Sounders Women News Release - www.sounderswomen.com
Friday, June 27, 2014
TUKWILA, Wash. – Currently on a four-game win streak, the Sounders Women (5-1-0) will meet the Colorado Rush (2-3-2) for the first time this season at 7 p.m. PT on Friday at Starfire Stadium.
Colorado has played seven matches thus far in the W-League regular season and is ranked sixth in the Western Conference. The Sounders improved their standing from fourth to third after earning a 2-1 victory on June 22 against the Santa Clarita Blue Heat at Starfire Stadium.
Two standout players to watch from Colorado are forward Danica Evans from the University of Portland, and Pia Rijsdijk from the University of Alabama. Evans is the leading scorer with five goals and one assist. Rijsdijk follows with three goals this season.
The Rush fell 1-0 against the Bay Area Breeze in their last game, Tuesday night.
The Sounders have played their past three matches at home - totaling 12 goals. Seattle has not lost on home soil this season. Last Sunday, the Sounders faced Santa Clarita Blue Heat, and after a shaky first-half performance Seattle trailed 1-0 before storming back for a 2-1 victory. Elise Wyatt drilled a ball to the top-left corner in the 57th minute, and Kennya Cordner curved a left-footed bullet to the far post in the 78th minute.
The leading scorer for the Sounders is Cordner, from Young Harris College, with five goals, aided by her hat-trick against the Colorado Storm last Friday. Emma Follis and Sharis Lachappelle have three goals apiece, and Cordner, Follis, and Lachappelle account for 11 of the Sounders’ 19 goals this season.
Currently, the Sounders have played three fewer matches than the first-place LA Blues and four fewer matches than the second-place Bay Area Breeze in the Western Conference. Based on points per game, the Sounders rank second in the West with 2.5 ppg. The LA Blues average 3.0 points per game, the Bay Area Breeze 1.9 ppg, and the Colorado Pride 2.0 ppg.
In the 2014 W-League playoffs the first and second seeds will compete against each other, with he winner advancing to the W-League Championship Final Four in Bradenton, Florida.