Game Day: Sharks at Liberty Belles

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 2, 2011
The New York Sharks (1-0) kicked off their record setting 13th season against an old foe, the Philadelphia Liberty Belles (0-1). The Sharks had played against the Liberty Belles eight seasons ago when both teams were in the IWFL. They played twice that year and New York shut out the Liberty Belles, 48-0 and 58-0. This time the Sharks were playing a Philadelphia team that went undefeated during the regular season last year to win their division in the WFA.

It was a nice cool April evening as the team's kicked-off. The Sharks lost the coin toss and the Liberty Belles elected to receive the ball. Philadelphia had a decent kick-off return and started their drive on their own 40- yard line. The home team looked a bit tentative on offense and quickly went 3 and out and were forced to punt.

The Sharks caught a break on a short punt that took a very favorable bounce for the visitors and New York started their possession on the Liberty Belles 40-yard line. New York's offense also started off quite tentatively and after 2 running plays they had only picked up 2 yards. On third down, New York went to the air and quarterback Karen Mulligan threw deep to the right sideline for wide receiver Lauren Pringle. Pringle caught the ball at the 15-yard line but had one foot out of bounds for and incomplete pass. The Sharks new head coach Darnell Stapleton then decided to roll the dice and go for it on a fourth and 8 yards to go. He thought it was a good bet as his defense had stopped the Philadelphia offense cold on the previous possession.

On fourth down, Mulligan again went to the air and again went looking for Pringle on the right side of the field. It was basically the exact same play and this time Pringle caught the ball at the 10-yard line and ran into the endzone uncontested. Place kicker Joy Dollison then came into to kick the extra point and New york had quickly drawn first blood to take a 7-0 lead only 3:37 into the game.

On the Liberty Belles next possession they got a nice 19 yard run by running back Jeanette Hibbs. She was able to get into New York territory but then Philadelphia's quarterback Mikaelyn Austin missed handing the ball off to runner Diamond Jones and the Sharks recovered the fumble.

New York could not capitalize on the turnover even though they were able to move the ball to the Philadelphia 32 -yard line. Again the Sharks tried to go for it on fourth down but this time the Libery Belles made the stop. But any high they got from the stop quickly turned to a low as the home team fumbled the football away again. This time Hibbs got hit at the line of scrimmage by safety Odessa Jenkins and linebacker Darleen Hall recovered the bumbled ball.

Starting in excellent field position on the Liberty Belles 35-yard line, Mulligan quickly connected with receiver Jen Blum for a 5 yard gain. Blum was on the receving end of another pass and New York had a first down at the Philadelphia 30-yard line. Gearing up for the pass, the Liberty Belles blitzed on the next series of plays. Their aggressiveness caused the Sharks drive to stall. It was now fourth down on the home team's 27-yard line and the sharks braintrust decided to go for it again. The over eager Belles went off-sides and put the ball on the Philadelphia 22-yard line. It was still fourth down, but this time coach Stapleton shouted for the field goal unit to take the field.

A New York Sharks field goal is a rare thing. It has been attempted less than 5 times over the past decade and only once have they made one. But coach Stapleton confidently sent out his place kicker Dollison and she calmly booted a 39 yard field goal to extend the Sharks lead by 10 points with only seconds remaining in the first quarter.

In the middle of the second quarter, the Sharks defense forced Philadelphia to punt again after only 3 plays. On the punt, Jenkins picked up the ball on the New York 25-yard line and ran to her left. She was met quickly by the Liberty Belles defense but Jenkins shedded the tackle and ran across the field to the right side. There she found a hole with the help of a block by Toni Salvatore. Salvatore got the worst of the hit as she was stunned, but it freed Jenkins all the way to the Philadelphia 40-yard line. From there it only took one play as Mulligan found a wide open Pringle down the middle for a touchdown. Dollison hit her second extra point of the evening to give New York a 17-0 lead.

