2016 Western New York Flash season

Western New York Flash
2016 Western New York Flash season
President	Alexandra Sahlen
Head coach	Paul Riley
Stadium	Rochester Rhinos Stadium
NWSL	4th
2016 NWSL Playoffs	Winners
Top goalscorer	League: Lynn Williams (11); All: Lynn Williams (14)
Highest home attendance	6,449; (Aug. 27 vs. Houston)
Lowest home attendance	2,235; (June 17 vs. Portland)
Average home league attendance	3,868
Home colors	Away colors
	← 2015 2017 →

Last updated March 29, 2024

The 2016 season was Western New York Flash's ninth season, the fourth in which they competed in the National Women's Soccer League, the top division of women's soccer in the United States. The season ended with the Flash's first finals appearance since the 2013 NWSL season and the franchise's first NWSL Championship victory. It was also the final season of the NWSL franchise's existence in Rochester, New York, or as the Western New York Flash, after being purchased by the North Carolina FC organization, moved to Cary, North Carolina, and rebranded as the North Carolina Courage in January 2017.^[4] It was replaced in March 2017 by a new Buffalo-based Western New York Flash team in United Women's Soccer.^[5]

First-team 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
0	GK	USA	Katelyn Rowland
1	GK	CAN	Sabrina D'Angelo
2	MF	USA	Michaela Hahn
3	FW	USA	Makenzy Doniak
4	MF	USA	Elizabeth Eddy
5	MF	USA	Samantha Mewis
6	DF	NZL	Abby Erceg
7	MF	USA	McCall Zerboni
9	FW	USA	Lynn Williams


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
11	FW	USA	Taylor Smith
13	MF	USA	Abby Dahlkemper
14	FW	USA	Jessica McDonald
15	DF	USA	Jaelene Hinkle
17	FW	USA	Kristen Hamilton
19	FW	CAN	Adriana Leon
22	DF	USA	Laura Liedle
23	DF	USA	Courtney Niemiec
24	DF	AUS	Alanna Kennedy
25	MF	USA	Meredith Speck
28	GK	USA	Britt Eckerstrom

Match results

Pre-season

The Flash announced their preseason schedule on March 11, 2016.^[6]

Sat Mar 191	Western New York Flash	3–0	West Virginia Mountaineers	Elma, New York
	Eddy 50' Andrade 80' Zimmerman 82'	Report		Stadium: Sahlen's Sports Park Attendance: 1,052 Referee: Greg Irwin

Sat Apr 22	Western New York Flash	Cancelled	Penn State Nittany Lions	Elma, New York
		Cancellation		Stadium: Sahlen's Sports Park
Note: Cancelled due to scheduling conflicts.

Sat Apr 22	Syracuse Orange	0–1	Western New York Flash	Syracuse, New York
		Report	Williams 37'	Stadium: SU Soccer Stadium Attendance: Closed-door
Note: 45-minute match.

Sat Apr 23	Western New York Flash	4–0	Vermont Catamounts	Syracuse, New York
	Zimmerman 13' Doniak 20' McDonald 24' Ayinde 45'	Report		Stadium: SU Soccer Stadium Attendance: Closed-door
Note: 45-minte match.

Regular season

Sat Apr 161	FC Kansas City	0–1	Western New York Flash	Kansas City, Missouri
		Report	Sam Mewis 71' (penalty)	Stadium: Children's Mercy Park Attendance: 8,022

Sat Apr 232	Chicago Red Stars	1–0	Western New York Flash	Bridgeview, Illinois
	Casey Short 28' (unassisted)	Report		Stadium: Toyota Park Attendance: 2,529

Fri Apr 293	Western New York Flash	0–3	Washington Spirit	Rochester, New York
	Elizabeth Eddy 80'	Report Report	Diana Matheson 4' (Crystal Dunn), 72' (p.k.) Elizabeth Eddy 82' (o.g.)	Stadium: Sahlen's Stadium Attendance: 3,615

Sat May 74	Sky Blue FC	1–2	Western New York Flash	Piscataway, New Jersey
	Maya Hayes 35' (Raquel Rodriguez) Nikki Stanton 41' Caroline Stanley 71'	Report	Abby Dahlkemper 4' Jaelene Hinkle 71' (penalty) Samantha Mewis 86' (unassisted) Kristen Hamilton 90+3'	Stadium: Yurcak Field Attendance: 1,252 Referee: Ekaterina Koroleva

