By Kevin Conway
CLEVELAND, Ohio (July 11, 2010) – The Chicago Red Eleven stormed back from a 2-0 deficit to tie Buffalo, 2-2, Saturday, but could not hold on in falling to the Flash, 3-2, in the first half of the team’s regular season-ending road trip.
CRE bounced back for a 2-0 win at Cleveland Sunday to complete a season sweep of the Internationals.
Chicago ended the regular season at 8-2-2 and will await word on its opponent in the 2010 W-League playoffs.
Against Buffalo, the Red Eleven found themselves trailing 2-0 after a pair of fast goals in the first 11 minutes. Chicago did not play from behind for long, cracking the scoreboard in the 14th minute on a Kara Kabellis penalty kick.
Just three minutes later, Ashley Bares tied the score with an unassisted score of her own.
All of the game’s scoring was contained to the first half, as Veronica Bouquette scored the decisive goal in the 31st minute.
The Flash held a slight 6-4 advantage in shots, while the home team also forced four more corner kicks (7-3). Erin Kane made three saves for CRE, while Pamela Tajonar-Alonso had two saves for Buffalo.
In the regular season finale, Kabellis assisted on both goals as the Red Eleven ended the regular season in dominant fashion. Chicago outshot Cleveland, 16-1, took all eight of the game’s corner kicks and forced Carianne Betts to make 10 shots to keep the deficit at two.
After a fruitless opening frame, Kabellis set up Bonnie Young’s first goal of the season in the 64th minute. Twenty minutes, Sara Campbell cemented her status as the team’s leading scorer with her seventh goal of the season to seal the game.
The 2010 regular season ended with Campbell holding the team’s top spot with seven goals and 16 points. Kate Megna was second with four goals and 10 points. Kabellis led the team with six assists and finished third with eight points. Kabellis and Megna were the only two players to appear in all 12 games, though Danielle Kot played a field-player best 800 minutes.
Kane ended the season having played in 10 games, posting six shutouts and a 0.80 goals against average in 900 minutes.
