Long Island looked the most likely to score early. Their first chance of the game came in the fifth minute when winger Jen Leaverton drifted away from United left back Megan Watson and down the right side, before centering the ball for forward Brooke DeRosa. DeRosa, who scored one of the Long Island goals in their 2-0 win over United earlier this month, was only able to shoot meekly at United goalkeeper Kerri Butler. United’s answer to that only took six minutes to come, as midfielder Danielle Malagari played a ball over the top of the Long Island defense to forward Christie Welsh. Welsh entered the area and cooly shot over the Krista Thorn, the rushing Long Island goalkeeper, to give United a 1-0 lead. Malagari and Welsh nearly teamed up to tally again in the 24th minute, when Malagari headed a Thorn goal kick to Welsh, but Welsh’s eventual low shot was saved by Thorn. Both Malagari and Welsh would exit after the 38th minute due to lingering injury issues in favor of midfielder Aly Shaughnessy and forward Katie Watson. United took their 1-0 lead to halftime.

The second half was barely underway before United struck again. Forward Amalya Clayton received a Katie Watson pass on the left inside the area and beat Thorn to the far post in the 48th minute. Despite conceding chunks of possession to Long Island at times, United seemed comfortable with their lead. In the 65th minute it was Long Island making things interesting, as a DeRosa cross from the defensive left found Leaverton just yards from goal to score and cut the United lead in half. United should have had a chance to restore their lead just four minutes later, but referee Ron Harnage did not award a penalty kick when Long Island defender Sade Ayinde leaped and landed on Clayton just inside the edge of the area on the right. Clayton fell under Ayinde and United players and coaches appealed, but no penalty came.

The remainder of the match was played mostly in the United defensive half. A 70th minute Shaughnessy giveaway in deep midfield nearly led to a Rough Riders equalizer, but the defense was able to scramble it away. Long Island again nearly equalized in the 81st minute when Ayinde ventured forward, fended off defenders, and hit a sliding shot from 16 yards that beat Butler but hit the post and bounced back into play. United were able to clear. Just a minute later, DeRosa looked to test Butler, but her shot floated just over the bar. As the second half entered stoppage time, Long Island had three or four successive opportunities to shoot in the United area, but all were stopped by United defensive interventions, and Butler was not bothered.

When the final whistle blew, there was some visible relief from United players and coaches. The win is a big one in the W-League Northeast Division standings, which now show United in 3rd place with 11 points behind Long Island and the New Jersey Wildcats who are tied for first (14 points.) United has played one more game than each of those teams, and has two left to play. There is still a chance that United will earn one of the two playoffs spots allotted to the division, but they’ll need help in the way of Long Island or New Jersey dropping points as their seasons wind down. It can be done, but United will also need to take care of their own business in their final two games.

Seattle have played three matches more than Philadelphia, but they’ve shot nearly 100 times more (220) than the Union (127.) Kansas City and Real Salt Lake are tied for the least games played in MLS (12), but Real are 11 points better (21 to 10.) Of course some of that has to do with the fact that Kansas City opened with a massive road trip while Livestrong Sporting Park was constructed. The other part of that has to do with the fact that Kansas City aren’t very good. Just three teams have scored 20 or more goals: Los Angeles (23), New York (21), and San Jose (20.) On we go to the statistics we use for the rankings, sorted by PPG (points per game)…
(GPG = goals per game / SPG = shots per game / %SOG = percentage of shots that are on goal / %S=G = percentage of shots resulting in goals / %SOG=G = percentage of shots on goal resulting in goals / FD = foul differential, fouls suffered minus fouls committed)

Los Angeles have played the most games in MLS (17) and because of that it makes sense that they’d have earned the most points (31), but they also have the best PPG (1.82). On the other end of the spectrum is Vancouver (0.73). Only two teams are shooting less than 10 times per game: Colorado (9.93) and Philadelphia (9.77), but both are in the top third of the league in PPG. Let’s move onto the rankings, sorted by PPG, with the top 3 of each category in blue and the bottom 3 in orange…

