The Liverpool FC Women scored a signature victory on Sunday, defeating a strong Arsenal side in London to advance to the semifinals of the Adobe FA Women’s Cup. In a season that has been marred by injuries, inconsistent performances, and the eventual firing of Matt Beard, the Reds put forth their most comprehensive performance of the season with strong performances all over the pitch.
Sophie Roman Haug was a handful all match, pressuring goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar and almost forcing goals from her efforts on two occasions. The Norwegian striker will not officially get credit for the winning goal, but her volley came off the inside of the post and ricocheted into the goal off the back of van Domselaar to cap of a stellar day. After the match, Roman Haug said she was “buzzing” about the team effort and the result.
“The team worked so hard and did a lot of good stuff and I’m really happy to be in the semi-finals. We know that Arsenal are a great team but we came here with confidence in our own abilities. And we knew that if we kept a clean sheet, the opportunity would come. Buzzing about that.”
Liverpool have now earned two wins in two attempts since Amber Whiteley took over for Matt Beard on an interim basis. The Reds will return home on Friday to take on second place Manchester United at Anfield. Roman Haug is feels the squad is building their confidence ahead of the match.
“We’ve got two wins now in the last two games, which is really good for us and we’re bringing that confidence when we’re going on [to the pitch] now. It’s a big game on Friday as well at Anfield against United but we’re looking forward to it and we’re ready for it.”
On the other end of the pitch, veteran goalkeeper Rachael Laws celebrated not only a victory over Arsenal in the cup, but the match also marked her 100th appearance for the club. Laws wasn’t so worried about the personal milestone during the match, and was quick to provide plaudits to a defensive unit that limited Arsenal to just one shot on target and only six over all.
“I didn’t think about my 100th when I was playing. Obviously I mentioned it before the game – that goes out of your head and you’ve got to deal with the 90 minutes, or 100 minutes I should say, in front of us. Credit goes to the girls, they made my 100th a little bit more memorable. They didn’t put a foot wrong in front of me so all credit must go to them.”
Laws is one of the longest-standing members of the squad, and she attempted to put the victory in perspective. To her, the win brought back similar feelings to when Liverpool won promotion back to the WSL.
“I always go back to the first time we won the Championship and then obviously the time before when I won the WSL back in 2013. Days like these as well don’t come round very often, especially against a team like Arsenal. We came into the game with a game plan and we executed it to a T.
“There’s a lot of memories that I probably can’t think of right now but they’ll live with me forever. [Sunday] has got to be up there; the FA Cup, the biggest cup competition in women’s and men’s football. To keep a clean sheet away at Arsenal and the girls to perform like they did was fantastic.”