The Philadelphia Independence defeated the Atlanta Beat 2-1 on Sunday at KSU Soccer Stadium in front of 6,125 fans. Philadelphia was able to prevail on the road despite playing over 75 minutes of the match with just 10 players.
Defender Kia McNeill, playing against her former Atlanta team, was red carded in the 13th minute when referee Ted Unkel deemed that McNeill was the last defender when she fouled Beat forward Meghan Lenczyk just outside the box. Atlanta dominated possession after that and finally broke through in first half stoppage time when Lori Chalupny played a give-and-go with Lenczyk. Chalupny collected Lenczyk’s return pass and buried it from the PK spot to give Atlanta a 1-0 lead at halftime.
But Philadelphia would not go away easily. Despite being a player down, the Independence equalized in the 50th minute through a goal from Estelle Johnson. Laura del Rio then provided the game-winner for Philadelphia (2-1-1, 7 pts.) in the 66th minute when she finished a pass from Joanna Lohman.
Atlanta (1-4-1, 4 pts.) was surely disappointed with the result, although the crowd of 6,125 was the largest in WPS this season and the largest in Atlanta since the stadium’s opening game last season.
