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April 28th

The Sporting F.C. '89 Lady Blue squad of RYSA hosted United Quest's '88 Whites for an afternoon match at Founders Field that featured blustery wind conditions reminiscent of the winds that blew throughout United's recent tournament championship match victory in Johnson City, Tennessee. In an apparent attempt to recreate the storyline from that triumph, the Quest girls chose to defend facing the driving winds just as they had in their successful title match. The Lady Blues, ignorant of the recent match success United had experienced away from their home state, proceeded to loft nearly every ball they touched high and long toward the United goal. The entire half seemed to take place in the Quest half of the field, with United defenders repeatedly making last-second, desperate clearances. Eventually, the relentless pressure paid off for the Lady Blues. After a nice move around a defender in the right corner, one of the Sporting forwards placed a nice crossing pass right to the feet of a teammate at the top of the six yard box. The ensuing finish was "textbook," high and away from the Quest keeper, and Sporting was up 1-0. Still, it looked like United might just escape the first half down only one and looking for a reversal of fortune in half number two, when a Sporting counterattack left a speedy forward one-on-one with a Quest defender. They ran stride for stride into the penalty area, the keeper came out to stop the attack, and yet the Lady Blue forward managed to push the ball away from the defender's attempted tackle, under the diving goalie, and into the net for a 2-0 lead. The second half did see a moderate reversal of the run of play, but Quest was still suffering from the first half setbacks and found it difficult to mount any serious attacks. The Lady Blues didn't seriously threaten to score again in the match, but unfortunately for the visiting '88 Whites neither did they. The final whistle blew leaving United to ponder a two-match losing trend with only three matches to play. The Loss at Founders made for quiet trips home for the United team families, and left Coach Anne Bristol with a tall task as the team enters the home stretch.