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The Maryland Capitols pulled away from the Tidewater Sharks late to win their WPSL inaugural home match by the comfortable score of 5-1. Mor Efraim was named Player of the Match for scoring the game-winning goal and adding an assist, though Ali Andrzejewski also had one of each.

At first that didn’t seem to be the likely outcome. The Capitols came out in an aggressive 3-4-3 formation, and it almost cost them in the first couple of minutes. The Sharks brought the ball down the right side, and the back line skewed that way with positioning that would have been perfect with four defenders but left most of the opposite field open with three. The Shark ball-handler realized this and sent the ball over to the left to an open forward, and the defense just barely managed to cover and clear the ball out over the end line. In the tenth minute, Maryland turned the ball over deep in their own end, and it took a big save from first-half goalkeeper Shannon Zickler to prevent a score.

The Caps began to turn the tide after that, though, and got on the board in the 12th minute as a succession of players fought their way past defenders. Captain Anabel Jimenez was the last one, and she sent a perfectly weighted ball in front of Andrzejewski, who was sitting on the back line waiting for just such a ball and knocked it in from in front of the right post.

That looked to be the only score of the first half, but with seconds left in stoppage time substitute forward Mor Efraim slipped behind the back line, dodged the goalkeeper, and put the ball into an open net to give Maryland a comfortable 2-0 advantage at the whistle.

The Capitols seemed to be in control to start the second half until the 53rd minute when Tidewater forward Kellie Jenkins lofted a hopeful shot from at least 35 yards out that managed to sail past second-half goalkeeper Churchill O’Connell and into the net. Fortunately, only about a minute later Diana Barrera took a pass from Andrzejewski and lofted a ball in from the right that similarly got past Tidewater goalkeeper Cheta Emba to restore the two-goal lead.

The game was played mostly in the midfield for the lion’s share of the second half, with Maryland attempting a few direct balls that were always a little too strong and were picked up by Emba. That held until the 81st minute, when Efraim did yeoman work to collect a ball along the left end line, get past a defender enough to bring it inside the left post and draw the goalkeeper, then kicked it out to give Becky Ryan an easy putaway.

Ashley Weisenberg concluded the scoring in the 87th minute with a lofted ball from about 12 yards out that went inside the right post about chest high. Tidewater would have a good chance two minutes later with a forward open in the goalmouth, but O’Connell came out and did an excellent job of making herself big and cutting off the shot to eliminate the chance.

The result gave the Capitols their second win in a row, but they’re looking at a tough weekend coming up, playing FC Bucks on the road Saturday at 4, then returning home to face the FCW Elite on Sunday, also at 4.

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