Immediately I notice that none of the top four teams in PPG are in the top three in GPG. Los Angeles is the best (4th, 1.35) of that bunch, and the other three are 8th or worse. San Jose as a whole are at the top of the league in three of the offensive (non-PPG or foul differential) categories, leading GPG (1.54), shots resulting in goals (12.82%) and shots on goal resulting in goals (36.36%). Conversely, Columbus are bottom three in all but one offensive category, coming in at 16th in GPG (1.00), shots on goal (31.87%) and shots on goal resulting in goals (24.14%), and they’re 17th in shots resulting in goals (7.69%). But at least Columbus are only 10th in PPG, compared to New England who are experiencing even worse offensive performance (dead last in two categories, bottom three in two others), and are 16th in PPG.
As much as I hate to admit it, New York have come a long way since the first Statistical Analysis. They were last in three offensive categories and 17th in another after playing 4 games, but now they’re fourth or better in three. The biggest improvement has come in GPG, from last with 0.50 goals to second with 1.50. I imagine much of that has to do with their improvement in finding the frame, from 17th with 31.03% of shots finding the frame to second with 39.43%.

It’s great to see D.C. United in the top three in the league in three offensive categories. The Black and Red are scoring 1.38 GPG (3rd), and their percentage of shots on goal (41.26%) leads the league. This all comes despite shooting only 11.00 times per game (15th), which is exactly the same number of shots they averaged after four games, but that number was good enough for 12th then. Despite their accuracy when shooting, the shots that do find the frame are only going in 30.15% of the time, good for 8th. What’s troubling is that this team is actually shooting less than they did last year (11.23 SPG). What’s it going to take to get these guys to just shoot the ball when they’re in range?
Next up we’ll get to the defense and goalkeeping. I expect troubling numbers in the goalkeeping department for D.C., strong defensive numbers for Philadelphia, Real Salt Lake and Colorado, and very troubling defensive and goalkeeping numbers for Kansas City, and potentially Chivas.

United fell behind 2-0 before the first half was halfway through. The United goal came through Jill Porto, assisted by Danielle Malagari. After halftime, the Valkyries bunkered defensively and held on for the win.

Next weekend United travels to face the Long Island Rough Riders on Saturday, June 18th, and the New Jersey Rangers the next day (yes, New Jersey has three teams.)

The kickoff of the match was delayed about two hours by lightning and thunder associated with a passing thunderstorm. The fans were pulled out of the stands and the players, who had been warming up, were pulled off the field. Kickoff came shortly after 9:00pm, and New Jersey nearly took the lead on four minutes when United goalkeeper Didi Haracic’s clearance of a backpass was errant and went directly to a Wildcats player. Haracic recovered and made a save on the ensuing shot. United’s left midfielder Katie Menzie looked dangerous early, taking players on and winning 50/50 balls defensively. Her involvement led to the Wildcats swapping Kylee Rossi, the scorer in the Wildcats 1-0 triumph over D.C., from left midfield to right, with an emphasis on defending Menzie more attentively. On 13 minutes, another D.C. United error, this time coming when left back Brittany Cummins chested a ball down on the edge of the six yard box before her clearance struck one of her own players and headed towards the goal. Haracic scrambled across and dove at it, but it went wide and behind for a corner.

Despite possessing the ball well in the first half, United did not often trouble Wildcats goalkeeper Caroline Williams. Lone forward Tiffany Brown should take some of the blame for that, as many times her short and easy passes were inaccurate, and she did not hold the ball well against defenders. In the 35th minute, United were denied a penalty kick when the extended arm of a Wildcats defender made contact with the ball just inside the area. Players appealed for the penalty to be given, but the referee waved off protests. Mistakes in the United defensive third nearly came back to bite them again, when Cummins kept Wildcats forward Jessica Fuccello onside in the 42nd minute, but Fuccello’s close shot was saved by a sprawling Haracic. Nearly undone by their own mistakes, United could have considered themselves lucky to be level at 0-0 at the half.

