Brooklyn, New York, May 17, 2008
In a rare home and home series, the New York Sharks (4-1) were facing the Boston Militia (2-2) for the second week in a row. Last week the Sharks prevailed in Boston after the Militia just missed a field goal attempt as time expired. This time the game was to be played in the friendly confines of the Aviator Sports Complex. This was only the second time the Sharks have played a home and home series. In 2004, the Sharks played the Montreal Blitz in New York and then played them again in Canada the following week. The Sharks swept the series but the second game was a close contest.
It was a beautiful day in Brooklyn, but as usual the winds at the ballpark were strong. For the fifth time this season, the Sharks lost the coin toss and had to kick-off to start the game. For the Boston Militia this was a big game. If they were to have even a slim chance at the playoffs they would have to beat New York. Not an easy task as no Boston entry in the IWFL has even beaten the Sharks. A loss would mean that the best they could do this season is 5-3 and they would have to hope that the four teams ahead of them would have to lose all of their games for the rest of the season for them to even have a mathematical chance to go to the post-season.
Hope for Boston to break the tide and win the game was high for the Militia. Playing in this game was running back Mia Brickhouse. She did not play last week and she is one of the key sparkplugs for the Boston offense. On Boston’s first possession, she made her presence felt with a few touches of the football for gains totalling 22 yards. But an illegal block in the back penalty against Boston stalled their drive at the New York 28-yard line.
It was only a brief interuption for the Militia as disaster struck the Sharks. On a handoff to Anabel Rodriguez she was hit as the line of scrimmage and fumbled the football back to Boston. In the previous games this season, the Sharks feasted on turnovers. In this game they were the ones to be feasted on.
It didn’t take long for Boston to cash in on the turnover. Quarterback Allison Cahill first connected with Nicole Renick for an 8-yard reception. Brickhouse then broke a nifty 28-yard run. Cahill then ran a quarterback sneak for the final yard to paydirt. Allie Roderique kicked the extra point and Boston took the lead, 7-0 with 7:06 left in the first quarter.
In the first game, the Sharks offense had their way with Boston in the first half of the game. Boston made some adjustments in the second half and almost came away with a win. In their second meeting, the Militia defense seemed to be ready for New York and kept the offense off the field for most of the first half. Three straight possessions for the Sharks ended up with punts without getting a first down. The New York defense had to be tiring being on the field for so much of the first half but they were able to keep Boston out of the endzone.
The Sharks caught a break with less than 6 minutes left in the first half. Boston was looking for another score on the Sharks 8-yard line when the snap sailed over Cahill’s head. Yvonne Harrison recovered the ball at the New York 15-yard line. At first the Sharks offense continued to sputter and after 3 plays they were forced to punt. But the Militia fumbled the punt return and this time Toni Salvatore came up with the errant football. With the ball now on their own 30-yard line, quarterback Karen Mulligan seemed to shake off the rust on her arm. Up until this point she had only connected once on 7 pass attempts. On this drive, she hit Adrienne Smith for a 20-yard pass and then connected with Lisa Doran for another 14 yards. Sandwiched in were a few running plays and New York was down to the Boston 31-yard line with only 44 seconds left in the half. Mulligan went back to pass and this time she was looking for the Sharks all-time receiver Jen Blum. Blum was well covered and the ball was tipped away by the Militia but Smith was Johnny on the spot and caught the ricochet at the Boston 5-yard line.
Time was running out and New York’s clock management skills seemed to be in question. They tried to run the ball but the Militia were blitzing. Before Mulligan could hand the ball off securely to running back Shauntay Stewart, Boston smashed through the line and forced a New York fumble. It was recovered by the Sharks but they had lost 3 yards. After a timeout by the Sharks, they called two plays. Again Boston came blitzing and forced Mulligan out of the pocket and forced her to run with the ball. She was stopped after only a 1 yard gain and instead of spiking the ball, New York tried to run one more play. Again Boston blitzed and before Mulligan could look for a receiver she was forced to run and was stopped after at the 5-yard line as time ran out for the half.
It was the best drive for the Sharks during the first half. It was a golden opportunity but they came away with no points. Still it could have been worse. The Sharks defense spent most of the game so far on the field, but New York was only trailing 7-0 at the break.
