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The Portland Rain finaly were able to finish one of their chances on goal Sunday evening as they took a 1-0 victory over the host Fraser Valley Action in a much more evenly played rematch. This was in sharp contrast to the first match between the two teams played a week prior in Portland when the Rain thoroughly dominated the game only to come up short in a 0-1 loss. It took a good portion of the first half for the Rain to adjust to the much slower natural turf field at Trinity Western University. They did, however, ger a couple of good chances in the first half. Early in about the 8th minute a good hustle play by Mimi Osei-Agyemang allowed her to play a strong cross into the box which was barely touched away by the Fraser Valley goalkeeper. The slow, bouncing rebound was run through by a charging rain player, redirecting the path of the ball toward the open net. Just as it seemed the ball would roll into the empty net, the Fraser Valley keeper recovered nicely to pounce on the ball, seemingly over the goal line, to smother the chance. Portland nearly scored again in the 21st minute when a Christa Thoeresz cross found the head of Tami Perkins who had the keeper beat to the far post, only to watch her strong header sail just wide. Fraser Valley had a couple of decent chances, but the Rain defense again held strong to earn the first half shutout. The score was 0-0 at the half. The second half was more of the same even, physical play by both sides. The first Rain threat on goal came in the 60th minute when Laurie Smith turned and shot a strong ball from the top of the box. The Fraser Valley keeper was just able to touch the ball up into the crossbar and have the rebound cleared by her defense, again holding the Rain off the scoreboard. Just as it seemed Portland might again carry the 2 game scoring curse over to this match, salvation! In the 68th minute, a driven restart from about 25 yards out by Katie Lim found Tami Perkins, who this time was able to put her header on goal to beat the Fraser Valley keeper and make the score 1-0. Fraser Valley responded in the 72nd minute when a corner kick was headed strong but just barely over the crossbar. (Sigh of relief!) Portland threatened again when in the 77th minute a driven corner was directed just wide of the far post past the beaten Fraser Valley keeper. Portland again had a chance to add a goal in the 82nd minute when Mary Cascio received a beautiful through ball, puting her one on one with the Fraser Valley keeper. Cascio tried to dribble left past the keeper with a defender clinging to her close behind. The Fraser Valley keeper was just able to get a finger or two on the ball, enough to earn her defenders time to recover and make a follow up shot by Mimi Osei-Agyemang easy to save. Fraser Valley played much better and with more confidence than in the week prior in Portland. This game could have gone either way. Portland Rain Starting Lineup: Mountain (GK) J. Miller, Boyce, Lim, Cecchini (D) Perkins, Thoeresz, Merlitti, Hughes (M) Osei-Agyemang, Smith (F) Subs: Potocny, Cascio. |