Shortly after the start of the second half, forward Christie Welsh began warming up for United, undoubtedly to hold the ball better and allow the midfielders to get forward. In the 60th minute, midfielder Danielle Malagari (co-captains with defender Marisa Abegg) played defender Bri Hovington behind on a ball to the corner. Hovington beat a defender before sending a cross through the area that eluded everyone, but resulted in a collision with Williams who remained on the ground injured, before being substituted for reserve goalkeeper Emmy Simpkins. Malagari was instrumental in facilitating the attack, often sitting just on top of the back four, finding open areas to receive the ball and moving it forward from there. She enabled the two other central midfielders, Hayley Siegel (until she switched places with Katie Menzie) and Christine Nairn to be more adventurous going forward until she herself was substituted for Katie Cramp in the 72nd minute. Welsh entered the game for Brown at the same time, and that substitution paid nearly instant dividends. Hovington played a long ball over the top to Welsh with the Wildcats defense standing still in anticipation of the offside flag being raised. Welsh kept playing, collected the ball, rounded Simpkins, and blasted the ball into the net to give United the lead. The lead was short lived though, as the Wildcats drew even on Andrea Lopez’s looping effort that flew over a diving Haracic and ducked under the bar in the 85th minute. Lopez did not see the end of the match after being ejected in stoppage time. United had one more good chance to retake the lead, with Nairn winning the ball in the shallow midfield in the 87th minute, advancing on goal and shooting from distance, causing Simpkins to make a diving save to her right.

The draw levels United’s record at 1-1-1. They certainly had an opportunity to win, and will probably be kicking themselves for letting the game get away, and letting New Jersey have some easy chances in the early going. This appears to be a solid team with potential to win plenty of games if they can sort out the forward situation. Their next match is this Sunday, June 12, on the road at the 5th place North Jersey Valkyries. The next United home match is Saturday, June 25th, against the New York Magic.

D.C. United Women
Record: 1-1-0
Standing: 3rd in the W-League Northeast Division, Eastern Conference
Update: United recovered nicely from their 1-0 season opening loss to New Jersey by winning 3-0 at New York. The club will look to avenge that initial loss in their first ever home game tomorrow night.
Next home game: 6/9 vs. New Jersey @ Maryland Soccerplex, Boyds, MD.

Northern Virginia Royals
Record: 2-4-0
Standing: 4th in the PDL South Atlantic Division, Eastern Conference
Update: After opening their season with a three game losing streak, the Royals won two games in a row over Carolina Dynamo and Fredericksburg Hotspur. Just when things were starting to look up, they suffered a thumping 3-0 defeat to Carolina last Saturday.
Next home game: 6/8 vs. Real Maryland @ Hellwig Memorial Field Stadium, Manassas, VA.

Northern Virginia Majestics
Record: 0-1-1
Standing: 6th in the W-League Atlantic Division, Eastern Conference
Update: The Majestics earned their only point of the season thus far by scoring two goals in the second half to earn a 3-3 draw with Dayton. They have two games to play of a three game homestand, the last of which being part of a doubleheader with the Royals on 6/18.
Next home game: 6/11 vs. Charlotte @ Hellwig Memorial Field Stadium, Manassas, VA.

Real Maryland Monarchs
Record: 4-1-1
Standing: 1st in the PDL South Atlantic Division, Eastern Conference
Update: Real Maryland are currently riding a three match unbeaten streak (2-1-0) that began after their only loss of the season, 1-0 to the West Virginia Chaos. The Chaos appeared to have the Monarchs’ number in their next meeting after racing out to a 3-0 lead, but Real Maryland scored three goals in three minutes to salvage a 3-3 draw.
Next home game: 6/11 vs. Virginia Beach @ Richard Montgomery High School, Rockville, MD.

D.C. United fans may be interested to know that the ASA Chesapeake Charge of the WPSL (Women’s Premier Soccer League) list Alexa Quaranta on their roster, who turns out to be a sister of Jenna Quaranta who plays at University of Maryland – Baltimore County. Those two are Santino Quaranta’s cousins.

Group A
Heather Mitts – 40.7%
Lauren Sesselmann – 22.2%
Becky Sauerbrunn – 14.8%
Lauren Cheney – 11.1%
Keeley Dowling – 11.1%
Heather Mitts winning the group was no surprise, but Lauren Cheney not making it out of the group was. I wonder whether she might have done better if the voting had occurred after the goal she scored on Sunday, because that was hot. Mitts was the group winner with the widest margin of victory.

Group B
Taryn Hemmings – 32.1%
Bianca D’Agostino – 32.1%
Hope Solo – 28.6%
Kelley O’Hara – 7.1%
Carli Lloyd – 0%
This was the closest race for the finals, with Solo barely missing out on a three way tie. That Solo did not move on is a surprise, as two relatively unknown players combine to keep her out.

