FC Kansas City earned a gutsy, 1-0 road win over the Western New York Flash on Friday. (Photo Copyright Erica McCaulley for The Equalizer)
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A lone goal in the 73rd minute from Liz Bogus secured the 1-0 victory for FC Kansas City against the Western New York Flash on Friday night at Sahlen’s Stadium. The winning goal was a result of a beautiful through ball from Erika Tymrak and a strong near-post finish from Bogus.
Heading into Saturday’s matches, defending champions FC Kansas City (3-2-0, 9 pts.) now sit atop the NWSL table.
The Flash dominated possession throughout the game and created a series of dangerous opportunities, but failed to connect with the back of the net. Offensively, they had some nice sequences, but their finishing touches were not strong enough to get past Kansas City goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart. The speedy Flash forwards still have some work to do on syncing up and building a more cohesive front.
Kansas City struggled throughout the first half. The Blues were unable to build offensive momentum, but their defensive line held strong for the amount of pressure the Flash front line put on them. At the top of the second half, Kansas City came out more composed and absolutely changed the nature of the game.
Western New York defender Kristin Edmonds helped get the momentum going early in the game when she ripped a long left-footed shot on goal, almost netting the first goal, but she was denied by the crossbar.
Hungry for her first professional goal, Lynn Williams was on the forefront of many promising opportunities. In the 22nd minute, Williams cracked a long shot toward goal, but was unable to sneak the ball past Barnhart. Four minutes later, she cut inside on Yael Averbuch and put a shot right to the chest of Barnhart. Then, in the 29th minute, rookie Sam Mewis fed a beautiful ball to Williams, who blasted a bullet directly at Barnhart, who easily knocking out the shot.
Tymrak looked to put Kansas City on the board in the 32nd minute when she took a shot out of the box, but she put a little too much power behind it as it glided over the crossbar.
Mewis looked to put the Flash on top before halftime when she drilled a low shot from 25 yards out in the 44th minute, but Barnhart made a spectacular diving save to keep the score 0-0. Shortly after, Williams was delivered a beautiful through ball right in the box, but Barnhart came out sliding to break up the play.
In the 68th minute, Kansas City’s Sarah Hagen ripped a shot from 20 yards out, but Flash goalkeeper Sabrina D’Angelo was there to tip the ball over the crossbar.
Kansas City packed on even more pressure as the game inched closer to the 90-minute mark, and the Flash looked to equalize but were unable to capitalize on any opportunities.
The teams will face each other again next week on Thursday in Kansas City.
LINEUPS
#WNYF Starting XI: D'Angelo; Edmonds, Taylor, Dahlkemper, Hinkle; Edwards, Mewis, Spencer; Njoya, Williams, Fields #WNYFvFCKC
— NWSL (@NWSL) May 8, 2015
#FCKC Starting XI: Barnhart; Robinson, LePeilbet, Averbuch, Moros; Buczkowski, Silva, Tymrak, Bogus; Groom, Hagen. #WNYFvFCKC
— NWSL (@NWSL) May 8, 2015
