US Women’s National Team (WNT) and St Louis Athletica goalkeeper Hope Solo made 4 saves to earn her sixth clean sheet of the season and prevented  the 1st place Los Angeles Sol from locking up the Championship hosting duties in a rare mid-week clash last night at Home Depot Center in Los Angeles, California.

Facing off against Canadian WMT goalkeeper extraordinaire, Karina LeBlanc,  Solo’s Athletica became only the second team in WPS to beat the league leaders thus far in the campaign. Midfielder Amanda Cinalli slipped one past LeBlanc (who has a league leading 11 clean sheets) on a pass from Eniola Aluko at the 11 minute mark of the first half and it was enough to join the Boston Breakers as the only teams to topple the league leaders and likely Championship hosts.

Brazilian wonder Marta made her presence felt early and often nearly knotting the game at one numerous times and picking up her second caution on the year for unsporting behavior away from play in the 70th.

The Sol, playing their final home game of the regular season, saw the return of midfielder Aly Wagner, however, will remain without Christie Shaner for what looks like the rest of the season after her leg was broken on a tackle from Washington’s Abby Wambach last week. It was Shaner’s first game for LA after being traded by Sky Blue FC.

Leblanc and Solo renew their rivalry July 19th when Canada visits the USWNT for two games during the vital final weeks of the WPS season. The last meeting, a rescheduled game which the US took on after Japan cancelled citing H1N1 concerns, came May 25th with the US winning 4-0.

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