All tied up: The winning streak ended for Sporting Club Jacksonville women’s soccer, but Sophia Boman’s point-blank finish secured a 1-1 draw against Spokane Zephyr FC in Gainbridge Super League women’s soccer at a wind-swept Hodges Stadium on March 28.
Bo to the rescue: Jacksonville (12-4-5) trailed 1-0 in the 22nd minute when Ashlyn Puerta drilled a shot toward the top corner, and Spokane goalkeeper Hope Hisey could only parry it directly into Boman for a close-range equalizer.
Spokane’s strike: Spokane (6-8-8) grabbed an 18th-minute lead when Ginger Fontenot’s low pass broke the offside trap and eluded Sporting Jax defender Georgia Brown, enabling Felicia Knox to finish one-on-one past Kaitlyn Parks to end the goalkeeper’s 390-minute shutout streak.
Quick free kicks: Sporting Jax, playing against the wind in the second half, narrowly missed go-ahead goals on shots by Puerta and Baylee DeSmit. … Wind gusts reached 45 miles per hour at National Weather Service stations near the stadium during the match, forcing the teams to play without the usual covers for the benches. … Parks denied Spokane’s Tori Waldeck-Zierenberg on an 80th-minute breakaway down the left after a Zephyr pass accelerated in the wind. … Jacksonville, which remains atop the nine-team league and is unbeaten in its last five, controlled 72 percent of possession and outshot defensive-minded Spokane 14-5.
They said it: “We’ve seen it all now. We’ve played in an absolute monsoon, we’ve played in 95-degree weather last week [March 22 at Dallas Trinity], we’ve had the windy conditions against Carolina and today, we’ve played in snow. We’re ready for anything now.” —Sporting Jax head coach Stacey Balaam.
Up next: Sporting Jax stays on the First Coast and takes on Brooklyn FC at 2 p.m. April 4 at Hodges Stadium.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Sporting Jax women’s soccer ties Spokane in wild winds
Reporting by Clayton Freeman, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
