Sky Blue FC won on July 4th against the ranked 2, Boston Breakers, after a sad 2-1 loss against the St. Louis Athletica the previous week. The Blue's record now stands at 4-6-3.

 The game started with blue skies partly cloudy. The sky then turned grey for fans who were devastated to see USA WNT star Natasha Kai sitting out in a sling. She had dislocated her shoulder and injured it in previous games and was unable to play in that night's game.

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 That awful sight soon vanished when in the 6th minute, Heather O'reilly scored off a bending corner kick that fell into the hands of breaker goalie, Allie Lipsher. Lipsher could'nt get a full hand of the ball and she bounced it into the net. This marked Heather O'reilly's second goal of the season. She also earned MVP of the game.

 Sky Blue's next game will be July 15 against Abby Wambach and the Washington Freedom. This will be the Freedom's ONLY appearance in New Jersey, so come on out to Yurcak Field!!!

 Want more information? SkyBlueFC.com

Sky Blue FC won their 3rd game of the season (record now 3-5-3) Wednesday night in front of over 2500 fans (which isn't that bad for a school night on finals week). This is Sky Blue's second consecutive win against the Red Stars and will be playing them one more time in the neat future.

Rosana scored in the 24th minute with no assists. Megan Rapinoe fouled HAO near the touchline near the right corner. Yael Averbuch took the free kick (which was basically like a corner kick actually) and the ball bounced around in the 18 and 6 yard box many times. You have to see the replays because i can't eexplain how much effort it took to get that goal in the back of the net. The Sky Blue kept pounding deflected shots until Rosana scored. truly amazing.

 In the second half, Carli Lloyd took a free kick from the top of the 18 box. her attempt was truly amazing as it missed the hands of sbfc gk Jenni Branam, but hit the cross bar.

 The Sky Blue outscored the Red Stars 13-8, both teams putting 5 SOGs. Branam recorded 5 saves, One more than Jonsson.

Anita Asante warming up before the game

 The next Home game for the Sky Blue will be Sunday, June 28 against Abby Wambach and the Washington Freedom, 2pm ET (well double check the time cause taht doesnt seem right)

In week 12, Sky Blue FC tied with the LA Sol who is ranked 1st in the league. The score was 0-0 and the field was very very terrible (very). we're talking puddles on the sidelines and slip and slides. The rain stopped throughout the game, and suprisingly, stopped Marta. Her speed could just not cope with the slippery grass, so she had to play a little slower and she slipped a couple times herself.

 There were 4 great shot attempts in the game.

In the 14th minute, StrikerNatasha Kai, got past Sol defenders and hit a low soft shot past the hands of Sol keeper LeBlanc, but just hit the post!! darnn. The idea was good because you dont want to rip off a shot in conditions like these.

 45th minutes, Brazilian Rosana tried to get a volley on goal, but her foot didn't come over the ball so it went high and out of bounds.

 46th minute, Sky Blue defenders didn't communicate well enough and Aly Wagner, wide open noone on her, took a shot. Luckily for sbfc, branam was there to save it. It was an incredible save.

72nd minute, COLETTE MCCALLUM! kai was running up to shoot, but lost the ball because of a slide tackle. luckily, McCallum was there to save the loose ball, and ripped it from the top of the 18. The ball just went over the crossbar. Very thrilling.

The next SBFC game will be this WEDNESDAY! against the Chicago Red Stars, Kick off is at 7 i believe at Yurcak Field

Despite the early rain in the afternoon, Sky Blue managed to snag a win last Sunday against the Boston Breakers putting them into third place. SBFC is now tied for 6th place with the St. Louis Athletica. The Chicago Redstars manged to gain a point when they tied the LA Sol.

 The first goal was scored by natasha kai in the 4th minute off a feed from MEgan Schnur. It looked like Kai was going to shoot it aat Amy LePeilbet of the Breakers, but Kai did an inside cut and shot passed the fingers of Luckenbill.

 However in the 12th minute, Branam was not able to control an easy ball and it fell into the feet of kelly smith who tapped the ball in the net to make the score 1-1.

 It wasn't the last for branam. She came back with a phenominal save in the 15th minute (the replays dont catch how amazing the save really was. It was way more amazing)

 Kacey White got her chance at stardom when Schnur again fed her the ball and White tapped it over the head of Luckenbill.

 Somewhere in all this commotion, Kai dented the side bar when tried to do a hard volley into the back of the wide open net. I think she was so confident taht she missed. It was very thrilling...

The SBFC will play their first game against the St. Louis Athletica this weekend. If SBFC wins this, they rise to 6th place and put the Athletica in the bottom of the league.

