympics, the Sky Blue are without defender Kelley O'Hara, however, they still have Australian national team member Sam Kerr for this match. Kerr was back in the starting lineup last week and played a solid match.
“We are looking forward to getting on the field against Boston on Sunday,” said Christy Holly, Sky Blue FC head coach. “Our mindset is focused on pushing ourselves into a top four position and to keep building upon the good performances of the previous few weeks. We know Boston presents a very good challenge for us, but we are confident that we will get a positive result if we play to our true ability.”
Holly's squad has just one loss over the last six games and are playing with a good degree of confidence. They are coming off of a rough, hard-fought 1-0 victory over the Houston Dash last Saturday night, the lone tally coming off of midfielder Taylor Lytle, who has been terrific all season. Lytle and her midfield mate Raquel Rodriguez need to control possession and cut down on early turnovers, something that plagued them early in the match against Houston. Midfielder Sarah Killion looks to continue her strong season thus far as she has quietly developed into one of the best two-way middies in the league. Killion sits in a three-way tie along with forwards Tasha Kai and Maya Hayes for the team lead in goals, with two apiece.
Christie Rampone continues to be a rock in defense, often cleaning up the midfield lapses, and along with Erin Simon and Kristen Grubka, form a formidable backline.
The Sky Blue have the talent and depth that Boston sorely lacks and are playing some of their best soccer in quite some time.
Boston continues to struggle
With just one win this season, the Breakers have had very little to make fans excited. The suffered a disheartening loss last week against the Orlando Pride when the Pride tied the game in the 90th minute on a free kick by Kristen Edmonds. Edmonds then won the game for Orlando with a goal in stoppage time.
In May, Boston lost to Sky Blue in a close, 1-0 game on the road. Despite outshooting the Sky Blue 13-9 in that match, they were unable to capitalize on their opportunities in front of goal. Boston’s defense stayed tough throughout the match, but an own goal in the 41st minute gave Sky Blue the victory.
"Obviously, they’ve done well this year. They’re in good form. They’ve lost one of their last six games. They’re difficult to beat," Boston Breakers head coach Matt Beard said. "But from that side of things, we’ve had (four) tough weeks from home. Apart from the Western New York game, I think we can take some positives from some of our performances. We’ve been hit hard with injuries with Kristie Mewis and Libby Stout, so from our perspective now, we’re looking forward to playing at home. It’s a game I feel we can pick three points up in."
Boston has scored just four goals all year with a -22 in goal differential. One of those goals has come from defender Mollie Pathman, who announced that Sunday will be her final match, as she is retiring to pursue a medical career. Pathman has been one of the few bright spots for the Breakers.
Final thoughts
Sky Blue FC must focus on this match and not look ahead to next week's critical match against Washington. Boston has played well at home and will have the emotions of Pathman's final game to motivate them. Scoring goals have been an issue but the Sky Blue do suffer from early turnovers, so Boston could have the opportunity to catch an early break. That said, Holly's squad just has too much depth.