Group C
Amy Rodriguez – 28%
Leslie Osborne – 28%
Katherine Reynolds – 24%
Ashlyn Harris – 20%
Meghan Schnur – 0%
I never thought this group would be so close overall, save Schnur. Harris being eliminated means no goalkeepers move on. Rodriguez and Osborne were the chalk, though Reynolds made an upset bid.

Group D
Alex Morgan – 46.2%
Cat Whitehill – 38.5%
Carrie Dew – 11.5%
Tina DiMartino – 3.9%
Marian Dalmy – 0%
Morgan and Whitehill simply trounced this group. Morgan was the winner with the highest percentage of votes.

Heather Mitts

Polls close Thursday, June 9th.

D.C. United Women Starters
G: Didi Haracic
D: Marisa Abegg, Bri Hovington, Jerica DeWolfe, Brittany Cummins
M: Danielle Malagari, Christy Bush, Christine Nairn, Katie Menzie
F: Katie Watson, Tiffany Brown

(subs not listed)

I am presuming that previously unavailable United players Christie Welsh and Hayley Siegel have been approved and will be available for selection. The team’s roster on the W-League site has a few new names on it, such as Madyson Brown, Amalya Clayton, and Elisa Davidson, which at the very least makes them substantially deeper from a personnel standpoint.

A look at the New York roster doesn’t yield many recognizable names, if any at all, but I’d suggest that United stop Rashidah Sherman, who has scored four goals on 14 shots in three games. No other Magic player has scored, and only one player has an assist.

Despite not having yet seen United play, I have a feeling that this is a winnable match for them. New Jersey defeated New York 3-1, and that same New Jersey team needed an 88th minute goal to beat United. New York are not advertising any stream for this game, so I can only hope that the D.C. United Women Twitter feed will be updating as the game goes along.

Team News:

D.C. United
Injured: M – Branko Boskovic (ACL), D – Marc Burch (hamstring), M – Junior (ankle), D – Devon McTavish (concussion), M – Santino Quaranta (concussion), D – Jed Zayner (hamstring)
Absent: D – Dejan Jakovic (international duty)
Questionable: Kurt Morsink (ankle)

Galaxy
Injured: D – Sean Alvarado (knee), D – Leonardo (knee)
Absent: G – Donovan Ricketts (international duty), M – Landon Donovan (international duty)
Questionable: F – Adam Cristman (knee)

Los Angeles ended the month of May with a four game winning streak and a six game unbeaten streak after starting the month with a 2-1 loss to FC Dallas. The team that will take the field tonight will not be the same team that ran up that impressive record, as Landon Donovan and Donovan Ricketts will be with their respective national teams, taking Donovan’s league leading eight goals and Ricketts’ 0.55 goals against average with them. The Galaxy will lean on Josh Saunders in goal (1.5 GAA in four starts, with a 2-1-1 record), and they have more than enough firepower to make up for Donovan’s absence with players such as Juan Pablo Angel, David Beckham and Juninho. Of course none of those three field players have the speed of Donovan, or are as much of a threat in one v. one situations, which is something that no one Galaxy player can replace. How Los Angeles makes up for those absences is going to play a key role in the outcome of this match.

D.C. United received recent good news in the form of the returns to health of Dax McCarty and Charlie Davies. Coach Ben Olsen has a difficult decision on his hands over who to start up front, as Davies joins Josh Wolff and Blake Brettschneider as available potential starting forwards. On the other end of the pitch, United will likely play three rookies in defense: Chris Korb, Perry Kitchen and Ethan White. In winning at Portland, United were able to defy the notion that teams could not win when traveling coast to coast, and opted to stay out west with a short week to prepare for Los Angeles. Hopefully the players are acclimated to the time difference.

I believe the pressure tonight is going to be on the United defense in a game that is more likely to feature four goals or more than one goal or less. The kids have shown that they can rise to the occasion, but will they?

GROUP A:

Heather Mitts

Team: Atlanta Beat
Age: 32
Height: 5’5
Currently injured and missing the Women’s World Cup, Mitts has long been considered the hottest female soccer player around. Can anyone unseat her?