SKY WHO? SKY BLUE!
oh and dont forget to check out the ticket specials. i would buy each and everyone one if i could. haha

Yesterday, Sky Blue FC announced that Coach and General Manager, Ian Sawyers, was relieved of his duties with the organization. According to CEO Thomas Hofstetter, "the disagreements between the coach, team, and management made it impossible to move forward successfully."

I'd like to offer more insight but the organization seems pretty tight lipped regarding the situation. It's really hard to even begin to guess what went on behind closed doors. Many thought the initial suspension of Sawyers was due to the team's poor start this season, but now we know it was much more.

In my opinion, I think one major problem was the dual role Sawyers played -- General Manager AND Head Coach. I just don't think it works. The GM is a business role responsible for acquiring the rights to player personnel, negotiating contracts and even managing the head coach. And the head coach is responsible for player allocation and scouting. You can't do both. More importantly you shouldn't. It's bad business. There are numerous cases in the sports industry where this dual role has proven troublesome. Now we can add Sky Blue to the list.

What I will quickly say is that I have always been a big fan of Sawyers and am extremely disappointed in this week's turn of events. He has so much knowledge and experience to offer the women's game. This is truly a loss, not just for Sky Blue, but for WPS as a whole.

Replacing Sawyers as the head coach will be Kelly Lindsey, who took over as interim coach last weekend against the Washington Freedom. Sky Blue FC's VP of Sales & Marketing Gerry Marrone will take over Sawyer's GM responsibilities.

Sky Blue faces the Boston Breakers this Sunday for its' first home appearance at Rutgers' Yurcak Field. If you can't make it out to the game, tune into Fox Soccer Channel at 6pm ET to catch them live!

Friday marked another loss for the New Jersey Sky Blue fc against the LA Sol. Sky Blue FC now holds a record of 1-3-2

 Sawyers kept the same lineup as their game last week, but Sarah Walsh, who scored the first goal in the game against chicago, happened to fail a very late fitness test and was replaced by Brazilian, Rosana.

 The Sky brought up a weak first half and Jenni Branam went down with an injured finger. She was ohkay and played the rest of the 90.

Aya Miyama of the Sol faked out two defenders in the 10th minute, tried to hit it to the wide bottom right corner, but there was Branam with an excellant diver. The ball wasn't flat yet as Sol still kept it within the lines and passed it through the six. Luckily (for us sbfc fans) no one was there to finish it and the ball was cleared out.

 And at the 80th minute, Marta made a run from a great long pass by Camile Abily. Branam went out and tried to save it but she just couldn't get to it as Marta faked her out and shot the ball. Some people say that the goal was offsides, but officials never raised the flag. After seeing so much controversy on the subject, i believe Marta really was onsides.

One goal against Sky Blue FC was jus the  beginning of their let down. Less than a minute after the goal, US WNT Forward, Natasha Kai, collided with Sol/Canadian Keeper, Karina LeBlanc, and was taken away on the stretcher. The injury is still unknown to fans, but fro ma fan's perspective, it seemed to be very serious. There are no health updates so i'm assuming she's ohkay. The quesiton now is if she will be playing next week.

In the 92 minute, the equalizer was almost at hand when MEgan Shnur had an SOG but missed the poster by 6 inches.

 Over all, I believe the Sky did a very good job on defending and they held off the goal for 80 minutes. Remember they are playing the ranked 1 team in the WPS.

The next game will be next week against Washington Freedom. It will be on matchtracker and i'm assuming twitter.

til next game,

MONA<3

ps. as you can see, i love goalie pictures =]

It was a great night at toyota park. The sun was FINALLY shining to please the red stars fans, who have endured the rain for their past home games. The crowd was good, numbering over 3,500 fans around the chicago area, but the fun didn't last long for them.

 In the 8th minute, Collette McCallum hit a lefty pass to Sarah Walsh and was able to find the back of the net, scoring the 2nd goal in Sky Blue FC's franchise, and putting the Sky in the lead for the first time this season. (woo hoo!). This was also Walsh's first goal of the season.

 At the 11th minute, Walsh again had an opportuniy to score with the same play she did earlier in the game, but just couldn't tap it to Natasha Kai.

 In the 38th minute (or maybe the even 37th) Goal Keeper, Jenni Branam, made an important save when Megan Rapinoe (crs) passed the ball to Lindsay Tarpley inside the 18 box. Luckily, Branam made the perfect decision, getting to the ball before Tarpley did.

Branam again made an amazing save when Karen Carney (crs) hit a right foot shot to the bottom left corner of the net. Branam had an amazing diving saver.

