New York Post, Monday, August 19, 2019nypost.com38
Another
chance for
Elmora LL
after rain
By JOSEPH STASZEWSKIThe rain and a six-run deficit
didn’t wash away any of the El-
mora Little League’s belief.
The team from Elizabeth, N.J.
saw its second-round Little
League World Series game sus-
pended because of rain trailing
Central East Maui, 6-0, with one
out in the top of the fifth inning
Sunday in Williamsport, Pa. Lit-
tle League games last six innings.
When the rain came, Elmora
had Sal Garcia on first and J.R. Ro-
sado at the plate. The game will
pick up at that point at 1 p.m. on
Monday. Elmora manager Jairo
Labrador, whose team attended
the Little League Classic game
Sunday night in Williamsport be-
tween the Cubs and Pirates, said
he saw the MLB game as a chance
to have fun and regroup.
“We still feel like we have a
shot,” Labrador told The Post.
“This is Little League. Things
happen in Little League. Six runs
is not that large of a number.”
It was an uncharacteristic per-
formance at times for the Jersey
club, which fell behind right
away. Jaren Pascual hit a solo
home run on a 0-2 pitch from Ro-
sado with two outs in the bottom
of the first. Maui scored again in
the second thanks to two Elmora
throwing errors. The second al-
lowed two runs to come home
and increase Maui’s lead to 3-0.
“We didn’t make some plays
defensively that we usually do,”
Labrador said.
Elmora’s best threat to score off
Maui starter Logan Kuloloia
came in the third when Garcia
was hit by a pitch and Yadi Mateo
singled to put runners on first
and second with two outs. But
Kuloloia got Jayden Capindica to
fly out deep to right to end the in-
ning. Maui scored its final three
runs on a bases-loaded double by
Nicholas Nashiwa to make it 6-0
in the bottom of the inning. It was
the type of big hit Elmora lacked.
“Our team hit the ball, the sec-
ond, third and fourth inning,”
said Labrador, whose club had
four hits to Maui’s five. “They
played some good defense. We
hit the ball directly at people,
hard sometimes, too.”
His team still has five outs to
play to try to change all of that
Monday. If it can’t rally, Elmora
will play Barrington, Rhode Island
in an elimination game Tuesday at
3 p.m. A win would pit them
against the Virginia’s Loudoun
South at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
[email protected]By JAKE NISSEExactly five weeks after lifting her
second World Cup, Carli Lloyd shot
wide.
Inside the 36th minute at Red Bull
Arena, the two-time FIFA Player of
the Year went on a swashbuckling
run toward the goal, weaving and
cutting her way through the defense
before an eventual miss. But her
shanked attempt mattered less than
the booming gasps that filled the
stadium after.
In the afterglow of the World Cup,
women’s soccer is riding a boon of
momentum in the United States.
And Lloyd can see the difference.
“I think we saw this in 2015 as
well,” Lloyd told The Post after Sky
Blue’s 1-1 draw with Reign FC. “The
biggest challenge is how are we go-
ing to sustain that when next year
there’s the Olympics, and the year
after that when there’s nothing.”
Inside a stadium still littered with
Red Bulls decor, fans of women’ssoccer made a statement that their
sport is not to be scoffed at. A re-
cord-breaking Sky Blue crowd of
9,415 people — youth soccer players
and adults alike — filled the stands
and gave a glimpse of the sport’s po-
tential if and when its given serious
investment.
While Sky Blue’s “Cloud Nine”
supporter section bounced and sang
for 90 minutes, the match was a treat
for the players too. Sky Blue nor-
mally plays at Rutgers’ 5,000-person
Yurcak Field, while the Reign play at
a converted minor league baseball
stadium in Tacoma, Wash.
Many of the fans had undoubtedly
shown up to see Seattle’s Megan
Rapinoe, one of the stars of the
World Cup team, but she sat out
with a left Achillies injury.
“Playing at Red Bull Arena allows
us to feel like a professional athlete,”
said Reign midfielder Allie Long,
who was also part of the World
Cup-winning squad this summer.
“When you’re at Yurcak, whenyou’re at Rutgers, you feel like
you’re in college again.
“Everything about this is a pro-
fessional environment.”
It’s obvious there’s a market for
the league, which is sponsored by
Budweiser and televised across
ESPN platforms.
However, the NWSL is seemingly
functioning in spite of a number of
roadblocks in its way. Lloyd and
Long spoke of a need to increase
awareness of the women’s game,
which is frequently under-marketed
and under-funded despite the pub-
lic’s apparent appetite for it.
Long put the microscope on Sun-
day’s match.
“Was there a commercial that said
we’re playing on [ESPNNews]?”
Long asked reporters. “Was there an
ad in a newspaper, radio station?”
“The word has to get out,” Lloyd
said. “There’s so many people in
this country that have no idea
there’s a women’s professional
league and that’s a problem.”The league is not failing. But it
hasn’t yet been given a proper
chance to succeed.
Sunday’s game marked the first
ever Sky Blue game at Red Bull
Arena — seven years after the
NWSL was founded.
Still, it’s clear the NWSL has a cult
following, with good reason. The
competition is littered with U.S. na-
tional team players and international
stars such as Australia’s Sam Kerr.
Moving Sunday’s match to Harri-
son was a litmus test for the state of
women’s soccer in the U.S. It could
have backfired, with a world-beater
like Lloyd being forced to play in a
dead-empty stadium.
Instead, fans continued to show
their loyal support following the
World Cup. Now it’s up to the
league to create new fans.
“I feel like we as players have
done everything we can,” Long said.
“Won the World Cup back-to-back.
If you’re not coming to games now
... like what?”SKY’S THE LIMIT
Record-breaking crowd shows support for Blue
TOTAL SUPPORT: Sky Blue FC supporters show a banner during the first National Women’s Soccer League match at Red Bull Arena on Sun-
day. Elizabeth Eddy (inset) celebrates with her teammates after scoring during their 1-1 draw with Reign FC. Jeff Zelevansky (2)