This was a highly entertaining and enjoyable match to watch as Philadelphia Independence came from behind to win 2-1 over Boston last night. Unfortunately, the match was overshadowed by Danesha Adams’s handball match winning goal.
Boston began brightly, dominating midfield but Independence’ Sanderson intelligently dropped deeper when Boston had possession to strengthen the Independence midfield.
The hosts may have dominated possession, but the visitors’ maintained their shape. That allowed Buczkowski, Seger and Lindsey to get tight on Lilly and Smith when needed, and both Krzysik and Falk were always capable of repelling Boston in the air with Cheney so outnumbered in the middle.
Boston took an early lead through composed finish by Cheney when Lilly’s pass to Cheney caught Krzysik and Falk amiss (the only time) with their covering.
Up to the goal, the home team looked to have the early edge but this danger evaporated after Caroline Seger scored for Philly just six minutes later. After Seger leveled, Philadelphia worked their way back and could have scored twice through wasteful Amy Rodriguez.
Without dangerous wide player to threaten Philadelphia defense, Boston was forced inside where they ran into well organized Philadelphia defensive block.
As the match progressed Philadelphia midfielders flooded forward from the middle third knowing that Buczkowski was always in position to cover and to breakdown Boston as required. Buczkowski, who was superb last night defensively, received a yellow card for her tackle on Smith. That tackle illustrated her ability to make correct decisions when required to stop opponents from playing.
Boston threw everything at Paul Riley’s team but the visitors always had the outlet to break by keeping Rodriguez and DiMartino, and later Adams available to receive – not that they just played the ball forward, they worked it well and all ran tirelessly.
Tony DiCicco was hoping that that Boston could find some penetration behind Magnusdottir, which they had with Fabiana in the first half. But, after swapping Hemmings for Fabiana, they failed to make real inroads. What they needed was more support for the isolated Cheney who needed a partner with whom she could engage in combination plays to unsettle Krzysik and Falk.
