In Women’s Professional Soccer, parity is often the name of the game, and things were no different on Wednesday night at Yurcak Field in New Jersey. FC Gold Pride came to the Garden State to take on Sky Blue FC in the final regular season edition of “The Battle of Teams That Choose to Not Identify Geographically”. Continue Reading

Some 18 weeks after breaking a bone in her knee in Sky Blue FC's final preseason match (way back on April 5th), goalkeeper Jenni Branam returned between the posts for the defending champs, but the visiting Chicago Red Stars put a damper on her first game back. A fourth minute tally from Ella Masar and a little insurance care of Karen Carney were all the Red Stars needed to hand Sky Blue their fourth consecutive loss. Brittany Taylor netted Sky Blue's lone goal, but her stoppage time tally was too little, too late for the Blue and Orange.

The Atlanta Beat came to New Jersey with something to prove. The expansion Beat currently sit in last place in the Women's Professional Soccer table and had just one win on the season coming into Sunday night's match. A win against defending WPS champions Sky Blue FC would go a long way towards making the case that the Beat are on the way up. Perhaps more importantly it would avenge the 1-0 loss to Sky Blue on an own-goal that put a damper on the Beat's home opener in early May. Lauren Barker reports.

Many Sky Blue fans would probably want to forget the last time they saw their team play at home. Those in attendance three weeks ago saw the blue and orange upstaged by the expansion Philadelphia Independence, in an ugly 4-1 drubbing. Since then Sky Blue has been busy, handing first place FC Gold Pride their first home loss of the season, sending six players to the WPS All-Star Game in Atlanta, and then meeting President Barack Obama, who honored the team at the White House on July 1st for their 2009 WPS Championship. They've also since lost All-Star goalkeeper Karen Bardsley, likely for the season, with a broken collarbone and Swedish striker Jessica Landstrom to FFC Frankfurt of the Frauen Bundesliga. On Wednesday night at Yurcak Field in New Jersey, Sky Blue FC finally came home and treated the 2,871 in attendance to a good ol' defensive battle, drawing 0-0 with the Washington Freedom. "A good, solid game" was how Sky Blue coach Pauliina Miettinen described it. Lauren Barker reports.

The FC Gold Pride suffered their third loss of the season tonight against NJ Sky Blue. Playing in triple-digit weather seemed to have a different and opposite effect on each team, with the Pride limping into the game with heavy legs and only beginning to heat up too late into the second half while Sky Blue consistently sizzled with offensive aplomb and a composed and cool defense. Alice Hsu reports.

The story-line of the night should have been Christie Rampone playing the full 90 and donning the captain's armband in her return to Yurcak. Instead it was two former Boston Breakers having two very different nights and one former Chicago Red Star who was left unprotected in the expansion draft delivering a breakout performance. Continue on to the story here.

In what could be considered the biggest upset win of this WPS season to date, the Chicago Red Stars, at the end of a tumultuous week of changing coaches, defeated league-leading FC Gold Pride and ended their five-game winning streak with an early second-half goal from Kosovare Asllani. Michael Kajdas reports from Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Ill., on that match.

The Boston Breakers came to Yurcak Field in New Jersey on Saturday night looking to stop two streaks, an all time winless record against defending WPS Champions Sky Blue FC and the five game winless streak they’ve carried since the second week of the season. After 90 minutes, the Breakers would leave with both still intact, playing to a 0-0 draw with Sky Blue in a game that saw Heather O’Reilly start at forward rather than her usual spot in midfield. The switch agreed with the U.S. international. “I have a lot of fun playing striker,” she said after the match. Lauren Barker reports from Piscataway, N.J.

Two weeks ago Sky Blue lost to Gold Pride, going down 3-1 on the west coast. And while the home teams were switched, the end result was still the same, with the Pride topping Sky Blue, this time by a 1-0 score. Christine Sinclair, who missed last week's match on National Team duty for Canada, scored the lone goal of the game in the 39th minute. Photo ©WomensProSoccer.com/ISI photos

The Chicago Red Stars, who have yet to score against Sky Blue FC, found the back of the net twice Saturday, only to have both goals negated by offside calls. Meanwhile the visitors, who showed little offense throughout the match, once again took advantage of a broken play to score the single goal through Natasha Kai to decide the game in their favor.

ASN's Michael Kajdas reports from Toyota Park.

On this brisk night in April and in front a home crowd, the FC Gold Pride found the back of the net three times in a huge win over reigning Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) Champions, Sky Blue FC. Whether it was due to the Pride’s owner, Nancy NeSmith’s pre-game and accurate 3-1 prediction, forward Christine Sinclair’s new purple with pink-striped shoes, or as coach, Albertin Montoya put it, the team “put[ing] on a show for their fans,” the packed stands (3,757) at Castro Valley High School in Hayward, California, were treated to quality soccer.

ASN's Alice Su reports.