The start of the second half began with the Sharks getting the ball, but New York’s offense came out misfiring and they quickly punted the ball back to Boston. The Militia could do nothing either and punted it right back to the Sharks. But a short kick by Boston gave the Sharks the ball in very good field position at the Militia 48-yard line. This time the home team did not let opportunity slip away. Going to a short passing attack, Mulligan connected for 8-yard passes with Blum and Doran twice each to get into the endzone. Megan Antonucci kicked the extra point and the Sharks had tied the score. The Sharks were back in the game with 9:44 left in the third quarter.
The Sharks braintrust then tried to keep the momentum going by calling for an on-side kick. Boston was caught off-guard but the kick failed to go 10-yards. This gave the Militia the ball at the Sharks 43-yard line. To compound their troubles, New York got hit with a pass interference penalty and Boston was now down to the Sharks 29-yard line. Using Brickhouse as the workhorse, she was able to move the ball down to the Sharks 2-yard line. From here Cahill called her own number to pick up the score. This gave the lead back to Boston, only 3 1/2 minutes after New York had tied the game.
Boston got the ball back quickly as their defense forced the Sharks to another 3 and out. They were marching into New York territory on their drive when Cahill was forced out of the pocket and she ran down the right side of the field. She was hit and went out of bounds around the New York 40-yard line. Unfortunately she went out of bounds but the ball didn’t. As she was hit the ball fell free and bounced along the in-bounds line. The Sharks recovered and got the ball back at their own 37-yard line.
As quickly as New York got the ball, they gave it right back as Mulligan fumbled the football back to Boston on a quarterback keeper. Starting from the Sharks 22-yard line, Brickhouse was able to score on the 4th play of the drive. A 13-yard run down the left side of the field gave the Militia a 20-7 lead with 11:12 left in the game. The extra point attempt failed when the snap was low.
New York’s offense continued to be stifled by the Boston defense. With less than 3 minutes left in the game, the Sharks were forced to go for it on fourth down from their own 26-yard line. They did not make the first down and Boston got the ball back on the Sharks 26-yard line. The Militia got their final score on a 21-yard pass reception to Brickhouse from Cahill. Cahill then found Amy Saur in the corner of the endzone for the 2-point conversion to give Boston a commanding 28-7 lead with only 1:49 left in the game.
With such a big lead, Boston sent in their second string defense to play out the game. They only lasted 2 plays as Mulligan quickly took advantage and hit Blum and then Lauren Pringle with pass completions of 49 and 16 yards respectively. With the ball on the Boston 15-yard line, the Militia sent their first string defense back in. It didn’t matter as Mulligan hit Blum with a touchdown strike. Antonucci split the uprights but it was too little, too late. The score was now 28-14, but there were only 55 seconds left in the game.
The Sharks tried for the on-side kick, but again the ball did not go the necessary 10-yards and Boston got the ball and was able to kill the clock to win the game.
It was a big win for the Militia, for after 11 tries a Boston team was able to beat the Sharks. And it was nice revenge for their close loss last week. It also kept Boston’s slim playoff hopes alive.
Even though it was the first loss of the season for the Sharks, it was a big blow to their post-season fortunes. Basically the only chance for them to make the playoffs now is to win out the season and take the North Atlantic division title. New York has given up too many points to have a realistic chance at the wild card spot. Teams that are in the wild card hunt would have to give up over 25 points per game for the rest of the season and against opponents they have already limited to 2 touchdowns or less.
The Sharks will get a bye to celebrate the Memorial Day weekend but it will also give them a chance to re-group before they take on division rival and current leader of the pack, the Pittsburgh Passion. The Passion were national champions last year and this season seem to again be in championship form. It will take a strong game plan and sharp execution for the New Yorkers to get back in the “W” column. The Sharks will be travelling to Pittsburgh to battle the Passion on May 31st at 7:00pm (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.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston Militia | 7 | 0 | 7 | 14 | 28 |
| New York Sharks | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 14 |
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
BO – (07:06) Cahill 1 yard run (Roderique kick)
Third Quarter
NY – (09:44) Doran 8 yard pass from Mulligan (Antonucci kick)
BO – (06:14) Cahill 2 yard run (Roderique kick)
Fourth Quarter
BO – (11:12) Brickhouse 13 yard run (pass failed)
BO – (01:49) Brickhouse 21 yard pass from Cahill (Saur pass from Cahill)
NY – (00:55) Blum 15 yard pass from Mulligan (Antonucci kick)