Alex Morgan’s 87th minute stunner of a goal gave the Western New York Flash a 2-2 draw on the road against the Boston Breakers. It looked like the 6,222 fans that had showed up to Harvard Stadium would be treated to a Breakers win after Kelley O’Hara scored her second goal of the game in the 84th minute, but Morgan – the super sub of all super subs – hit a twirling outside of the foot shot with her back to goal from 12 yards out. The ball smacked off the bottom of the crossbar an into the net to give the Flash a share of the points.
O’Hara’s second goal was also a thing of beauty. That came as a result of new Breakers acquisition Nikki Marshall finding O’Hara in the box. O’Hara dished the ball to Claire Zimmeck at the penalty spot and Zimmeck delivered a one-time ball back to O’Hara for the slotted finish into the far side netting.
O’Hara’s first goal came in the 20th minute as a result of a series of mistakes by the Flash’s back line. Those ended with Flash goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris getting caught flat-footed and watching O’Hara’s slow-roller dribble into the back of the net.
Marta would tie the match up in the 38th minute with a low driven shot that beat Alyssa Naeher at the far post.
The match, which featured the Breakers sporting a bright pink uniform as part of the Puma Project Pink initiative to support breast cancer, was exactly what WPS could have wanted. Boston and Western New York combined for 21 shots (13-8 in favor of the Flash) on an evening filled with back and forth play. The Flash dominated most of the middle third, but Boston had more threatening chances throughout the match.
Stephanie Cox, Lauren Cheney, Kelly Smith, Rachel Buehler, Amy LePeilbet and Aya Sameshima all missed the match, which was the first one for Boston following the Women’s World Cup. Cox was on the bench but Breakers Head Coach Tony DiCicco did not use her.
With the result, WPS looks like the ultimate league of parity that it has been from its inception (at least in the middle of the table, despite a couple of runaway regular season champions in the LA Sol in 2009 and FC Gold Pride in 2010). Philadelphia and Western New York are now tied atop the table with 27 points apiece, while Sky Blue FC, Boston and magicJack are tied for third place with 16 points apiece. Atlanta (1-10-4, 7 pts.) is alone at the bottom of the table.
Check out Morgan’s goal below (thanks to Jenna Pel and 90th Minute for the link):