Pali Blues Defeat LA Strikers 2-1 in Home Opener

Pacific Palisades, Calif. (May 30, 2012) – The Pali Blues kept their winning streak alive by defeating the LA Strikers 2-1 while playing at home for the first time in their 2012 W-League season. Two first half goals from Liz Bogus and Nikki Washington were enough for the Blues to get past the Strikers on Wednesday night at Palisades High School.

“I want to give credit to the Strikers for the exciting finish,” said Blues head coach Charlie Naimo. “They battled harder then I have seen team battle in a long time. We had enough chances in the first half to put the game away but failed to finish enough of them leaving the door open to an athletic, hungry, and well-coached team. And sure enough it became quite a ride.”

The match was off to an exciting start for the Blues with a few opportunities to score early on, but none resulted in a goal. The match was then paused in the 10th minute after Strikers goalkeeper Nicoline Jorgensen and defender Alex Quincey went down in a collision. Both players were taken off the field and replaced by Wendy Warner and Alyssa Congdon, respectively.

After the match resumed, the Blues regained their rhythm and found the opening goal of the night in the 30th minute of play. Nikki Washington took advantage of a loose ball in the penalty area and shot a bullet past Congdon to make it 1-0 for the Blues.

The home team picked up momentum and found its second goal 12 minutes later. As Bogus made an attempt on goal, her shot was knocked down by a defender and it went off the post. The referee made no mistake, and awarded the Blues a penalty kick after the hand ball. It was Bogus who took it, and placed it perfectly into the goal to double Pali’s lead.

The Strikers were able to get one back in the 57th minute when Sam Johnson made a run down the right side of the field and forced goalkeeper Anna Picarelli off her line. Johnson was able to get her near-post shot in and past Picarelli, but the score remained 2-1 in favor of the Blues through the final whistle.

“The good news is our team showed it has heart and discipline being able to hold on the way it did, because we trusted our reserves,” said Naimo on his squad. “We were able to get some extremely important players that were carrying injuries off the field without them getting worse. We saw some very strong performances- most notably, Liz Bogus who was the unanimous woman of the match when we discussed it as a staff.”

The Blues' next match will be the second of three straight home games at Stadium by the Sea at Palisades High School. They will face the Santa Clarita Blue Heat on Saturday, June 2, at 4 p.m. PT, and the Victoria Highlanders on June 6 at 7 p.m. PT. For tickets, visit bluessoccerclub.com.