2016 Sky Blue FC season

The 2016 Sky Blue FC season was the team's seventh season. Sky Blue played the 2016 season in National Women's Soccer League, the top tier of women's soccer in the United States.^[4]

Sky Blue FC

2016 season
President & CEO	Thomas Hofstetter
Head coach	Christy Holly
Stadium	Yurcak Field
NWSL	7th
Top goalscorer	Sam Kerr (5)
Highest home attendance	3,780 (Sep 25 vs. Portland)^[1]
Lowest home attendance	1,252 (May 7 vs. Western New York)^[2]
Average home league attendance	2,162^[3]
Home colors Away colors
← 2015 2017 →

Team

Roster

The first team roster of Sky Blue FC.^[5]

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 2 MF   USA Shawna Gordon 3 DF   USA Christie Rampone 5 DF   USA Maya Hayes 6 MF   USA Taylor Lytle 7 MF   USA Nikki Stanton 8 MF   USA Ashley Nick 10 MF   USA Erica Skroski 11 MF   CRC Raquel Rodriguez 12 MF   USA Kim DeCesare 13 DF   USA Kristin Grubka 15 DF   USA CoCo Goodson

No. Pos. Nation Player 16 MF   USA Sarah Killion 18 GK   USA Caroline Stanley 19 DF   USA Kelley O'Hara 20 FW   AUS Samantha Kerr 21 FW   ENG Leah Galton 22 DF   USA Rachel Breton 24 MF   USA Kelly Conheeney 27 GK   USA Caroline Casey 32 FW   USA Natasha Kai 33 FW   USA Erin Simon 44 MF   USA Theresa Diederich

Match results

Preseason

Sky Blue FC v St. John's Red Storm

March 20 preseason	Sky Blue FC	1–0	St. John's Red Storm	Scotch Plains, New Jersey
2:00pm ET	Killion   37' (pen.)	^[p 1]		Stadium: Wexler Field

Sky Blue FC v North Carolina Tar Heels

March 26 preseason	Sky Blue FC	2–0	North Carolina Tar Heels	Lakewood Township, New Jersey
2:00pm ET	Kai   4' DeCesare   61'	^[p 2]		Stadium: Georgian Court University

Regular season

Seattle Reign FC v Sky Blue FC

April 17 1	Seattle Reign FC	1–2	Sky Blue FC	Seattle, Washington
	Merritt Mathias   52' (Jessica Fishlock) Hope Solo   37' Rachel Corsie   81'	^[m 1]	Tasha Kai   15' (Kelley O'Hara) Kelly Conheeney   67' (Taylor Lytle)	Stadium: Memorial Stadium Attendance: 3,987 Referee: Karen Abt

Sky Blue FC v Washington Spirit

April 24 2	Sky Blue FC	1–2	Washington Spirit	Piscataway, New Jersey
	Maya Hayes   66' (Taylor Lytle) Kelley O'Hara   74'	^[m 2]	Ali Krieger   40' (Tori Huster) Shelina Zadorsky   46+' Diana Matheson   56' (Crystal Dunn)	Stadium: Yurcak Field Attendance: 2,571

Houston Dash v Sky Blue FC

April 29 3	Houston Dash	0–0	Sky Blue FC	Houston
		^[m 3]	Raquel Rodriguez   32'	Stadium: BBVA Compass Stadium Attendance: 5,081 Referee: Reyna Fonseca

Sky Blue FC v Western New York Flash

May 7 4	Sky Blue FC	1–2	Western New York Flash	Piscataway, New Jersey
	Maya Hayes   35' (Raquel Rodriguez) Nikki Stanton   41' Caroline Stanley   71'	^[m 4]	Abby Dahlkemper   4' Jaelene Hinkle   71' (penalty) Samantha Mewis   86' (unassisted) Kristen Hamilton   90+3'	Stadium: Yurcak Field Attendance: 1,252 Referee: Ekaterina Koroleva

Sky Blue FC v Boston Breakers

May 13 5	Sky Blue FC	1–0	Boston Breakers	Piscataway, New Jersey
	Own Goal (Kassey Kallman)   41'	^[m 5]		Stadium: Yurcak Field Attendance: 1,275 Referee: Guido Gonzeles, Jr.

