David Silverman | isiphotos.com

Kristine Lilly's Boston Breakers earned their first point of the year against Heather O'Reilly's Sky Blue FC in the teams' 0-0 tie.  Sky Blue FC won their previous three meetings.

Boxscore (all statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial)

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (July 25, 2009) – The Boston Breakers had a chance to clinch a playoff spot with two weeks remaining with a win tonight and help on Sunday, but had to settle for a 0-0 draw despite a dominating first half against Sky Blue FC in Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) action Saturday night at Harvard Stadium in Cambridge, Mass.

A win tonight and a Washington Freedom loss on Sunday would have been enough for the Breakers (7-6-4, 25 points) to secure a playoff berth, but it will have to wait. Boston peppered the Sky Blue FC goal with 16 shots throughout the match and had several strong scoring opportunities in the first half, but goalkeeper Jenni Branam (eight saves) was up to the task for the visitors.  Branam recorded her sixth shutout of the season - the second best total in Women's Professional Soccer.

"I thought that we played pretty well today," said Breakers head coach Tony DiCicco. "Late in the game I think we just ran ourselves out trying to get a goal, so they had a couple of chances, but I thought we played pretty well. If we go out with that sort of endeavor, we should be fine.”

The Breakers are now one point behind second-place Saint Louis Athletica and remain two points clear of Sky Blue FC (6-7-5, 23 points), who remain in fourth place for the moment. The New Jersey club are three points ahead of the fifth-place Freedom, but Washington has two games in hand. Tonight’s game also ends the season series between the two teams in which Sky Blue FC finished ahead, 3-0-1.

Tonight’s shutout is the third straight for goalkeeper Alli Lipsher and the Boston defense, which has now gone a team season-high 323 minutes without conceding a goal. The Breakers had a strong first-half effort and came close to clinching the win numerous times. However, they were unable to find the back of the net.

Several shots were sent right to Branam. In the 11th minute, Maggie Tomecka had perhaps the best chance of the match when she got on the end of a bouncing ball in front of the net, but hit it to the center where Branam was positioned to make the diving save. In the 17th minute, Kristine Lilly sent Jennie Nobis on a breakaway with a long ball, but with just Branam standing in her way of a goal, Nobis was unable to find the corner.

Sky Blue FC had just three shots to the Breakers 12 in the opening half, but in the 26th minute, Heather O’Reilly hit a shot that went right over the middle of the cross bar. Then in the 39th, O’Reilly again got the ball and took it down the right side before crossing it across the goal mouth, but Lipsher picked it up before one of O’Reilly’s teammates got a foot on it.

In the second half, neither team had the momentum needed to come away with a win, only tallying four shots each. The Breakers' Lilly had a chance in the 54th minute when she shot the ball to the left side of the goal, but Branam flew through the air to make the catch.

"Jenni Branam made some great saves,” said DiCicco. “But our quality in front of the goal just isn’t good enough and it’s kind of plagued us all season long."

Both teams put in substitutes in hopes that fresh legs could produce a goal, but that didn’t prove to be a solution either.

In the 75th minute, Alex Scott went on a breakaway with Sky Blue FC defender Jen Buczowski on her back with pressure, but Branam ran out to grab the ball before Scott could take her shot.

Sky Blue FC gave one last push in the first minute of stoppage time when Kelly Parker hit a shot to the left corner, but Breakers defender Heather Mitts got in front of it to deflect it from the goal.  For Sky Blue FC, the match was their fifth in the past 14 days with the team posting a 2-1-2 mark in that span.

The Breakers travel to the Maryland Soccerplex to face the Washington Freedom on Wednesday, July 29 at 8pm ET (Comcast Sports Net Mid-Atlantic and Comcast Sports Net New England).  With just two games remaining on their schedule, Sky Blue FC returns to New Jersey to host FC Gold Pride on Wednesday, August 5.

Boxscore (all statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial)

POST-GAME QUOTES

Sky Blue FC

COACH KELLY LINDSEY

“Unbelieveable. Thank goodness for Branam, I think that’s the theme of the night for us. She definitely saved us – our team knows it, Boston knows it, Branam was the hero today by far.”

“I expect at this point that they have nothing but dislike for us and were definitely going to come at us. I expected numbers up top. I didn’t know exactly who they were going to throw in there, but I’ve watched their film the past few weeks and just expected them to be on an attacking fury. Every team needs to be at this point.”

