Boxscore (all statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial)

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (May 31, 2009) - With seven weeks gone by since its last home appearance, Sky Blue FC made an impressive return to New Jersey with a 2-1 victory over the Boston Breakers. Natasha Kai and Kacey White scored goals as Sky Blue FC celebrated its debut match at Rutgers University’s Yurcak Field in front of 3,493 fans.

The Breakers (3-3-2, 11 points) dropped to third place in the standings, one point behind the surging Washington Freedom who defeated FC Gold Pride, 3-1, earlier in the day. Sky Blue FC (2-4-2, 8 points) moved into a three-way tie for fifth place.

Kacey White scored the winner in the 29th minute to break a 1-1 tie off of Meghan Schnur’s second assist of the match.  Schnur sent a cross into the middle of the box which White flicked over the top of Boston goalkeeper Kristin Luckenbill and into the goal for her first tally of the year.

“It wasn’t a good enough game for us today,” said Boston head coach Tony DiCicco. “Give Sky Blue FC credit, they scored two good goals, dug us a hole and we were not able to get out of it. We fought hard until the end of the game, but were unable to create quality soccer.”

Sky Blue FC took an early lead in the 4th minute on Natasha Kai’s second goal of the season. Schnur sent Kai through with plenty of room on the left side. She ran into the box, turned defender Amy LePeilbet and beat Luckenbill to the near post.

Boston answered back thanks to a misplayed ball by Sky Blue FC goalkeeper Jenni Branam in the 12th minute. Stacy Bishop played a ball into the run of Alex Scott on the left side. Scott hustled to send a low cross just before the ball could go over the goal line, but Branam was unable to handle the ball and Kelly Smith tapped in the loose ball in front of goal to level the game at 1-1 with her league-leading fifth goal of the season.

Branam made up for the gaffe with a number of impressive saves after that play including a diving stop at the right post on a shot by Scott from the top of the box in the 15th minute. Two minutes later, Sky Blue FC nearly regained the lead as Kai ran onto a great feed from White and ripped a shot off the right post.

Down 2-1 following White’s goal, Amy Rodriguez had a chance to equalize for the Breakers before the half was done with a header in the 43rd minute off a Kristine Lilly cross, but the ball hit the cross bar and was cleared away.

DiCicco was forced to make a substitution just before the half after Smith picked up an apparent knee injury, replacing the England international with Maggie Tomecka.

In the second half, each team had one good chance but neither found the back of the net. In the 53rd minute, Boston took a quick free kick just outside the box on the left as Angela Hucles fed Lilly but Branam was there to stone the US Women’s National Team veteran with a two-fisted save at the near post.

In the 70th minute, a Sky Blue FC counter attack left Heather O’Reilly free inside the box but Scott flew in at the last second to stuff O’Reilly’s shot.

The Sky Blue FC defense kept the Boston attack at bay for the majority of the rest of the half, although the Breakers did create a couple late chances in stoppage time on shots from Lilly and Angela Hucles.

The Breakers have another bye week and will return to action on June 14 at home against Saint Louis Athletica. The game will also be broadcast live on Fox Soccer Channel as part of WPS Sunday on FSC at 6 pm ET/3pm PT.  Sky Blue FC trails to St. Louis to face Athletica on Sunday, June 7 at 4pm ET.

Boxscore (all statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial)

POST-GAME QUOTE SHEET

SKY BLUE FC INTERIM HEAD COACH KELLY LINDSEY

ON NATASHA KAI
I told Kai to have some freedom, enjoy it and get after it and show us her passion and spark that she used to show in the fans. I thought she came out and did great today. It was a tribute to her to release herself and play as hard as she could.

ON THE TEAM'S PERFORMANCE
Overall we talked about defensively constantly being in a good cover positions for each other so we could transition easy into our attack. I thought our team did that across the board – forwards, midfielders and defenders. It makes it easy for the backs to get forward when your team is compact and winning the ball higher on the field.

FORWARD NATASHA KAI

ON TODAY’S MATCH
We’re starting to move forward. We still have a lot of games left in the season and we’re just looking forward from there.

ON HAVING DIFFERENT ROLES
Being here and on the national team, you have different roles. Being a professional, you have to except a new role. If it’s my job to come off the bench and be that player for the team, then that’s my job and I’m going to do it to the best of my ability. I’m here for my girls – my team, my family. I'll do whatever it takes to help them win and lift their spirits up.

DEFENDER CHRISTIE RAMPONE

ON THE TEAM
This is a different team. We had a great week of practice and had a lot of fun today in the locker room There was a lot of emotion going on but at the end of the day, we focused on soccer and we enjoyed it and you could see the passion on the field today.

ON TODAY’S MATCH
We had a great game but I feel that we have more to give. We got a little slow at times but once we got the job done we got two goals in the back of the net. This team is still on the up and up.

ON NATASHA KAI
It’s great to see the energy back from her. I’ve seen it but the girls on this team haven’t seen it but I know its in her and its coming out slowly. She has to play a couple different roles on this team and today she had her freedom and she ran behind the back line and did what she knows how to do. Getting that early goal was huge for us and lifted our spirits heading into the rest of the game.

FORWARD/MIDFIELDER KACEY WHITE

ON THE SKY BLUE FC FANS
Today was a great turnout with great weather and we are lucky in this area to have a lot of committed fans that come see us day in and day out.

BOSTON BREAKERS HEAD COACH TONY DICICCO

ON KELLY SMITH’S INJURY
I think she had a collision with her English teammate (Anita Asante). We’re not sure yet. The Sky Blue FC doctor didn’t think it was too serious but we’ll check it out when we get back to Boston.

ON HIS TEAM’S DEFENSE
I don’t think we were real good defensively today. Sky Blue FC attacked our back line well and scored two good goals.

ON THE MATCH
We were chasing the game. We didn’t play very good soccer - kind of played direct, chasing the game and trying to flight balls. They fought hard and tried to get the equalizer but the bad thing was that we knew coming in we were going to have to bring a mentality and we didn’t bring it.