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The Chesapeake Charge defense holds off the Flash attack, as it did most of the day

The Western New York Flash came to Old Mill School expecting a fairly easy match against one of the WPSL Elite’s amateur sides. They got a surprise. They would come away with a 2-0 win (score padded by a late and pointless handball in the box that pretty much gifted them the second goal), but not without an effort.

“I think that they kind of underestimated us,” Charge goalkeeper Lyndse Hokanson said. Flash defender Nikki Marshall agreed. “They came out so hard, and they did surprise us. We knew at the beginning that we’d have to pick it up and play, or we weren’t going to win.”

Western New York had the better chances in the first half and more of the possession, but few of the opportunities were truly dangerous. It would take them until the 42nd minute to score, when Omolyn Davis drove for the right post then sent the ball across the goalmouth. Hokanson dove for it, but missed, which gave Adriana an open shot on the right, which she put away. It was an unfortunate circumstance for Hokanson, who made a number of saves to keep a clean sheet in the run of play otherwise, most notably a leaping punch in the 31st minute to send a strong Flash shot over the crossbar.

The Charge changed their strategy to start the second half. “First half we went low-pressure to see what they had ,” midfielder Cheyenne Skidmore explained. “And we knew we could match them so we went out high-pressure in the second half.” In practice this meant a change from passing the ball around in midfield looking for an opening to lofting long balls behind the Flash back line and hoping that a Chesapeake forward could run onto it and make something happen. It wasn’t pretty soccer, but it gave the Flash back line fits. Unfortunately for the home team, even heavily stressed the Western New York back line – with players including Nikki Marshall and Katherine Reynolds – were up to the challenge, and the strategy failed to produce any goals or even any truly dangerous shots.

Omolyn Davis gets caught up in a wrestling match with a Chesapeake defender

It was a physical match, with Adriana, Davis, and the Charge’s Alexis Prior-Brown each needing attention after hard knocks, though there were only two yellow cards awarded in the match, and one of those was given to a player on the Flash bench for complaining about a call too vehemently.

In second half stoppage time, one of the Charge defenders was called for a handball in the box. Adriana took the penalty kick and easily put it into the lower right corner, well out of Hokanson’s reach.

Despite the result, the players on the home team were happy with their performance. ““This is the best we’ve played probably all season,” said Hokanson, “which is surprising because it was a loss. But as a unit we played really well today. We were able today to keep the ball the best we kept it all season. And it’s exciting going forward. We can only build up from here.”

Skidmore commented similarly: “I think it’s one of the best games we’ve had as a team so far, and I think we missed some early opportunities. And I think that kind of hurt us. If we’d put those away, I think it’d have been a different game.”

Meghan Lenczyk, who scored the Fury's second goal, brings the ball forward

Paul Riley’s New York Fury would not be surprised the next day, if only because Riley and his coaching staff came down on Saturday to scout. “Yeah, we scouted just looking for simple stuff. I went back to our players because you don’t want to be complacent, you know what I’m saying, they look at the results, ‘Ah, maybe they’re not that good.’ But they’re much better than their results would suggest.” His team would win by the same 2-0 score as the previous day, but they had to work for it.

Even without the surprise, the Charge put some pressure on. The Fury had most of the possession early, including three corner kicks in the first 25 minutes, but the Charge responded in the 21st with a steal deep in the Fury end, though the resulting shot was well wide. In the 24th minute, it took a triple-team on Chesapeake forward Alexis Prior-Brown to get the ball away from her on a run towards goal. Prior-Brown went down as a result and had to be subbed out. The best chance for the Charge might have been a long shot in the 37th minute that went just over the crossbar.

New York would get on the scoreboard in the 39th minute after a Charge defender committed a foul just barely outside the left side of the penalty area. Sinead Farrelly sent in a well-placed free kick that Meghan Lenczyk headed toward goal. That was saved, but Jasmyne Spencer got to the rebound and put it in the net.

Initial goalscorer Jasmyne Spencer positions herself

The Flash would get another chance early in the second half as in the 48th minute they earned a corner kick, showed a short corner but dummied it to a player near the corner of the box who sent a laser shot toward goal. Charge goalkeeper Erin Quinn blocked it but couldn’t hold it, and the ball looked to be trickling into the net until the defender at the far post managed to clear it.

The second goal would come in the 56th minute as Lenczyk headed in a well-placed cross that came in from the right.

The Charge would get two good chances to get one back. In the 63rd minute, the Fury turned the ball over on their side of midfield, leading to a strong shot from the right by Cheyenne Skidmore. New York goalkeeper Michelle Betos couldn’t hold the ball, which trickled to her right with a Charge forward rushing to reach it, but a Fury defender managed to clear it first.

In stoppage time, Skidmore was able to send in an unchallenged cross from the right, but it was too strong and went over the heads of the Chesapeake players in the goalmouth.

Riley was even more impressed with the Charge after the match. “I thought they were sharp on the ball, good speed. And they’re relentless in the midfield, some very good players. I thought they were good in the back. They’ve got wheels everywhere. We controlled most of the play, but they looked dangerous on the counterattack. I tell you what, they get somebody on the wrong day, they’ll beat them. I’m saying, Chicago, Boston, Western New York, one of us has a bad day, they’ll beat us. They’re good.”

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