Lauren Cheney

Team: Boston Breakers
Age: 23
Height: 5’8
A dangerous forward, Cheney will be looking to help the US win the Women’s World Cup in Germany this summer.

Lauren Sesselmann

Team: Atlanta Beat
Age: 27
Height: 5’8
Twitter: @lsesselmann
Sesselmann lists “model” as part of her Twitter bio. Yeah, I’m good with that.

Keeley Dowling

Team: Atlanta Beat
Age: 28
Height: 5’7
Dowling is a University of Tennessee graduate and a fringe member of the National Team pool. She’s not going to Germany, but that means we get to see more of her here.

Becky Sauerbrunn

Team: magicJack
Age: 25
Height: 5’7
Her play in WPS has led to inclusion in the World Cup team. Even though they’re not the Freedom anymore, Sauerbrunn has the distinction of having scored the franchise’s first WPS goal.

GROUP B:

Hope Solo

Team: magicJack
Age: 29
Height: 5’9
Twitter: @hopesolo
Solo gets more press for what she says than what she does on the field. That’s a shame, as her talents need no description.

Taryn Hemmings

Team: Boston Breakers
Age: 25
Height: 5’7
Twitter: @tarynbell
I don’t really know much about her, other than that she’s a 2nd year player from the University of Denver. Also, wow.

Bianca D’Agostino

Team: Atlanta Beat
Age: 22
Height: 5’3
Twitter: @BiancaDAgostino [protected]
She hasn’t gotten much time on the field in WPS, so I’ve had to give you a picture from her time with the US U-23 team. Seeing more of her would be nice.

Kelley O’Hara

Team: Boston Breakers
Age: 22
Height: 5’5
O’Hara broke Kristine Lilly’s beep test record with the National Team, which means she’s got to be the fittest player on the team. That’s not the only superlative I’d bestow.

Carli Lloyd

Team: Atlanta Beat
Age: 28
Height: 5’8
Twitter: @carlilloyd
Lloyd is a polarizing player in WNT fan circles, and then she puts a rocket into the upper 90 from 30 yards and all is forgiven.

GROUP C:

Amy Rodriguez

Team: Philadelphia Independence
Age: 24
Height: 5’4
Fast, skilled, and for my money one of the keys to the success of the World Cup team. Also, she looks great in HD.

Leslie Osborne

Team: Boston Breakers
Age: 28
Height: 5’7
Twitter: @LeslieOsborne12
Osborne came closest to defeating Heather Mitts in the first poll. You can see why.

Ashlyn Harris

Team: Western New York Flash
Age: 5’9
Height: 25
Harris was the odd woman out as far as World Cup goalkeepers go, and the second and final goalkeeper in the poll. Is she #1 overall?

Meghan Schnur

Team: magicJack
Age: 26
Height: 5’6
Another fringe National Teamer, Schnur will be called upon to step up in the World Cup absence of many magicJack players. Can she step up here?

Katherine Reynolds

Team: Atlanta Beat
Age: 23
Height: 5’8
Twitter: @KReynolds16
I don’t know much about her. I do know that Reynolds is the 7th of 8 Atlanta Beat players in the poll, but she’s the only one in this group.

GROUP D:

Alex Morgan

Team: Western New York Flash
Age: 21
Height: 5’8
Twitter: @alexmorgan13
Morgan got a lot of support on Twitter when I solicited suggestions for candidates in the poll. Of course I was already going to include her. Oh, and she scored the most important US goal in World Cup qualifying.

Carrie Dew

Team: Sky Blue FC
Age: 24
Height: 5’9
Twitter: @CarrieDew19
Dew is the lone Sky Blue FC representative. What’s not to like about tall and blonde?

Tina DiMartino

Team: Philadelphia Independence
Age: 24
Height: 5’2
DiMartino is the shortest player in the poll, but I’ve always contended that short = cute…

Marian Dalmy

Team: magicJack
Age: 26
Height: 5’9
It really is a shame that so many media restrictions are in place at magicJack. How are we supposed to see more of her?

Cat Whitehill

Team: Atlanta Beat
Age: 29
Height: 5’7
Twitter: @catwhitehill4
The final Beat player and final entrant, Whitehill also has sports broadcasting aspirations. Plus she has the distinction of being the only player in the poll that I’ve actually met.