Western New York Flash v Sky Blue FC

May 21 6	Western New York Flash	5–2	Sky Blue FC	Rochester, New York
		^[m 6]		Stadium: Sahlen's Stadium Attendance: 3,910 Referee: Farhad Dadkho

Chicago Red Stars v Sky Blue FC

May 29 7	Chicago Red Stars	1–1	Sky Blue FC	Bridgeview, Illinois
	Sofia Huerta   34' (Jen Hoy)	^[m 7]^[m 8]^[m 9]	Leah Galton   69' (Taylor Lytle)   57'	Stadium: Toyota Park Attendance: 2,502 Referee: Matthew Franz

Sky Blue FC v FC Kansas City

June 11 8	Sky Blue FC	1–1	FC Kansas City	Piscataway, New Jersey
	Sarah Killion   30' (pen.)	^[m 10]	Shea Groom   27' (Erika Tymrak)	Stadium: Yurcak Field Attendance: 2,754 Referee: Karen Abt

Sky Blue FC v Seattle Reign FC

June 19 9	Sky Blue FC	0–0	Seattle Reign FC	Piscataway, New Jersey
		^[m 11]		Stadium: Yurcak Field Attendance: 1,547 Referee: Margaret Domka

Washington Spirit v Sky Blue FC

June 25 10	Washington Spirit	1–2	Sky Blue FC	Boyds, Maryland
	Diana Matheson   77' (Estefania Banini)	^[m 12]	Raquel Rodriguez   8' (Leah Galton) Samantha Kerr   64' (Leah Galton)	Stadium: Maryland SoccerPlex Attendance: 3,448 Referee: Leszek Stalmach

Portland Thorns FC v Sky Blue FC

July 2 11	Portland Thorns FC	2–1	Sky Blue FC	Portland, Oregon
	Dagny Brynjarsdottir   38' Nadia Nadim   62' (pen)	^[m 13]	Tasha Kai   30'	Stadium: Providence Park Attendance: 14,287 Referee: Reyna Fonseca

Sky Blue FC v Houston Dash

July 9 12	Sky Blue FC	1–0	Houston Dash	Piscataway, New Jersey
	Taylor Lytle   54'	^[m 14]		Stadium: Yurcak Field Attendance: 1,732 Referee: Cuauhtemoc Delgadillo

Boston Breakers v Sky Blue FC

July 17 13	Boston Breakers	2–3	Sky Blue FC	Boston, Massachusetts
	Angela Salem   3' Julie King   85'	^[m 15]	Sarah Killion   28' (pen) Leah Galton   37' Erica Skroski   74'	Stadium: Jordan Field Attendance: 3,314 Referee: Matthew Franz

Sky Blue FC v Washington Spirit

July 23 14	Sky Blue FC	1–0	Washington Spirit	Piscataway, New Jersey
	Leah Galton   24'	^[m 16]		Stadium: Yurcak Field Attendance: 1,552 Referee: Matthew Kreitzer

Washington Spirit v Sky Blue FC

July 30 15	Washington Spirit	3–1	Sky Blue FC	Boyds, Maryland
		^[m 17]		Stadium: Maryland SoccerPlex Attendance: 2,930 Referee: Victor Rivas

Sky Blue FC v Chicago Red Stars

August 27 16	Sky Blue FC	1–3	Chicago Red Stars	Piscataway, New Jersey
	Samantha Kerr   92+' (Leah Galton)	^[m 18]^[m 19]	Stephanie McCaffrey   31' (unassisted) Christen Press   73' (Vanessa DiBernardo) Sofia Huerta   80' (Arin Gilliland) Alyssa Mautz   92+'	Stadium: Yurcak Field Attendance: 3,108 Referee: Danielle Brzezinski-Chesky

FC Kansas City v Sky Blue FC

September 4 17	FC Kansas City	2–1	Sky Blue FC	Kansas City, Missouri
	Tiffany McCarty   46+' (unassisted) Yael Averbuch   85' (unassisted)	^[m 20]	Samantha Kerr   40' (Leah Galton)	Stadium: Swope Soccer Village Attendance: 2,414 Referee: Victor Rivas

Sky Blue FC v Orlando Pride

September 7 18	Sky Blue FC	1–1	Orlando Pride	Piscataway, New Jersey
	Sam Kerr   80' Nikki Stanton   90+'	^[m 21]	Alex Morgan   23' (Maddy Evans)	Stadium: Yurcak Field Attendance: 2,055 Referee: Matthew Franz

Orlando Pride v Sky Blue FC

September 10 19	Orlando Pride	1–2	Sky Blue FC	Orlando, Florida
	Kristen Edmonds   42' (unassisted) Toni Pressley   70'	^[m 22]	Sam Kerr   48' (unassisted) Christie Rampone   49' Maya Hayes   53' (unassisted)	Stadium: Camping World Stadium Attendance: 6,788 Referee: Danielle Chesky

Sky Blue FC v Portland Thorns FC

September 25 20	Sky Blue FC	1–3	Portland Thorns FC	Piscataway, New Jersey
	Natasha Kai   6' (kelley O'Hara) Kristin Grubka   59'	Report	Allie Long   41' (Tobin Heath) Lindsey Horan   57' (Nadia Nadim) Allie Long   84' (Hayley Raso)	Stadium: Yurcak Field Attendance: 3,780 Referee: Christina Unkel

