May 26 2008

 

In their second league game of the season, the Washington Freedom defeated the Fredericksburg Lady Gunners thanks to a hat trick by forward Jenn Parsons. Although the Freedom only led by one goal at halftime, they had taken 16 shots and forced the Lady Gunners’ goalkeeper to make 11 saves.

 

After registering 6 shots in the first 10 minutes of the match, the Freedom finally got on the scoreboard in the 12^th minute when a shot from outside the penalty area was mishandled by Gunner goalie Amanda Barasha, and Parsons calmly tucked the rebound away. Despite outshooting the Lady Gunners, the Freedom failed to score again in the half, and gave up a couple dangerous scoring opportunities to their opponents due to defensive lapses.

 

In the second half the Freedom continued to struggle to make the most of their scoring opportunities. It wasn’t until the 60^th minute that Parsons once again found the back of the net. In a manner very similar to the first-half goal, a long shot was stopped by Barasha, only to ricochet off the crossbar and land at Parsons’ feet. She quickly slotted the ball into the lower corner of the goal to put the Freedom up 2-0.

 

As the game neared its end, a misplayed pass by a Fredericksburg defender was intercepted by Parsons, who placed the ball into the right side of the goal to complete her hat-trick.

 

“We are happy to get the three points from a Lady Gunners team that showed a lot of fight in their home opener. We can certainly do a better job of not having a defensive lapse or two per game. We also need to be more efficient in the final third. Jenn Parsons showed today that she is a proven goal-scorer, and we are fortunate to have her with the Freedom,” said Coach Gabarra.

 

The Freedom return to action on Sunday, June 1^st, for their home opener against the Boston Renegades at 6:00pm. All home games are played at the Maryland SoccerPlex. Tickets can be purchased online at www.washingtonfreedom.com.

 

 

Game Summary