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Women's soccer: Lady Blues ousted in national semifinals

The Capital Times  —  8/03/2008 8:01 am

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The Madison Lady Blues' plan in their Women's Premier Soccer League semifinal match worked to perfection -- for one half.

But Ajax America proved too powerful after the intermission, as Shannon Cross' tiebreaking goal in the 50th minute opened the floodgates en route to a 5-0 victory Saturday night over the Lady Blues.

Ajax (13-3-1), the Pacific Conference and 2007 U.S. Open Cup champion, got goals from five players en route to its first title game berth. Ajax will face Big Sky Conference champion Arizona Rush in Sunday night's championship game.

"In the first half, they did a good job and packed it in a little bit," Ajax coach Brian Boswell said. "They showed us some respect and worked very, very hard. In the second half, we changed our tactics just a little and we were able to break them down. They're a good team. We just happened to put our goals away."

The Lady Blues (8-2), which claimed the Midwest Division title in their inaugural season, held Ajax to a scoreless tie in the first half and trailed just 5-4 in shots.

But Cross, a former Southern Cal star and All-WPSL selection, beat All-Midwest goalkeeper Laurel Peak (eight saves) after a drive to the goal for a 1-0 Ajax lead.

Madison's Marcia Foltz nearly knotted the score 10 minutes later, but her shot went just wide of the left post.

Ajax quickly took control. Sabrina Demonte of the University of Oregon broke in one-on-one with Peak and scored in the 60th minute, and former WUSA standout Andrea Alfiler took advantage of a failed corner kick clearance in the 74th minute to give Ajax a 3-0 lead.

Ajax added goals by April Colen and Stephanie Scholl to complete the scoring.

The Capital Times  —  8/03/2008 8:01 am