Head coach Christy Holly (right) was happy with his team’s performance. (Sky Blue FC Photo by Jeffrey Auger)

LAKEWOOD, N.J. – Sky Blue FC concluded its preseason schedule, registered a 3-0 win over Penn State University Sunday.

Australian striker Sam Kerr paced the attack with two goals. Sharing the clean sheet were goalkeepers Caroline Casey (83 minutes) and Tori Corsaro (seven minutes).

Sky Blue finished the preseason at 3-0.

“First of all, we would like to thank Penn State for presenting us with such a fantastic challenge to finish off our preseason,” Sky Blue FC head coach Christy Holly said. “We knew they would be exceptionally disciplined on the defensive end and create some issues for us from an offensive standpoint. I felt that our team dealt with those difficulties very well and created some excellent opportunities. We are very excited about our potential for this season.”

Sky Blue FC opened the scoring in the 28th minute. The scoring sequence started with defender Kayla Mills driving possession through the center of the field before dropping the ball to Kerr. Sitting just inside the 18, Kerr fired a shot that beat the keeper for a 1-0 lead.

The National Women’s Soccer League side stretched its lead to 2-0 in the 62nd minute. Midfielder Sarah Killion served a ball into the box to forward Maya Hayes, who tapped a feed to Kerr just behind her. Kerr battled her way into possession before hammering her second goal for a 2-0 advantage.

The final goal came just before the final whistle as forward McKenzie Meehan played midfielder Daphne Corboz on a run inside the box. Corboz fought her way into a solid touch on the feed that found the back of the net.

Sky Blue FC host FC Kansas City in its season opener on Sunday, April 30 at 6 p.m. at Yurcak Field on the campus of Rutgers University in Piscataway, N.J.

Scoring Summary:

28 S.Kerr (K.Mills)
62 S.Kerr (M.Hayes)
90 D.Corboz (M.Meehan)

Lineup:

NJ: C.Casey (T.Corsaro-83), K.Mills (E.Simon-73), C.Rampone, M.Freeman (D.Richardson-73), E.Skroski, L.Galton (M.Meehan-73), S.Killion (K.Conheeney-77), N.Stanton (D.Corboz-68), S.Kerr (M.Tiernan-68), M.Hayes (K.DeCesare-73), T.Lytle (C.Atanda-77)
Head Coach: Christy Holly

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.