It looked like the Sharks could coast to an easy win as the defense continued to shut down the home team. But Philadelphia made a big adjustment and went with a trips formation. The Liberty Belles would line up three receivers to the left but then put one of them in motion. Twice they did this and each time they handed the ball off to Kimberly Colyar who ran to the right and she picked up gains of 12 yards both times. Philadelphia tried to change things a bit by handing the ball to Hibbs for a run up the middle but she was stopped cold for a 1 yard loss. Still lining up in the trips formation, the Liberty Belles went to the air as Austin rolled to her right and threw to a wide open Hibbs who caught the ball on the 5-yard line and walked into the endzone. Kick Hibbs split the uprights and the Liberty Belles were back in the game with 3:19 left in the half.

New York answered right back as Jenkins was handed the ball and she just ran right up the middle and it was like Moses parting the Red Sea. She ran 74 yards in to the endzone and after another Dollison extra point, the Sharks regained their 17 point lead with 2:19 left in the half.

On their last possession the Philadlephia offense seemed to have found something that worked and they kept right at it. Staying in the trips formation they marched down the field in less than two minutes. A big personal foul against the Sharks helped too and it all culminated with a 1 yard run by running back Jennifer Rosario to put Philadelphia back on the board again. A Hibbs extra point and the home team was now only down by 2 touchdowns at halftime.

New York started the second half with the ball. On this drive, Jenkins showed why she was the league's MVP last season. The Sharks starting from their own 44-yard line, the just kept giving the ball to Jenkins. She banged out gains of 12 yards, 4 yards, 3 yards, 6 yards, and 16 yards. There was a short pass to Val Halesworth for a 7 yard gain, but then it was back to Jenkins to pick up the final 3 yards for the score. A Dollison kick and the score was now 31-14 with 9:37 left in the third quarter.

New York tacked on another 3 points when Dollison connected on her second field goal of the evening. It had taken the Sharks 9 years to get their first field goal ever in 2008 and in the span of only 30 minutes, Dollison had made two. This made the score 34-14 with 3:34 left in the third quarter.
Looking at a 3 touchdown deficit, the Liberty Belles opened up their offense and came out throwing on almost every play. They did not have a whole lot of success but were able to put up one final score when Colyar caught a 9 yard toss from Austin but then split the New York defenders down the field for a 57 yard touchdown reception. Philadelphia went for the two point play but the pass was dropped in the endzone and that was the last score of the game.

The New York Sharks started off a new season in a new league and with a new head coach and came away with that old familiar feeling of a win. Coach Stapleton was congratulated by his players with a ceremonial ice water bath from a Gatorade bucket. This was a nice win as the Sharks did not know what to expect from the WFA teams. Philadelphia was a playoff team last year and New York was able to hold their own and on the road.

The New York Sharks will travel north to New England to take on their divisional rival Boston Militia (0-1). The Sharks are looking for payback as Boston knocked New York out of the playoffs last season in the first round of the playoffs. Boston will be looking for their first win of the season as they lost a hard fought battle in D.C. Kick-off will be at 6:00pm (EDT). If you cannot make it to the game, listen to Pat Brown and Dave Maxwell describe all of the action over the Women's Football Network on IYMSportsRadio.com.

	1	2	3	4	Final
New York Sharks	10	14	10	0	34
Philadelphia Liberty Belles	0	14	0	6	20

Scoring Summary
First Quarter
NY - (11:23) Pringle 38 yard pass from Mulligan (Dollison kick)
NY - (00:44) Dollison 39 yard field goal
Second Quarter
NY - (09:16) Pringle 40 yard pass from Mulligan (Dollison kick)
PHA - (03:19) Hibbs 28 yard pass from Austin (Hibbs kick)
NY - (02:19) Jenkins 74 yard run (Dollison kick)
PHA - (00:54) Rosario 1 yard run (Hibbs kick)
Third Quarter
NY - (09:37) Jenkins 3 yard run (Dollison kick)
NY - (03:34) Dollison 31 yard field goal
Fourth Quarter

PHA - (11:47) Colyar 57 yard pass from Austin (pass failed)