Minnesota Lightning News Release - www.mnthunder.com
Friday, July 3, 2009
BLAINE, MN -- The Lighting trounced the Kalamazoo Outrage 6-0 in the final home match of the 2009 regular season. The Minnesota Lighting did not let Wednesday's loss affect their play tonight as they scored two goals in the first six minutes and six goals in the first half.
The Lightning defense was on their game as they held Kalamazoo to only four shots the whole game and helping Mallory Beck shutting the Outrage out.
The Minnesota Lightning set the tone in the second minute with an early goal. The Lightning had two quick corner kicks and the latter proved to be fruitful. Chelsea Cline took the corner kick and placed the ball perfectly for the Lightning offense to put in the back of the net. Caroline Smith stepped up and headed the ball past Kalamazoo's goalkeeper, Meaghan Bennett, for the opening goal of the match.
Minnesota extended their lead in the sixth minute with a goal from Katilin Wagner. She took the ball in all alone and was able to bob and dart past the defenders to give her an open shot. She capitalized on her opportunity by slipping a shot past Bennett for the second goal of the game.
Chelsea Cline inflated the Lighting's score to three in the 18th minute. Cline started the play by passing the ball to Smith in hopes of a goal but Smith's shot was deflected by Bennett. The rebound went back to Cline who promptly returned the ball to Bennett but she could not stop the shot and Cline got the third goal of the game.
One minute went by and Minnesota scored again in the 19th minute. Cline had the ball and Bennett thought she was going to try for a second goal but Cline had something else in mind. She flicked the ball over to Kelsey Hans and before Bennett could readjust to cut off Hans' shooting lane, Hans scored the fourth goal.
The Lighting continued their dominance in the 31st minute. Chelsea Cline was fouled in the box and that resulted in a penalty kick. Smith answered the call and put the ball in the lower left corner. Bennett dove but she came up short and the Lighting went up by five.
Minnesota scored yet again late in the first half to lead the Outrage by six. In the 45th minute, Cline trickled through the Kalamazoo defense and dished the ball off to Emily Redberg who immediately passed it to Rosie Malone-Polovny. Malone-Povolny blasted a shot just under the cross bar in the middle of the goal leaving Bennett helpless to stop the ball.
The Lighting unequivocally commanded the momentum of the first 45 minutes of the match. Six goals is not an accident and Minnesota came out in the second half still firing on all cylinders.
Minnesota slowed down in the second half but only in terms of scoring. The Lighting did not allow Bennett to let her guard down and although the second half was not as plentiful as the first, Minnesota's shots were just missing the net. Cline, Sarah Johnson, Malone-Polovny, Lindsey Schwartz all kept Bennett on her toes. In the end, the Minnesota Lighting walked off the field with a memorable 6-0 win over the Kalamazoo Outrage.
"It was a good start being 4-0 in the first 20 minutes," said Lightning head coach Danny Storlien. "Whenever you start like that, it is hard to come back and finish the game strong. It is a dream start when you score in the first couple minutes, and it doesn't get much better than that. We have played well while playing at the National Sports Center this season. We tied a great Indiana team early in the season. We lost a tough game to Chicago a couple days ago but it is a fantastic place for us to play."
Tonight was the last time that the will Lightning play at the National Sports Center in their 2009 regular season. Minnesota concludes their season by playing their final four matches on the road. They visit Fort Wayne Fever and then West Michigan Firewomen and Kalamazoo Outrage before playing their last regular season match of the 2009 campaign in Cleveland.
