Staten Island, New York, May 15, 2011
The game between the New York Sharks (3-1) and the Philadelphia Liberty Belles (2-3) was a big one. Even though it marked the half-way point of the season for both teams, a loss would practically knock one of them out of playoff contention. Each team was trailing their respective division leader and needed a win to stay in the playoff hunt.
The Sharks usually play their games on a Saturday, but due to a late scheduling change, New York was playing their first football game on a Sunday. In the past the team has played on a Friday and a Monday, but never on a Sunday.
The Sharks brought out some sporting star power to the game as former WNBA star
Kym Hampton sang the national anthem, and former New York Jets star
Ken Schroy performed the coin toss. He didn't help the Sharks on the coin toss as Philadelphia won the toss but it worked out well in the end as the Liberty Belles deferred to the second half, so New York was going to receive the opening kick-off.
The Sharks started their opening drive pretty conservatively on the running of
Kathy Holloman and short passes to
Val Halesworth. It took New York 10 plays to gain only 20 yards. On the eleventh play they opened it up a bit with quarterback
Karen Mulligan connecting with wide receiver
Lauren Pringle for a nifty 38 yard pickup. Pringle almost made it into the endzone but was tackled at the 3-yard line. On the next play running back
Odessa Jenkins picked up 2 yards to put the ball right on the goal line and from there Mulligan sneaked the ball across for the touchdown. It was a very nice opening drive that took 13 plays to get 41 yards in 7 minutes. It was only marred by a low snap on the extra point attempt. Kicker
Joy Dollison quickly picked up the errant snap but she was quickly smothered by the Liberty Belles. Nonetheless, the Sharks were ahead 6-0 in the first quarter.
The visitors could do nothing when they had the ball and quickly were forced to punt. It looked like New York was getting ready to march down the field again after a nice 24 yard pass reception to
Jen Blum that put the Sharks in Philadelphia territory. But this time the Liberty Belles put out an all-out blitz in which they got to Mulligan and caused her to fumble away the football.
The turnover seemed to wake-up Philadelphia as they grinded out yards on the ground until they got a first down on the New York 2-yard line. The big play was on a fake handoff by quarterback
Mikaelyn Austin who then ran to her right, turned the corner and ran down the sideline. When she gained 13 yards to the Sharks' 27-yard line, Austin pitched the ball back to
Jeanette Hibbs who picked up 14 more yards.
With Philadelphia knocking very loudly on the Sharks door front, the visitors quickly shot themselves in the foot with a holding penalty that pushed them back 10 yards and the closest they would ever get on the drive was to the 3-yard line before they turned the ball over to New York on downs.
Still it wasn't all for nought as the Sharks were stuck deep in their own territory and were quickly forced to punt. Putting on a strong rush of the punter, the Sharks' kick only went 9 yards. Philadelphia was getting a second chance with the ball sitting on the New York 18-yard line. They did not waste this opportunity and scored on a touchdown pass from Austin to Hibbs. The play was not picture perfect as the quarterback was lined up in shotgun and the snap bounced off her hands. She quickly picked up the ball and ran to her right as the designed play was falling apart. But as she ran to her right, the Sharks secondary came in to defend the run. This left a wide open Hibbs in the endzone which Austin hit for an easy score. Hibbs then kicked the extra point to give the Liberty Belles the lead 7-6 with 7:35 left in the second quarter. This was the first time ever that a team from Philadelphia has had the lead over the Sharks.
After the two teams swapped turnovers, the Sharks got the lead back. Again it was a big pass play that set up a hometown score. Earlier in the game Mulligan had thrown a nice pass to
Lauren Pringle that could have led to a touchdown but she dropped the ball. The second time around, Pringle caught the ball and ran all the way to the Philadelphia 1-yard line for a 41 yard gain. On the next play Holloman punched the ball in and New York was back on top, 12-7. Because of the missed extra point before, the Sharks went for the 2-point conversion but the pass was knocked away to prevent a pair of points with 4 minutes left to go before the half.
