Midfielder Raquel Rodriguez disagrees with a referee’s call in Sky Blue FC’s 3-1 win over the Portland Thorns. Rodriguez opened the scoring of the match in 24 seconds, breaking the record for fastest goal in National Women’s Soccer League history. (Photo Credit Jeff Wong).
A week removed from avenging its first home loss of the year and leapfrogging their opponent in the standings, Sky Blue FC can do the latter once again this weekend.
The Jersey Girls travel to the Windy City Sunday to take on the Chicago Red Stars, who currently stand in second place of the National Women’s Soccer League with 17 points in nine games, one more than the visitors have managed in 10 matches.
With a win, Sky Blue takes its hosts spot in the standings, leaving only the North Carolina Courage in front of them. But the Jersey Girls aren’t getting ahead of themselves.
“We’re here to compete and be the best so long term goals is definitely to win the regular season first and then hopefully the playoffs,” said midfielder Rachel Rodriguez following a training session earlier in the week. “But I think it’s important to keep it one game at a time and if we take it one game at a time, it’ll take care of the big picture by itself.”
A title-winning campaign is built brick-by-brick, each match a stepping stone towards the top of the mountain.
If every match started the way their 3-1 win over Portland last weekend, Sky Blue would be in phenomenal position. With just 24 seconds gone, Rodriguez had put the Jersey Girls in front of the Thorns, breaking a NWSL record for fastest goal in league history and setting up her team for success in breaking their host’s eight-game unbeaten streak at home.
“It means a lot. I think it’s amazing and unexpected as well,” Rodriguez said of breaking the record. “To me, it’s a great joy and I’m really grateful but I’m just happy to help the team … I think the whole thing was cool because it was the whole team (who contributed).”
In the same match Rodriguez set a league record, her teammate set a new club milestone.
Sam Kerr scored a brace against the Thorns, the second goal her 15th for the club in her third season. With that, she became the club’s all-time leading goalscorer.
Still, she’s not satisfied yet — not with herself and not with the team’s standing in the league.
“It’s obviously pretty nice to i guess score so many goals, but for me I haven’t scored enough,” she said. “We haven’t won anything yet and I think anyone will tell you in the team that we want to win. Those things are nice but we’re halfway through the season, we’re sitting third and we want to be sitting first.”
The next step in that journey for Sky Blue is defeating the Red Stars Sunday, something the club has never done. In 10 matches between the sides since the NWSL debuted in 2013, Chicago has won four and drawn six, never falling to the Jersey Girls.
A win would break both that streak and a six-game unbeaten streak for the Red Stars, but more importantly for Sky Blue, it would be the next step its journey to the top.
“I think what’s really important for us right now is that we stay focused on the next game and day by day get better,” said head coach Christy Holly. “The ultimate goal for this season is being the best possible version of ourselves. Making sure that we replicate our potential in every game this season and if we can do that, we’re very confident the outcome of this season can be very positive not only for the club but for all of New Jersey. … So the ultimate goal of the season is to maximize our potential and the outcome in the end will take care of itself.”
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Sky Blue FC
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