Sat May 145	Orlando Pride	1–0	Western New York Flash	Orlando, Florida
	Morgan 79'	Report	Erceg 50' 89'	Stadium: Camping World Stadium Attendance: 7,841 Referee: Levi Rippy

Sat May 216	Western New York Flash	5–2	Sky Blue FC	Rochester, New York
		Report		Stadium: Sahlen's Stadium Attendance: 3,910 Referee: Farhad Dadkho

Fri May 277	Western New York Flash	4–0	Boston Breakers	Rochester, New York
	Smith 15' Williams 64' (Hahn) Williams 65' (Speck) Dahlkemper 78' (pen.)	Report	Beckmann 90'	Stadium: Sahlen's Stadium Attendance: 3,940 Referee: Andrew Musashe

Sat Jun 118	Western New York Flash	1–0	Orlando Pride	Rochester, New York
	Doniak 4' (McDonald) Speck 47+' Leon 83'	Report	Spencer 76'	Stadium: Sahlen's Stadium Attendance: 4,526 Referee: Elvis Mahmutovi

Fri Jun 179	Western New York Flash	0–2	Portland Thorns FC	Rochester, New York
	Samantha Mewis 47' Alanna Kennedy 55' Makenzy Doniak 90'	Report	Christine Sinclair 46' (Allie Long) Nadia Nadim 73' (pen.) Hayley Raso 81'	Stadium: Sahlen's Stadium Attendance: 2,235 Referee: Victor Rivas

Fri Jun 2410	Western New York Flash	7–1	Boston Breakers	Rochester, New York
7:00 p.m. ET	Lynn Williams 19' (Makenzy Doniak), 39' (Jessica McDonald) Jessica McDonald 28' (Samantha Mewis), 43' (Liz Eddy), 49' (Lynn Williams) Alanna Kennedy 35' Makenzy Doniak 45+2' (Samantha Mewis) McCall Zerboni 60' Taylor Smith 63' (Jaelene Hinkle)	Report Report	Christen Westphal 38'	Stadium: Sahlen's Stadium Attendance: 3,024 Referee: Guido Gonzales Jr.

Fri Jul 111	Western New York Flash	2–0	Chicago Red Stars	Rochester, New York
	Lianne Sanderson 37' Lynn Williams 74' (Jessica McDonald) McCall Zerboni 78'	Report		Stadium: Sahlen's Stadium Attendance: 3,114 Referee: Danielle Brzezinski-Chesky

Sat Jul 912	Western New York Flash	3–2	Seattle Reign FC	Rochester, New York
19:00	Erceg 39'45+4' Williams 83'	Summary Report	Kawasumi 22' Winters 64' Mathias 82' Utsugi 90+1'	Stadium: Frontier Field Attendance: 4,314 Referee: Karen Abt

Sat Jul 1613	Seattle Reign FC	1–1	Western New York Flash	Seattle
22:00	Melis 3' Winters 33' Reed 74'	Summary Report	McDonald 45' Zerboni 47'	Stadium: Memorial Stadium Attendance: 4,521 Referee: Ekaterina Koroleva

Sat Jul 2314	Western New York Flash	0–1	FC Kansas City	Rochester, New York
19:05	Janice Cayman 20' Hahn 45+3'	Summary Report	Molly Menchel 54' Groom 60'	Stadium: Sahlen's Stadium Attendance: 3,556 Referee: Maraget Domka

Sat Jul 3015	Houston Dash	3–3	Western New York Flash	Houston
	Rachel Daly 32' (unassisted) Kealia Ohai 47' (unassisted) Kealia Ohai 63' (Stephanie Ochs) Caity Heap 92+'	Report	Lianne Sanderson 3' (Lynn Williams) Jessica McDonald 70' (Lynn Williams) Lynn Williams 93+' (Jessica McDonald) Jaelene Hinkle 93+' Abby Dahlkemper 96+'	Stadium: BBVA Compass Stadium Attendance: 4,329 Referee: Matthew Franz

Sat Aug 2716	Western New York Flash	2–2	Houston Dash	Rochester, New York
19:00	Sanderson 36' Doniak 58'	Summary	O'Sullivan 27' 41' Ohai 53' Daly 86'	Stadium: Sahlen's Stadium Attendance: 6,449 Referee: Victor Rivas

