Sky Blue FC overcame a two-goal halftime deficit on Saturday night at Yurcak Field to tie MagicJack, 2-2, in Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) action.
By gaining the point, Sky Blue FC (3-4- 4, 13 points) stretched its franchise-record home unbeaten streak to six straight matches (3-0-3). The team will look to extend its streak on Sunday night July 17 when it hosts the Western New York Flash atYurcak Field, which is located at Rutgers University, at 6 p.m.
The team will host a Soccer Celebration that evening, getting the festivities started at 2:45 p.m. with a viewing party of the FIFA Women’s World Cup Final on a big screen in the Yurcak Field parking lot. Sky Blue FC will also be wearing pink kits as part of PUMA’s Project Pink initiative, and the jerseys will be auctioned off for charity at the stadium. Sky Blue FC will additionally celebrate military members and first responders as part of a “See Extraordinary Heroes” program. Tickets for this night of fun and soccer can be purchased today by calling 888-SBFC-TIX.
MagicJack (5-4-1, 15 points) hung the first goal of the evening up in the 14th minute of this contest. On that scoring play, midfielder Nikki Washington received a ball in the midfield and then saw a streaking Christen Press running through the center of the Sky Blue FC defense. Looking to take advantage of the opportunity, Washington booted a high ball toward the box, and Press immediately ran on to it and into a one-on-one situation with goalkeeper Jenni Branam. After quickly settling, Press chipped the ball over the head of Branam and into the net, giving her team a 1-0 lead.
MagicJack increased its advantage to 2- 0 in the 37th minute when it capitalized on a corner kick. Midfielder Sarah Huffman put her corner kick to the front of the frame, where fellow midfielder Omolyn Davis put a leg on the ball and sent it into the back netting.
It wasn’t until the 65th minutes of the match that Sky Blue FC was finally able to gain some momentum. After a foul presented the home team with a free kick chance from 25 yards out, Spanish international Adriana stepped over the ball and saw MagicJack netminder Brett Maron cheat just enough to her side that she saw the opportunity to put a shot on target. She immediately fired the set piece attempt toward the frame, and the ball went flying into the back of the net.
Just 56 seconds later, Sky Blue struck again.
Following the ensuing kickoff after her goal, Adriana was able to pick the ball from her opposition and immediately delivered a feed over to Long. The former Tar Heel then looked up and saw a streaking Michelle Wenino, who had just checked into the game in the 61st minute. Long next delivered a pass to Wenino, who quickly put a solid strike toward the frame and saw it sail past the outstretched arms of Maron.
The goal was Wenino’s first of the season, and she became the 10th Sky Blue player to score a goal in 2011, another team record.
The 56 seconds between goals was also a franchise record.