LA Blues News Release - www.bluessoccerclub.com
Friday, July 18, 2014
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The LA Blues (12-0-0) will host the Colorado Pride (9-2-1) at 7:30 p.m. PT Saturday at Occidental College to decide the Western Conference champion. The winner will advance to the W-League Championship presented by Nike, featuring all four conference champions in a battle for the national title July 25-27 at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.
The Blues and Pride faced off once this season in a match that was 0-0 until the 83rd minute when defender Abby Dahlkemper finally broke the stalemate on a corner kick. Lynn Williams then secured the victory for the Blues with a goal four minutes later to make it a 2-0 win for the home side.
As a result of their perfect campaign, the Blues finished as the W-League's regular season champions. Outscoring opponents 50-4, the Blues are the only W-League team to finish with a perfect record.
The Blues are led by Mele French, who has scored eight goals and assisted on eight others for a total of 24 points. Second on the team is Katie Stengel with eight goals and one assist for 17 points, but the forward has been called up for training camp with the U-23 Women’s National Team and will miss the match along with Blues teammates Aubrey Bledsoe, Abby Dahlkemper, Caprice Dydasco and Sarah Killion, who were also called up.
Shawna Gordon stands third on the team with five goals and five assists. The midfielder has consistently been a standout player for the Blues, and much of her work goes unrepresented by statistics.
Another threat for the Blues is defender Kandace Love, who gets forward at every chance. Her six goals this season are the most scored by a defender in the league.
Blues goalkeeper Sammy Jo Prudhomme leads the league in goals-against average, just 0.235, while earning six shutouts in nine games played this season.
The Pride have made an impressive push into the playoffs in their first W-League season thanks to efficient attackers in Mallory Weber and Chloe Logarzo, as well as Tara Andrews and Sarah Schweiss, who was named the regular season Co-Assist Champion along with the Blues’ French.
Weber leads the Pride with 11 goals and one assist, while Logarzo has tallied six goals and seven assists. Schweiss assisted on eight goals while scoring three and Andrews assisted on four and scored six. Laura Kane has also played a major role, assisting on seven of the Pride’s goals.