Overall observations

Boston actually played pretty well overall. We controlled the flow of the game and was able to press Houston effectively and win balls up the field. Our midfield really disrupted attempts by Houston to work the ball up the field. A good sign that we disrupted Houston's flow of play is that two goals we gave up came off a mishandled set piece after a defensive turnover, and a long cross over the top. Credit to Houston for their substitutions. Their press and attack looked much more effective with the change in personnel.

Bright spots:

Boston's attack looked much more threatening than in many games past. Schupansky in particular put the ball in lots of dangerous places and was Boston's player of the match for me. I also think Hernandez and Olivieri were playing well on the attack down the left side and rotated well. Defensively, we still had some sloppy turnovers, one of which resulted in a goal, but I think we are showing improvement here. Boston showed a bit more willingness to play quick on the transition to attack, and it helped keep Houston on their toes when we were less predictable in this way.

Room for improvement:

Converting the aforementioned attacking play and possession into goals. We had loads of possession in the final third, some beautiful crosses, and lots of touches in the opposing box, but few of those opportunities resulted in a threatening shot on target. Too many chances were broken up with a bad touch, poor decision, or a shot straight to the keeper. Houston also had some great last-chance defending, but with so much possession in dangerous areas, it feels wasteful to only come away with a single goal.

Minute by Minute

• 5' - Good cross by Schupansky to get an attempt on goal. This is one of the things that she has given Boston since joining; accurate crossing and set pieces. She's been a great pickup.
• 8' - Threatening pass over the top and shot by Houston. Getting beaten by pace is something that our back line has struggled with at times (more on the left than BSG's right). Also, we did very poor at covering the box, letting a clean shot off.
• 11' - Great corner by Schupansky that ended up with a pair of goal line saves by Houston defenders. Schupansky has had a great start to this game.
• 14' - Good attack on the transition by Boston, unfortunately fizzles out after a poor touch by Aissata. So far, Boston has seen some success with a quick transition like this.
• 18' - Great dribble by Hernandez to get the ball in a dangerous area. Both her and Reale have done well on the attack from that left defender position.
• 24' - A bit of a sloppy dribble by Aissata results in a yellow and end of a threatening attack. Aissata has had a couple poor touches so far this game, perhaps an impact of the wet conditions and the turf field.
• 26' - Great press by Olivieri gets the ball in the opposing box. Good job by Houston defense to block the cross for a corner. That makes three times now that the Houston keeper was beaten, but the defenders saved a goal.
• 28' - More great service by Schupansky, and more great last-stand defense by Houston.
• 33' - Commentator just said Boston has >60% possession so far, and it feels like it. Long stretches of the game to this point have seen Houston absolutely pinned in their defensive third.
• 36' - Great cross by Olivieri to Schupansky that resulted in some more great play by Houston defenders. Boston has done great down the right hand side so far.
• 43' - A very bad pass from Boston defense results in a Houston corner and ultimately the Houston goal. Another self-inflicted wound in a game where we have done a great job getting up the field otherwise.
• HT - Overall good first half for Boston, but two things stay consistent for us: we struggle to finish and are prone to bad giveaways in the back. These two things combined to give Houston a 1-0 lead at the half despite Boston being the clearly better side during most of the run of play.
• 47' - A great ball to break Prince free, but she eschews the open cutback to instead play it into the side netting. More struggles with finishing for Boston.
• 54' - More great play by Schupansky to get off a dangerous cross. She has been the best player on Boston's side so far for me.
• 56' - Unfortunate bad touch by Karich kills the attack. She is a player that is so critical to Boston's style of play, especially defensively, but does seem to be a bit uncomfortable when she finds herself with the ball in such a forward position.
• 59' - Great cross by Hernandez results in an Aissata goal. This second half has seen Hernandez and Olivieri rotating between left wing and left back. Between the two of them and Reale, we are lousy with good left wingers, if only we had more consistent finishers.
• 62' - Good save by the Houston keeper to keep the deflected ball out of the net. Cano has been relatively quiet so far this game, but it was a good bit of skill to get that shot off.
• 66' - Guti wins the ball up the field, but ultimately our poor finishing continues as Schupansky sails it over the bar.
• 70' - Another excellent cross by Hernandez results in a clean shot by Guti, but just straight to the Houston keeper. Such a great opportunity that you hate to see end up in the keeper's hands.
• 77' - Boston struggling to get out of their final third for a couple minutes now. Houston's subs have helped transform their press to be much more effective.
• 80' - Another shot straight to the Houston keeper, this time by Olivieri. Boston has managed to get off lots of shots, but few have been too dangerous.
• 85' - Great cross by Houston results in a goal off the head of Bright, one of the subs that helped make Houston look a lot more threatening since coming on. I would like to see Murphy more emphatically clear that ball either to the side or over the bar after getting both hands solidly on it.
• 90' - Threatening shot from distance by Olivieri. She has had a couple takes from range like this that have been pretty close.
• 95' - Karich finds herself as the central defender on a Houston break and handles it poorly. This more or less brings the game to a close.