On the ensuing kick-off, Dollison's kick hit the turf in front of the Liberty Belles returner at the 23 and bounced up high and up field, away from the returner. Sharks
Charron Sutton ran down the field and was able to recover the kickoff for the Sharks. It was a great break for New York but they could not capitalize as the closest they got down field was to the Philadelphia 29-yard line. Dollison tried to kick a 45-yard field goal but the kick was short and to the left.
The Sharks defense quickly shut down the Liberty Belles offense and New York got the ball back with 2 minutes left to go in the half. Instead of trying run out the clock with the lead, the Sharks played aggressive trying to get another score but after a couple of first downs, they were forced to punt with 45 seconds left. This strategy backfired as Philadelphia's Hibbs returned the punt 43 yards to the New York 20-yard line. Then with only 18 seconds left, Austin connected with
Maureen Pfender in the endzone to put the Liberty Belles in the lead. Another Hibbs extra point pushed the visitors lead to 14-12.
Even with only 18 seconds left, the Sharks played aggressively for a score but it ended on an interception by linebacker
Jennifer Rosario.
At halftime, Sharks head coach
Darnell Stapleton spoke to his team with fire and brimstone. The Sharks were making too many mistakes on offense and defense. They were only down by 2 points but they missed on too many scoring opportunities and the defense gave up too many chances.
The speech lit a fire under the Sharks and it showed at the beginning of the second half. Philadelphia received the ball to start the second half but was stuffed by the New York defense. On a third and long play, the Liberty Belles went to the air but the ball found it's way into the hands of
Darleen Hall who returned the errant pass 30 yards to the 13-yard line. This was the second career interception by Hall against the Liberty Belles. The last one she returned 80 yards for a touchdown and was then a team record.
From the 13-yard line, Mulligan handed the ball off to Jenkins who powered her way in to the endzone. Dollison split the uprights and the Sharks were back in front 19-14 with 12:17 left to go in the third quarter.
This year the Sharks defense has played well shutting down the opposing team's offense, but the secondary suffers from lapses time to time. And they suffered another lapse as Austin connected with Pfender again, but this time for a 70-yard touchdown reception. This was the third touchdown the defense has given up of over 50 yards. Hibbs made it 3 for 3 on extra points and the Liberty Belles took the lead back in the beginning of the fourth quarter.
With the fate of the season now resting on less than 15 minutes of play, the Sharks turned to Jenkins. Sticking to the running game, Jenkins was given the ball and she ran either off-tackle or bounced to the outside to grind out gain after gain. But after 9 plays, the Sharks changed gears and Mulligan went looking for
Lauren Baden down field. The throw from the Liberty Belles 21-yard line was on target but the Philadelphia defender got her hand up to tip the ball. Baden had to reach back but she grabbed the bouncing ball and then fell into the endzone for her first career touchdown. New York went for the 2-point conversion and Mulligan threw a short pass to Jenkins. Jenkins was quickly covered by the Philadelphia defense at the 5-yard line but broke her tackles to make it into the endzone to give the Sharks a 27-21 lead with 7:20 left to go in the game.
The Liberty Belles now had their backs to the wall. They desperately needed a victory to stay close enough to the D.C. Divas if they wanted to make the playoffs for a third year straight. They went to the running game of Hibbs and Carr and was able to grind up yards against a wavering Sharks defense. Philadelphia moved the ball to the New York 30-yard line when Mother Nature intervened. A loud clap of thunder was heard throughout the area and the referees quickly moved players and fans indoors for safety with 3:43 left in to go in the game. Within minutes the sky opened up and it was pouring rain.
