MUTINY WIN TO ADVANCE

Article by JUSTIN SIMON 

NEW HYDE PARK, N.Y. - For a team coming off a dominating 5-1 win that saw their defense rarely tested last Sunday, the New England Mutiny came out flat last night in a quarterfinal matchup of the Women’s Premier Soccer League against the Long Island Fury at Tully Field.

To the rescue came Mary-Frances Monroe.

In an exciting game start to finish, the Mutiny came out on top 4-2. Karen Gurnon’s goal off a rebound after a corner kick in the 90th minute broke a 2-2 tie. Erin Clark scored in injury time for the final count.

The Mutiny’s scoring flourish came after the Fury tied the match at 2-2 in the 89th minute.

“I was trying not to go to overtime,” head coach Tony Horta said. “I thought they had better numbers than we did and a lot more healthy players on their bench. Lucky for us we got the rebound of that kick and the ball went in. Our girls showed a lot of heart tonight.”

After a Lorraine Quinn goal for the Fury after only three minutes of play, Monroe scored in the 16th minute of play to tie the score at 1-1. She then helped set up the go-ahead goal in the 35th minute, which was scored by Meghan Schnur. Monroe was fouled on the play which gave the Mutiny a free kick opportunity. Schnur beat the Fury’s goalie Becky Wachsberger to put the Mutiny ahead 2-1.

“I told the girls to just calm down,” Horta said. “They came out and maybe underestimated these girls (Fury) and then they kind of woke up. I’m very proud of them.”

With a chance to play archrival Soccerplus Connecticut on the line, head coach Tony Horta went with his backup goalie Chloe Beizer after she had a strong performance against Boston on Sunday. It’s safe to say she weathered the storm of the opening minutes. With two key saves in the opening five minutes, Beizer was the anchor of the Mutiny defense.

With the Fury only having one player out of college, the experience level of the Mutiny showed-especially by Monroe.

Numerous times she came up with scoring chances with about two shots that hit the post and two more that missed the net by inches.

Playing only 20 minutes from her hometown of Northport, N.Y., Monroe’s presence helped free up her teammates as the Fury defenders were keying on her the entire night.

The Mutiny will go on to play Connecticut Sunday at 2 p.m. “This team is ready to go back to where we came from and that’s the finals,” said Horta. “These girls are prepared for anyone and I think we can play with Soccerplus.”
 

GAME NOTES:

SCORING: 3′ Long Island - Quinn (Curtain) ; 16′ New England - Monroe (Clark) ; 35′ New England - Schnur (unassisted) ; 89′ Long Island - Curtain (Simonian) ; 90′ New England - Gurnon (Monroe) ; 90′ New England - Clark (Monroe)

Monroe (1G, 2A) 4 pts; Clark (1G, 1A) 3pts; Schnur (1G) 2 pts; Gurnon (1G) 2pts

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME: Mary-Frances Monroe

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME: Danielle Dakin