Finally, the ball bounced the right way for the Boston Breakers. An Angela Hucles goal in the 35th minute, off a volley from Kristine Lilly, held up to give Boston a 1-0 win, and the Washington Freedom rallied to tie their game in stoppage time against Sky Blue FC. The combination of Boston’s win and Sky Blue’s draw put the Breakers in sole possession of third place.

“These last five games are incredibly important,” Boston Head Coach Tony DiCicco said following the game. “Ties are losing two points. Losses are losing three points. So in my mind, each Washington and Sky Blue lost two points. And us getting three points and keeping a team like Chicago, who was one point behind us, from getting any points, this was a good Wednesday for us.”

With five games remaining on their schedule, the next coming Sunday in California against last-place FC Gold Pride, the Breakers (6-6-3, 21 points) sit two points behind second-place St. Louis. Athletica, with 23 points, travel to Washington Saturday. If Boston wins and the Freedom beat or draw with St. Louis, the Breakers will find themselves in second place, either alone or tied with St. Louis.

“We needed it,” Lilly said about Wednesday’s win. “We’ve got five games left so each game really matters, so this was a good win for us. The feeling for tonight was everyone was working together. We were going as a unit, and the last couple games, we’d have moments of this, but tonight we had it for a good 70 minutes.”

Currently no team has been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, however Gold Pride (3-8-3, 12 points) could suffer a devastating blow if they lose Sunday to Boston. After Sunday, Gold Pride have five more games to go, including one more match against first-place Los Angeles, two against St. Louis, and one against Sky Blue. If the Breakers continue winning, they won’t have to worry about Gold Pride and the Freedom (4-6-5, 17 points) for that matter.

Wednesday night, in front of 4,075 at Harvard Stadium in Cambridge, the Breakers improved to 6-0-0 when scoring first. They also became the third team to have at least five players with two or more goals after Hucles put in a great service from Lilly.

“We’re focusing on starting well, going after the win, and not holding anything back, and I feel like we were creating more chances that we had in the previous game,” said Hucles, who then broke down her goal. “We were trying to get in there, and the ball was cleared out, and she (Lilly) previously tried to shoot one, so I think this time I called for it just to let her know that we were getting in the box, and it was a great ball, away from the goalkeeper, and I just tried to stay away from the defender to try and get in behind and finish it. It was a perfectly executed goal and her pass was great.”

The Breakers saw a number of promising performances, which is what Head Coach Tony DiCicco wanted seeing that Boston will be without seven players (leading scorer Kelly Smith, backs Alex Scott, Heather Mitts, Amy LePeilbet, and Candace Chapman, Hucles, and forward Amy Rodriguez) due to national duty call-ups. Midfielder Maggie Tomecka and midseason addition Mary-Frances Monroe (midfielder) all played a full 90 minutes for the first time this season.

“I’m really proud of the players,” DiCicco. “And we had two players (Tomecka and Monroe) who started their first games. The players are working hard in practice, improving, and it gives me more options. Hopefully that will help us down the stretch run because our next game (vs. Gold Pride), we’re missing seven international players. So we’re bringing everybody else who’s on the roster, plus two players, one I cut already (Stacy Bishop), and Erika Sutton will be joining us. She’s been training with us. I played 11 players who I knew would be committed to the battle and Maggie certainly is a warrior out there and she played well. That was a real bonus for us. And her heading presence is fantastic. I thought there were a lot of good performances today.”

Defender Abby Crumpton saw her first minutes in Wednesday’s game, and Brazilian international Fabiana saw significant time (59 minutes) up front. The defensive play of the game came in the 64th minute when Monroe stopped a shot by Jill Oakes right at the goalline. With keeper Alli Lipsher two steps two her right, Monroe was the only option to get a piece of the ball. That preserved Lipsher’s third clean sheet of the season.

The two additions for Boston, Bishop and Sutton will add a solid presence in the middle. Bishop played in nine games (six starts) for the Breakers before getting cut last month. Both her and Sutton will likely see action Sunday in California. Sutton played for Florida State (Class of 2008), and according to the university, Sutton “was acquired in a week long deal which allows her to be available for two Breakers games, on July 15 versus Chicago at home, and July 19 at FC Gold Pride. Sutton will return with the Buffalo Flash of the W-League before their playoff run on July 20.”

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