Seattle Sounders Women News Release - www.sounderswomen.com
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
TUKWILA, WA – On a beautiful Wednesday night, the Pali Blues earned a hard-fought 2-0 victory over the Sounders Women. The undefeated Blues scored two goals in the first 10 minutes and held on to hand the Sounders their first loss of the season.
With so much pre-match anticipation surrounding the meeting of the top two teams in the Western Conference standings, the air was sucked out of Starfire Stadium when Pali scored in the 5th and 7th minutes.
In the 5th minute, Pali forward Lynn Williams received a pass between two Sounders defenders and was able to turn inside and get a clean look from the edge of the penalty box. The Pepperdine University product tucked the ball past Katie Hultin into the bottom right corner.
The Sounders and their crowd were surprised by the early goal, but became shocked when a second goal was scored two minutes later. A long pass from Sasha Andrews looked harmless with Kate Deines and Stephanie Cox there to clear it. However, the flight of the ball was misjudged and fell beyond the two defenders to Nikki Washington. Washington let it bounce and then knocked it over the goalkeeper, Katie Hultin, and it trickled into the net.
The Sounders grew into the match and controlled possession and the balance of chances after the first ten minutes, but the damage was irreversible. Despite a few good chances including a knuckling shot from Veronica Perez, the Sounders couldn’t get on the board.
The win gives Pali 24 points from eight wins, while the Sounders' loss keeps them in second place with 16 points, after seven matches. The Sounders get a chance to redeem themselves on Sunday afternoon when they host the Santa Clarita Blue Heat at Starfire Stadium. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. PST, and tickets are still available at SoundersWomen.com.
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Pali Takes Important Victory
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