Standings

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Portland Thorns FC	20	12	5	3	35	19	+16	41	NWSL Shield
2	Washington Spirit	20	12	3	5	30	21	+9	39	NWSL Playoffs
3	Chicago Red Stars	20	9	6	5	24	20	+4	33
4	Western New York Flash (C)	20	9	5	6	40	26	+14	32
5	Seattle Reign FC	20	8	6	6	29	21	+8	30
6	FC Kansas City	20	7	5	8	18	20	−2	26
7	Sky Blue FC	20	7	5	8	24	30	−6	26
8	Houston Dash	20	6	4	10	29	29	0	22
9	Orlando Pride	20	6	1	13	20	30	−10	19
10	Boston Breakers	20	3	2	15	14	47	−33	11

Source: NWSL
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(C) Champions

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
20	7	5	8	24	30	−6	26	2	3	3	9	12	−3	5	2	5	15	18	−3

Last updated: September 25, 2016.
Source: Soccerway

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Stadium	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H
Result	W	L	D	L	W	L	D	D	D	W	L	W	W	W	L	L	L	D	W	L
Position	2	6	6	8	5	8	6	7	7	6	7	6	5	4	5	5	6	6	6	7

Updated to match(es) played on September 25, 2016. Source: nwslsoccer.com
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Squad statistics

Source: NWSL

N	Pos	Player	GP	GS	Min	G	A	PK	Shot	SOG	SOG%	Cro	CK	Off	Foul	FS	YC	RC
27	GK	Caroline Casey	10	9	860	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
24	MF	Kelly Conheeney	13	6	590	1	0	0	11	6	55%	1	2	4	12	7	1	0
12	MF	Kim DeCesare	6	3	242	0	0	0	3	1	33%	0	0	1	2	2	0	0
21	FW	Leah Galton	14	10	1021	3	4	0	19	8	42%	5	10	9	10	8	1	0
2	MF	Shawna Gordon	10	5	427	0	0	0	3	1	33%	0	2	3	0	1	0	0
13	DF	Kristin Grubka	15	14	1267	0	1	0	3	2	67%	0	0	2	15	6	2	0
4	FW	Maya Hayes	16	8	765	3	0	0	13	7	54%	0	3	3	7	8	0	0
32	FW	Tasha Kai	20	17	1410	4	1	0	38	22	58%	1	1	25	13	19	3	0
20	FW	Samantha Kerr	9	6	616	5	0	0	27	15	56%	0	1	5	5	5	0	0
16	MF	Sarah Killion	18	18	1620	3	1	3	13	7	54%	0	22	0	17	25	0	0
6	MF	Taylor Lytle	18	18	1506	1	4	0	12	2	17%	1	0	4	3	3	0	0
8	MF	Ashley Nick	3	1	103	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
19	DF	Kelley O'Hara	12	11	1033	1	2	0	25	8	32%	0	33	7	10	15	1	0
3	DF	Christie Rampone	20	20	1800	0	0	0	1	0	0%	0	0	2	7	10	1	0
26	DF	Domi Richardson	2	0	54	0	0	0	2	1	50%	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
11	MF	Raquel Rodriguez	18	17	1461	1	1	0	22	10	45%	1	0	0	18	26	1	0
88	MF	Danielle Schulmann	3	0	42	0	0	0	1	1	100%	0	0	0	0	3	0	0
33	DF	Erin Simon	19	18	1590	0	2	0	1	0	0%	0	0	4	17	16	1	0
10	MF	Erica Skroski	20	20	1784	1	0	0	4	3	75%	1	0	0	6	4	0	0
18	GK	Caroline Stanley	11	11	940	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	0	0	1	1	0
7	MF	Nikki Stanton	12	4	412	0	0	0	2	1	50%	0	0	0	10	1	3	0
29	FW	Catherine Zimmerman	5	4	257	0	0	0	1	0	0%	0	0	0	5	7	0	0
Team Total			20	—	19800	23	16	3	201	95	47%	10	74	69	160	168	15	0

N	Pos	Goal keeper	GP	GS	Min	GA	GA/G	PKA	PKF	Shot	SOG	Sav	Sav%	YC	RC
27	GL	Caroline Casey	10	9	860	14	1.40	1	1	122	46	32	70%	0	0
18	GK	Caroline Stanley	11	11	940	16	1.45	1	1	125	49	33	67%	1	0
Team Total			20	—	1800	30	1.50	2	2	247	95	65	68%	1	0