Now for the best goal attemption of the night, and those who watched teh game kno what I'm talking about. Near the 57th minute, McCallum hit a left footed cross to Natasha Kai, who would obviously head it in, right? Kai actually headed/ passed it into the feet of NJ native, Heather O'Reilly. She ripped off a shot, right footed and all of a sudden, the loudest bar denting sound occured. HAO was not able to find the back of the net, but she created the loudest noise of the game (other than the fans of course).

And finally, in the 79th minute, McCallum AGAIN finds an open player, this time Kelly Parker. Parker passed the ball into the lower right corner of the net. Kai came storming in to secure the pass and put the Sky Blue up again one goal. This too was Kai's first goal of the season and she pleased many of her fans who were just waiting for her to score.

Ill. native Julianne Sitch (a personal fave) and Canadian Kelly Parker received yellow cards for "unsporting Behavior"...what ever that means. Im reading the Box stats.

the final score was 2-0 sky.

Sky Blue FC FINALLY won a game giving them a record of 1-2-2 and tied for 5th place with the Washington Freedom and STL Athletica.

I will admit there were some scary parts, especially the ones where people bring out the stretcher.

I heard that Sitch got hurt again, but i know it's nothing critical because she played a full 90. Later on in the game, I saw a LOT of players from the Sky Blue FC starting to cramp up, but i think that was a good thing. It showed the the Sky really wanted and needed this.

I think for me, the scariest thing was when GK Jenni Branam went down with something in her (i think) left knee. We assume she has previosly injured it before because she always has tape on it. I'm a pretty big Branam fan (well i'm always a fan of the GKs, but i guess it's just me =] ) i was perty scared because she has a great soccer backround and history. Adding to that, she's a totally amazing goalie. Good thing she's ohkay.

But soccer is great to watch when it gets scary, right?

 Anyways, go celebrate SBFC's first win of the season. I screamed my head off when the final blew. My parents thought i was crazy. hahaha!

Tune into the Universal Channel this Friday, the 15th @ 10:30 ET when the SBFC takes on first place LA Sol! Channel listings can befound on the Sky Blue Website, SkyBlueFC.com. WATCH IT!!

The Next SBFC home game will be May 31st Against the Boston Breakers, who reign at 2nd place in the league. This will be the firsttime Sky Blue will face them

til next time, monaa

Great news, Sky Blue fans! The NY/NJ franchise announced today that two of its upcoming WPS games will be televised on Universal Sports. The matches, both against Los Angeles, will be televised on Friday, May 15 at 10:30 p.m. ET and on June 13 at 7pm ET.

As of yet, Sky Blue is only the 2nd team in the league to provide additional gameday broadcasts to its fans. With the two added telecasts, four of the next six Sky Blue games will be broadcast on television!

For more information, visit Sky Blue FC.

Don't forget to tune in to Fox Soccer Channel this Sunday at 6pm ET as Sky Blue FC takes on the Chicago Red Stars.

This past weekend, Sky Blue FC traveled to the West Coast to take on FC Gold Pride for the second time this season. Unfortunately, Sky Blue gave up a goal in the final 4 minutes to fall to FC Gold Pride, 1-0. To see the WPS official gameday recap, click here.

The good news is that captain Christie Rampone, after suffering a hamstring injury in Sky Blue's first game, has returned to the lineup adding a much needed anchor in the defense. Her leadership and skill on the backline is unmatched and in her absence there has been an obvious hole on the pitch.

The bad news is, despite Rampone's return, Sky Blue now finds itself in last place (SB is tied in points with St. Louis, however if they were to go head-to-head with Athletica, SBFC has less 'goals for' which puts them in 7th place). In Sky Blue's four games this season, they have only been able to find the back of the net once. I may not be a world-class coach, but it's obvious something needs to change offensively. Sky Blue has the talent, but for some reason they haven't found the chemistry to make things happen up front.

Who I like offensively -- Sarah Walsh, Heather O'Reilly, and Yael Averbuch. Kasey White is another player I'd like to see more of. She only has a 40% SOG average, but she creates alot of dangerous opportunies in attacking third for Sky Blue. Obviously, Natasha Kai is another player who creates opportunities coming off the bench, however we really haven't seen much from her...yet.

Next Sunday, May 10, Sky Blue FC continues its month-long road trip and travels to Bridgeview, IL to face 3rd place Chicago Red Stars.  The game will air on Fox Soccer Channel at 6pm ET. The last meeting between the Red Stars and Sky Blue resulted in a 0-0 tie.

For tickets to Sky Blue FC's next home game on May 31, visit the Sky Blue Store. Currently, SBFC is offering a Family 4-Pack (which includes 4 tickets, 4 hot dogs, 4 sodas, and 4 bags of chips)!