The game was delayed until the lightning and thunder had passed. It took about 30 minutes before the referees resumed the game. There was no more signs of thunder and lightning but it was still pouring rain. The field was turf so there was no problem with mud, but there were large puddles of water around the field. This played in the Sharks favor as the very first snap of the wet ball after the delay was fumbled by Philadelphia for a 2 yard loss. This made it third down and 9 yards to go for a first down. Staying on the ground, Hibbs was able to pick up 4 yards but the Liberty Belles still needed 5 more yards for a first down. So on fourth down, Philadelphia was forced to go to the air and with the Sharks rushing the quarterback, Austin made a desperation throw but the wet ball only went a few yards in the air and was picked off by Sharks
Nikki Joseph. The interception sealed the deal for New York and the some of the players celebrated after the final whistle by doing rain angels in the pools of water around the field.
New York played a character building game. They weren't very consistent, made many mistakes and kept giving up the lead but in the end they were able to focus as a team and pull out a nice come from behind victory.
The Sharks will host the Boston Militia (4-1) next Saturday at Moore Catholic High School in Staten Island. This could be the biggest game of the year for the New York as it is practically a must win situation for them if they wish to make the playoffs. Kick-off will be at 3pm (EDT). If you cannot make it to the game, listen to
Pat Brown and
Dave Maxwell describe all of the action on
IYMSportsRadio.com.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final |
|---|
| Philadelphia Liberty Belles | 0 | 14 | 0 | 7 | 21 |
| New York Sharks | 6 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 27 |
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
NY - (07:11) Mulligan 1 yard run (Run failed)
Second Quarter
PHA - (07:35) Hibbs 18 yard pass from Austin (Hibbs kick)
NY - (04:01) Holloman 1 yard run (Pass failed)
PHA - (00:18) Pfender 20 yard pass from Austin (Hibbs kick)
Third Quarter
NY - (12:17) Jenkins 13 yard run (Dollison kick)
Fourth Quarter
PHA - (14:44) Pfender 70 yard pass from Austin (Hibbs kick)
NY - (07:20) Baden 21 yard pass from Mulligan (Jenkins pass from Mulligan)
"The other moments that seem like dots in a time line would be winning a ring with the Sharks in 2002, an 80 yard interception return for a touchdown in 2003, receiving the Sharon Pascale Award my last season with the Sharks in 2004 when it was Sharon who taught me so much of the game and believed in my ability to play, playing at halftime during a New York Giants game in the Meadowlands, what it felt like the first time I played in a jersey other than the Sharks in 2005 and it took a while for that feeling to go away, being handed a Defensive MVP Award in 2006 and 2008 and a Team MVP award in 2008, the game I played a week after my mother died in 2007 where for three hours I was able to take it out on someone without getting arrested-scoring a defensive touchdown and being able to hold it up for her in the end zone, playing with the Portland Shockwave in a scrimmage against the Seattle Majestics on Qwest Field, 2008 playing in the All-Star game in Texas with future Chicago teammates, not knowing I would be along side them again in 2009, also in 2009 when after 10 seasons my dad finally got to see me play against the Detroit Demolition because he was the one throwing me pass after pass in the backyard when I was a kid- it is still the only game he has ever seen (thanks Chicago Force), between 2009-2010 where I was unable to really settle into 1 team, and 13 MVP gameballs later here we are in 2011 when all I can say is that walking out on that field in Philly on April 2nd with a Sharks jersey on wearing #27 (thanks Joy) felt like coming home, ending up where it all began, it was where I belonged and it made my 100th that much sweeter last week."
"I know most of these moments will only mean something to me in the end and I will look back on them as one of the most important things I accomplished in my life... I love that there are so many of us playing this game, and playing it well with a passion and desire that I feel like so many men forgot somewhere under all the glitz because the only glitz we will ever have is simply being able to play the game. The real game, the one we grew up watching and dreaming of being able to play- not two hand touch, not flag, not powder puff, not somewhat-contact in underwear and a bra- hard nosed, gritty, sometimes ugly full-contact football."
The New York Sharks (2-1) were happy to finally come home and play their 13th home opener, the most in women's football. After a tough loss against division rival Boston Militia, the Sharks were looking to getting back to their winning ways against another division foe, the New England NightMare (0-3).