Game Day: Militia at Sharks

Brooklyn, New York, April 25, 2009
It was only the second game of the season but they don't get much bigger than the New York Sharks (1-1) contest with the Boston Militia (2-0). These division rivals were the early favorites to battle for the top spot in the division but this was the only time during the regular season that the two would meet. The winner would give that team a considerable edge in their playoff run. Probably more so for Boston as the Sharks have one of the toughest schedules in the league this year.

It was an incredible day in the Big Apple with clear skies with game time temperatures in the upper 60's. By the end of the day, record temperatures would be recorded in the city.

New York won the coin toss and unlike the season opener in Schenectady, the Sharks braintrust elected to receive the ball. After a good kick-off by Boston the Sharks started their first drive from their own 35-yard line. The Militia had shut out the Manchester Freedom in their season opener and it looked like their defense was still running on all cylindars as they shut the Sharks down on 3 plays. Chrissy Pagan, the regular Sharks punter this year was out of the game with a leg injury and so veteran wide receiver Jen Blum was pressed into kicking duties. Unfortunately her first punt attempt was a memorable one, for Boston fans that is. It really wasn't a bad attempt at all, but the Sharks offensive line sagged badly up the middle and three Boston players were able to get to the punter. But it was Jessica Penta's hands that actually blocked the punt. New York recovered the ball but Boston was about to start their first drive of the game from the Sharks' 14-yard line only 3 minutes into the game.

On Boston's first play, quarterback Allison Cahill ran to her right and tried to turn the corner. However New York's Mandy Oppel was there and limited Cahill to only 2 yards. Next the Militia got called for a holding penalty and the ball was moved back to the New York 20-yard line. It looked like the Sharks might dodge a bullet but two running plays to Donaldson and the Militia had a first down and the ball down to the 2-yard line. From there Mia Brickhouse powered her way in to give Boston the score. Allie Roderique's extra point attempt was short, but the Militia had the early lead, 6-0 with 9:48 left in the first quarter.

On the Sharks next possession, they turned the ball over to the Militia after Karen Mulligan's pass was intercepted by Briannah Gallo. This gave the ball to Boston at their own 28-yard line but the Sharks defense held and quickly the Militia punted the ball back to New York.

Starting in good field position at the halfway point of the field, the Sharks started to march down the field. Mixing the call playing between run and pass plays along with the help of a major facemask penalty, New York moved the ball into the red zone. But the Sharks came up empty handed. Boston came in on a blitz and were quickly on top of Mulligan who scrambled and fended off two would be tacklers. With one Militia holding on to Mulligan's ankle, the quarterback overthrew her receiver and Veronica Milinazzo got the interception. Two times in a row the Sharks possession was stopped by a Boston interception.

For the rest of the first half, the defense for both teams took over and each drive ended with a punt. At the half, the Sharks defense was playing big while the offense was making little headway. Still it wasn't too bad as New York was only down by 6 points and the Sharks have a history of being able to come from behind.

With the start of the second half, Boston received the kick-off. Showing a strong running attack, the Militia was able to march down the field. Mostly on the legs of Brickhouse who rushed for 35 yards on 5 carries during this drive, Boston widened their lead. A pass by Cahill to Rachel Toal for the 2-point conversion, made the score 14-0 with 7:38 left in the third quarter.

Disaster struck the Sharks on their next possession. Running back Oppel fumbled the football during the handoff and Boston recovered the football on the New York 45-yard line. Cahill then made the Sharks pay for their third turnover of the game with a 45-yard strike to Ginger Snow for Boston's third touchdown of the game. Roderique's extra point attempt was good and Boston had a 21-0 lead with 3:41 left in the third quarter.

Down three touchdowns limited the Sharks offensive playbook. To try and make up the points and fast, Mulligan consistently went to the air. But this was no secret to Boston and they played their defense accordingly. In the second half alone, Mulligan threw the ball 20 times but was only able to connect 5 times. Sometimes her throws just missed the mark but there were also a few dropped passes. On the plus side, one of the receptions was a 34-yard bomb to rookie Chante Bonds for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Lauren Pringle kicked the extra point, but it was too little, too late as the Sharks fell to the Boston Militia by the final score of 21-7.

This was a big loss to a division rival and things don't get any easier in the future with games against last year's Atlantic division champion Pittsburgh Passion and two games against the always tough D.C. Divas. The Sharks will have to go back to the drawing board to get the offense back up and running. But there were still many pluses from the loss. The defense played strong despite being on the field for most of the game and having to fend off three Shark turnovers. Plus the rookie filled offensive line provided good pass protection most of the time and not allowing a sack.

After the game, Sharks broadcasters Pat Brown selected Blessing Withers as the POWERADE ZERO Player of the Week. She was consitently in the middle of the action both on offense and defense. POWERADE ZERO is sponsoring the selection for the Player of the Week.

The Sharks will next travel to the city of brotherly love to face another division rival the Philadelphia Firebirds (1-1) on Saturday, May 2nd. The Firebirds are coming off a big victory over the Connecticut Crushers. Game time is 6:00pm (EDT). If you can't make it to the game, you can still follow all of the hard hitting football as Pat Brown and Dave Maxwell will describe all of the action live to you on the official flagship station for New York Sharks Football, www.blogtalkradio.com/wfnradio - the Women's Football Network, broadcast will start at 5:45pm.

Boston Militia 6-0-15-0: 21
New York Sharks 0-0-0-7: 7

Scoring Summary
First Quarter
BO - (09:48) Brickhouse 2 yard run (kick failed)

Third Quarter
BO - (07:38) Brickhouse 4 yard run (Toal reception from Cahill)
BO - (03:41) Snow 45 yard pass from Cahill (Roderique kick)

Fourth Quarter
NY - (05:31) Bonds 34 yard pass from Mulligan (Pringle kick)