MUTINY 7, TIDE 0

Veteran stars Monroe & Maurer lead Mutiny offense to first win of season

ENFIELD, CT (05/22/10) - The worst case scenario for a road team’s season opening match occurred to the Maine Tide on this evening - the home team didn’t let them get off the bus. The New England Mutiny (1-1 WPSL Northeast) netted two goals in the first six minutes and never looked back in a eventual 7-0 victory in front of a crowd of 1,175 at Enrico Fermi High School.

Two Mutiny veterans - Mary-Frances Monroe (two goals, two assists) & Jenny Maurer (two goals) - would lead the offense on the night while the Tide (0-1 WPSL Northeast) offense never were able to get their legs underneath them, mustering one quality scoring opportunity on goalkeeper Jackie Fede (2 saves). After a strong second half performance in a 2-1 loss to Boston Aztec U-23 last week, New England would ride that tide of solid play for their first win of 2010.

“The ladies really moved the ball around well tonight,” said Mutiny assistant coach Roy Gurnon. “Defensively, we were really good. We didn’t give up hardly any opportunities. We were able to spread them out quite well, and I thought our ball movement caused that to happen. We picked up right where we left off in the Aztec game.”

“We’re going to come out just as hard today for tomorrow’s match [against Connecticut],” said Maine Head Coach/Player Hailey Blackburn. “We made some mistakes but we’re going to correct them tonight for tomorrow. We can only look forward from here.”

Maurer would net the game-winning goal 3:05 into the match, firing a bomb over Jennifer Andrews (11 saves) & underneath the crossbar from just outside the penalty area. In the 6th minute, Therese Smith would go with her skill & touch, positioning her quick shot low to Andrews’ left and inside the post with the assist going to Monroe.

New England’s super substitute Sarah Brochu scored for the second straight match in the 26th minute, getting her second goal of the season on a back-post tap-in from a Monroe pass. With a little over 12 minutes remaining in the first half, Maine’s Amy Jose would force Fede into a diving save to her left after a failed clearance after a corner kick.

But just under two minutes later, Monroe would net her own goal. University of Rhode Island’s Alexis Veith would drive towards goal, draw the Tide defense and set up an open Monroe for the 4-0 lead at half-time.

In the second half, Erica Correa would take over in the Mutiny goal, but she wouldn’t see a shot. Maurer would drive a hard shot through the crowd for the 5-0 lead in the 55th minute, Monroe would convert on a low cross from UConn’s Meghan Cunningham under two minutes later and to finish the scoring, Brittany Barry finished off a nice through-ball from Vieth with 5:40 remaining in the match.

New England will be on the road for the next two matches, facing Seacoast United (Sat. June 5th) and the Connecticut Passion (Weds., June 9th) before returning for their home premiere at Chicopee Comprehensive H.S. against Seacoast United on Sunday, June 13th.