Honors and awards

NWSL Awards

NWSL Yearly Awards

Player	Award	Ref.
Raquel Rodríguez	Rookie of the Year	^[6]
Christie Rampone	Second X1	^[6]

NWSL Player of the Week

Week	Result	Player	Ref.
18	Won	Sam Kerr	^[7]

References

1. "Sky Blue FC Unable to Hold Off Portland in 2016 Season Finale". Sky Blue FC. September 25, 2016. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
2. "Sky Blue FC Suffers 2-1 Defeat to Flash". Sky Blue FC. May 7, 2016. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
3. "2016 NWSL Statistics". National Women's Soccer League. September 25, 2016. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
4. . skybluefc.com. Archived from the original on May 6, 2016. Retrieved May 9, 2016.
5. "2016 ROSTER". skybluefc.com.
6. . nwslsoccer.com. NWSL. October 4, 2016. Archived from the original on October 6, 2016.
7. . NWSL. September 13, 2016. Archived from the original on October 10, 2016. Retrieved April 30, 2019.

Match reports (preseason)

1. "SKY BLUE FC EARNS VICTORY IN 2016 PRESEASON OPENER". skybluefc.com. Retrieved May 9, 2016.
2. "SKY BLUE FC BLANKS NORTH CAROLINA WITH 2–0 VICTORY". skybluefc.com. Retrieved May 9, 2016.

Match reports (regular season)

1. "SKY BLUE FC HANDS SEATTLE REIGN FC ITS FIRST-EVER LOSS AT MEMORIAL STADIUM". skybluefc.com. Retrieved May 9, 2016.
2. . nwslsoccer.com. Archived from the original on April 30, 2016. Retrieved May 9, 2016.
3. "DASH HELD TO SCORELESS DRAW BY SKY BLUE FC". nwslsoccer.com. Retrieved May 9, 2016.
4. "SKY BLUE FC SUFFERS 2–1 DEFEAT TO FLASH". skybluefc.com. Retrieved May 9, 2016.
5. "Resilient Sky Blue FC Side Earns Three Home Points Over Boston Breakers". skybluefc.com. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
6. "Sky Blue FC Suffers Road Defeat to Flash". skybluefc.com. Retrieved May 31, 2016.
7. . chicagoredstars.com. Archived from the original on June 2, 2016. Retrieved May 31, 2016.
8. . skybluefc.com. Archived from the original on June 3, 2016. Retrieved May 31, 2016.
9. "MAY 29, 2016 – Chicago Red Stars vs. Sky Blue FC". nwslsoccer.com. Retrieved May 31, 2016.
10. "Midfielder Sarah Killion Converts First Half Penalty Kick in Draw". skybluefc.com. Retrieved June 26, 2016.
11. "Two Sides Play to a Scoreless Stalemate at Yurcak Field". skybluefc.com. Retrieved June 26, 2016.
12. . skybluefc.com. Archived from the original on July 4, 2016. Retrieved June 26, 2016.
13. "SECOND HALF PENALTY KICK IS DIFFERENCE AS SKY BLUE FC FALLS TO PORTLAND THORNS FC". skybluefc.com. Retrieved August 3, 2016.
14. "TAYLOR LYTLE ROCKETS GAME-WINNER TO LEAD SKY BLUE FC PAST HOUSTON DASH". skybluefc.com. Retrieved August 3, 2016.
15. "SKY BLUE FC COMPLETES SEASON SWEEP OF BOSTON BREAKERS". skybluefc.com. Retrieved August 3, 2016.
16. "SKY BLUE FC WINS THIRD STRAIGHT MATCH, BLANKS WASHINGTON SPIRIT". skybluefc.com. Retrieved August 3, 2016.
17. "SKY BLUE FC FALLS ON THE ROAD TO WASHINGTON SPIRIT". skybluefc.com. Retrieved August 3, 2016.
18. "Sky Blue FC Suffers 3-1 Home Defeat to Chicago Red Stars at Yurcak Field". skybluefc.com. Retrieved August 30, 2016.
19. . chicagoredstars.com. Archived from the original on September 13, 2016. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
20. "KANSAS CITY RALLIES TO WIN 2-1 OVER SKY BLUE FC". nwslsoccer.com. Retrieved September 4, 2016.
21. "SKY BLUE FC COMES BACK TO EARN 1-1 DRAW WITH ORLANDO". nwslsoccer.com. Retrieved September 10, 2016.
22. "SKY BLUE FC RALLIES FOR 2-1 ROAD WIN OVER ORLANDO PRIDE". nwslsoccer.com. Retrieved September 10, 2016.

External links

• Official website

See also

• 2016 National Women's Soccer League season
• 2016 in American soccer