Goalkeeper Lipsher Keeps Save Streak Alive, Beat Fall 3-0
May 1, 2011 - Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) - Atlanta Beat News Release
ROCHESTER, NY (May 1, 2011) - Atlanta Beat goalkeeper Alli Lipsher kept her double-digit save streak alive Sunday night as the Beat fell 3-0 to the Western New York Flash at Sahlen's Stadium when Christine Sinclair put away one in each half and Alex Morgan scored her first WPS career goal.
The Beat opened defensively as head coach James Galanis went with a 4-5-1 to place Meghan Lenczyk as the lone forward and Kylie Wright into the fifth midfielder role. The Flash took an early advantage midway through the half when Western New York's Marta got in behind the Atlanta defense. The Brazilian international and five-time FIFA World Player of the Year took the first of two back-to-back shots on Atlanta's goal. Beat keeper Lipsher came up with saves on both point-blank attempts before Flash forward Sinclair nodded away the third rebound and first goal of the match.
"We were on our heels the whole game because we didn't come to play," said Galanis. " It's simple. We made too many errors and we didn't work had enough off the ball. We had too many players that had a below average game, and you can't do that in this league or against an opponent like this."
Towards the end of the first half, the Beat began to find a rhythm with possession. However after the break, Galanis said, "We came out in second half flat again, so it was the same story of the same people losing the ball and not working hard enough."
A 59th minute mistake in the Atlanta Beat midfield set the stage for Sinclair's second goal of the match. Western New York's Alex Morgan also capitalized on a mistake in the midfield as she dispossessed an Atlanta player in the 73rd to score the game's final goal.
Despite a tough result, there were a couple bright spots for the Beat in this match. Forward Kristina Larsen, who replaced Kylie Wright at the half, had a near finish in the 77th. Larsen struck a high, arching shot, but Flash keeper Ashlynn Harris made a world-class save to preserve the scoreline. Beat keeper Lipsher recorded 10 saves to earn a third straight match with saves in double-digits. "Alli Lipsher played outstanding," said Galanis. "She made some great saves and was by far our best player on the field tonight."
"Going forward, we need to eliminate the errors that we are making. I am going to be looking for, and I am obviously going to be making a lot of changes to the line-up. That's what happens when you see players not giving enough effort. It makes you look at your squad and start to make some changes. We need to dissect this game to see all the tactical errors we made, and we need to take a look at how sloppy we were with possession. I think that when we watch the video, we will see that we simply made too many errors and that we didn't work hard enough."
The Beat return to action when they face magicJack on Sunday, May 8 at Florida Atlanta University in another 4:00 p.m. kickoff.
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Women's Professional Soccer Stories from May 1, 2011
- Sky Blue FC Suffers Road Defeat in Boston - Sky Blue FC
- Goalkeeper Lipsher Keeps Save Streak Alive, Beat Fall 3-0 - Atlanta Beat
- Sky Blue FC Faces Breakers in WPS Game of The Week - Sky Blue FC
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