Shorthanded Blues fall 2-1 at Western New York

A very shorthanded and injured FC Kansas City put up a valiant effort at Western New York but fell short in a 2-1 loss.  The Blues were missing Amy Rodriguez, Lauren Holiday, Becky Sauerbrunn for national team duty and Erika Tymrak and Liz Bogus were unable to play due to injury. An early sprained ankle for Melissa Henderson prompted the use of reservists Molly Dreska and later Missy Geha.

"It wasn't easy with the national team players gone," FC Kansas City head coach Vlatko Andonovski explained after the match. "Then we had several injuries with Bogus, Tymrak and now Henderson all injured we had to do what we could to put a decent team out there. We fought hard all the way through and it just didn't come out the way we wanted it to."

The Blues played hard but with the depleted lineup and players not in their best positions, it seemed inevitable that the Flash would score. It took until the 38^th minute but Samantha Kerr headed in a ball from Adriana Martin to take the lead.

In first half stoppage time, Samantha Kerr lobbed a pass to Jasmyne Spencer who slid it under Nicole Barnhart to take a 2-0 lead into half.

FC Kansas City's battered lineup came together in the second half and started applying pressure to Western New York.  In the 57^th minute, Frances Silva delivered  a free kick into the box that the Flash were unable to clear effectively. Dreska lobbed the ball back into the fray where Morgan Marlborough pounced to pull the Blues back within a goal.

In the 69^th minute Geha came on to replace Dreska and while there were more chances created, the Flash turned the rest away and the game ended 2-1.

FC Kansas City's Andonovski did not have a lot of option on his bench and after using Dreska and Geha, all that remained was backup keeper Keane.

"They all had to play, we didn't have a choice," Andonovski stated. "They all did well I think, we competed well, we fought all the way until the end and were just a little unlucky at the end. We had a good opportunity to tie the game."

While the Blues should have the national team players back after the match tonight against Canada in Winnipeg, it is unknown how rested they will be for Sunday's match with the Washington Spirit.

Andonovski did not sound optimistic about getting players healthy by Sunday either, "the injury list is going to be pretty big for this next game."