Early Goal Pushes Independence to Victory

By Tessa Fegen

BRIDGEVIEW, IL - May 15, 2010 - A goal in the 6th minute scored by Philadelphia’s Joanna Lohmann would end up being the only thing the Independence needed to pull out the win against the Chicago Red Stars.

A questionable play that could have been called a foul on the Independence instead turned into a goal. The assist came from Amy Rodriguez as Johanna Lohmann sent the ball right past the Chicago goalkeeper to the right side of the net on a poorly defended play by the Red Stars.

It wasn’t until halfway into the first half that the Red Stars started to string some passes together and get opportunities to score where as before, Independence clearly dominated play. Once they did that, they seemed to control most of the possession.

The Red Stars (now 1-4-1) came out in the second half with a several attempts right off the whistle. In the 76th minute, Formiga got a good shot off outside the eighteen-yard box, but it was too high. Then Karen Carney hit a wide-open shot that didn’t get off the ground and was handled easily by the Philadelphia keeper. Carney played a good ball through to Ella Masar in the 85th minute, but she was a little too far in front of the ball and could not get a touch.

With all the opportunities and outshooting Philadelphia 12-7, the Red Stars were not rewarded. They were not able to capitalize on any of their chances and the game ended in a 1-0 loss for Chicago. The Independence improved their record to 3-1-2 on the season with the victory on Saturday.

Chicago native Julianne Sitch was out of the game with a sprained ankle as was defender Ifeoma Dieke after being issued a red card in their previous match against FC Gold Pride.

The Red Stars will get a chance to avenge their loss with their next home game coming on May 29th against FC Gold Pride who beat them 2-0 last week.

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