“I think after those first 10 or 15 minutes, it was just ‘Let’s get into halftime, tie it or maybe we’ll sneak one and be a goal up,’ but we’re very happy to get into halftime tied. I think we can all take a sigh of relief and kind of start over and rebuild.”

Boston Breakers

COACH TONY DICICCO

On the draw…

Well we’re disappointed. In some ways we thought that was our best offensive half of the season, but we didn’t get anything from it. Jenni Branam made some great saves, but our quality in front of the goal just isn’t good enough and it has kind of plagued us all season long. We’re disappointed, but a point hurts them more than it hurts us. They only have two games left, so it limits how many total points they can get.

On if Sky Blue presented any specific difficulties…

Every team is difficult, I thought that we showed we played pretty well today, late in the game I think we just ran ourselves out trying to get a goal, so they had a couple of chances, but I thought we played pretty well today. If we go out with that sort of endeavor, we should be fine. All of these teams are difficult, so whatever you have, you have to perform.

On sticking with 4-5-1 against Washington…

I don’t know, we’ll have to see. Washington’s a different team. It was more of a 4-3-3 today and we got a lot of attack from Lilly and Fabiana. Jen Nobis was a thorn in their side. The only thing we didn’t do was earn enough corner kicks. And we got some petty big bodies in there, so it isn’t bad to get some of those.

On the current mood of the team…

I’m pleased with the team. This team now is much more complete than earlier in the season. I thought we played very well to open the game and you know, if you don’t make your chances you run the risk of not getting the result you want.

AMY LEPEILBET

Glass half empty or glass half full…

I think it’s half full having lost the last three against them, so it’s a step forward for us to tie against them. Of course we would have loved to win, but a tie’s a good thing. We got a point today.

On the switch in formation…

We switched up our formation, we played 4-5-1 against them, which we haven’t done before and I think we did a good job of controlling the midfield since we were a number up.

On not having to face Kai …

She’s a great player, but they had Heather O’Reilly and Kacey White who are just as good. They’re just as difficult to play against. They’re both smart players.

On coming back after national team duty…

I was a little tired, but I had two good days of rest, so I felt like I was ready to go mentally. I just had to get over that hump. That little bit of fatigue, but once you’re out there and going. You kind of forget about it. When you’re with the Breakers you’re having fun out there and I just try and give it my all.

KELLY SCHMEDES

On the frustration of not being able to get that goal…

Well it wasn’t frustrating in the process of it because we kept thinking we were going to get one. I think now looking back it’s frustrating because if we get one early that changes the game right then and there. Jenni Branam made a couple of big saves that kept them in the game in the first half. We just got to put those away.

On the 4-5-1 formation…

I think it helps us a lot. The middle of the season, I thought we were getting spread a lot in the midfield, so having five in there makes it harder to play through. Defensively we pick up a lot of balls and are able to go for it, so I think it’s helped us along there, and just being able to spring one of those midfielders forward, I think it helps our team a lot.

KRISTINE LILLY

On the team’s frustration…

We were just trying to score and obviously that didn’t happen tonight. I had three good chances and I got to finish one of those. That’s just not good enough. We battled and the only positive thing is that we got one point, so it keeps us moving forward, but the team fought and that’s what you ask of the team and the players. We need to keep getting points and three points makes our lives much easier.

On not being able to beat Sky Blue FC…

I don’t think it’s anything specific, I think it’s just one of those things. I think in the old WUSA, San Diego was the team we just couldn’t beat, but it’s frustrating as a team because we had those first 20 minutes and we had those chances where we could have put one away and made a difference in this game.

On Jenni Branam…

I told her she just keeps getting in the way. Every time we’ve played her she just makes some saves. I think she did a great job for them back there. She took one from me tonight off the throw in, I don’t think my shot was that good where she was diving, but she made it look good, but no, she’s been playing really well for them.

ALEX SCOTT

“I thought we played a good game tonight. I think we started really well. I think the first half, we were definitely the better team but it’s kind of still frustrating because we come away and we’ve got nothing to show for a good performance today and Sky Blue are definitely our bogey team. And now we’re just going to see for next season and have to break them down…”

“I think my fatigue kind of set it. I didn’t really get on the ball as much as I did from right back in the second half, but if Tony wants me to play there and I’m going to play wherever he puts me and I just want to be out on the field and give it my all all the time.”