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Sky Blue FC
Sky Blue was founded in 2007 to promote a develop women’s soccer in New Jersey and New York. The organization was created in anticipation of Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) a new league to replace the defunct WUSA that was slated to start with 7 teams in the spring of 2009. Sky Blue finished fourth in its inaugural season with a 7–8–5 record, but went on to win the first WPS championship 1–0 against the Los Angeles Sol. Sky Blue’s key performers that year included college stars Tasha Kai and Keeley Dowling, along with New Jersey natives and Team USA standouts Christie Rampone and Heather O’Reilly. O’Reilly netted the lone goal in the championship match.
Sky Blue missed the playoffs in 2010 and 2011, and league folded before the 2012 season. The club partnered with the New Jersey Wildcats of the W-League until the start of the WPS in 2013. Led by Rampone and forwards Cailtin Ford and Maria Ocamo, Sky Blue finished its first WPS campaign 10–6–6, but fell in the opening round of the playoffs. The team played its home games at Rutgers. The club finished out of the playoffs from 2014 to 2017 despite the presence of coach Rampone and several quality players, including Nadia Nadim, Jillian Loyden, Kelly O’Hara, Raquel Rodriguez and Samantha Kerr. Things hit a low point in 2018, when the club won just once under new coach Denise Reddy. In 2019, Sky Blue improved to 5 wins thanks to the arrival of Carli Lloyd and the some good games by Canadian keeper Kailen Sheriden.
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