Sat Sep 317	Washington Spirit	1–1	Western New York Flash	Boyds, Maryland
	Katie Stengel 64' (Crystal Dunn) Diana Matheson 85'	Report	Elizabeth Eddy 40' Samantha Mewis 86' (unassisted)	Stadium: Maryland SoccerPlex Attendance: 4,527 Referee: Chris Spivey

Thu Sep 818	Boston Breakers	2–2	Western New York Flash	Boston, Massachusetts
	Kyah Simon 4' (J King) Natasha Dowie 9'; 51' (Louise Schillgard) Julie King 61' Eunice Beckmann 68'	Report	Jessica McDonald 38' (Samantha Mewis) Lynn Williams 76' (Makenzy Doniak)	Stadium: Jordan Field Attendance: 1,435 Referee: Cuauhtemoc Delgadillo

Sun Sep 1119	Portland Thorns FC	3–2	Western New York Flash	Portland, Oregon
	Nadia Nadim 27' (penalty) Christine Sinclair 37' Tobin Heath 58' Dagný Brynjarsdóttir 69' (T Heath) Michelle Betos 71'	Report	Jaelene Hinkle 27' Jessica McDonald 77' (Elizabeth Eddy) Lynn Williams 80' ([J McDonald)	Stadium: Providence Park Attendance: 21,144 Referee: Marco Vega

Sat Sep 2420	Boston Breakers	0–4	Western New York Flash	Boston, Massachusetts
	Angela Salem 45'+3 Katie Schoepfer 70' Whitney Engen 71'	Report	Jessica McDonald 2' (Makenzy Doniak) Lynn Williams 24' (unassisted) Samantha Mewis 45' (McCall Zerboni) Alanna Kennedy 61' Abby Dahlkemper 68' (penalty)	Stadium: Jordan Field Attendance: 4,027 Referee: Karen Abt

Postseason playoff

Sun Oct 2 2:00 pm PDTNWSL Semifinals	Portland Thorns FC	3–4 (a.e.t.)	Western New York Flash	Portland, Oregon
14:00 UTC-08	Sinclair 39' (Reynolds) Brynjarsdottir 75' Sonnett 78' Horan 106+' (Brynjarsdottir) Heath 114'	Report	Mewis 16' Kennedy 28' Doniak 38' (McDonald) Dahlkemper 76' Williams 98' Williams 104' (Mewis) Eddy 109' D'Angelo 121+'	Stadium: Providence Park Attendance: 20,086 Referee: Marco Vega
Note: Flash Head Coach Paul Riley was ejected at 40' for arguing with officials. Assistant Coach Scott Vallow replaced Riley for the remainder of the match, as well as in the finals, for which Riley was also suspended.^[7]

Sun Oct 9 4:00 pm CDT2016 NWSL Championship	Washington Spirit	2–2 (a.e.t.) (2–3 p)	Western New York Flash	Houston, Texas
16:00 UTC-05	Dunn 9' (Oyster)91' (Krieger) Wys 122+'	Report	Mewis 14' (Williams) Zerboni 84' Williams 124+' (McDonald)	Stadium: BBVA Compass Stadium Attendance: 8,255 Referee: Christina Unkel
	Penalties
	Krieger Nairn Stengel Huster Matheson		Dahlkemper Hinkle McDonald Williams Mewis
Note: Flash Head Coach Paul Riley was suspended from coaching the team due to his ejection in the semifinals match against Portland. Assistant Coach Scott Vallow replaced Riley in the finals.^[7]

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	Pts	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD
20	32	9	6	5	40	26	+14	6	3	1	24	13	+11	3	3	4	16	13	+3

Last updated: September 24, 2016
Source: National Women's Soccer League
Pld = Matches played; Pts = Points; W = Matches won; T = Matches tied; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference

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	A	H	A	A	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	A	A
Result	W	L	L	W	L	W	W	W	L	W	W	W	D	L	D	D	D	D	L	W

Updated to match(es) played on September 11, 2016. Source: National Women's Soccer League
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Squad statistics

Source: NWSL

Squad statistics are of regular season only

N	Pos	Player	GP	GS	Min	G	A	PK	Shot	SOG	SOG%	Cro	CK	Off	Foul	FS	YC	RC
16	FW	Lady Andrade	2	0	51	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
10	MF	Halimatu Ayinde	1	1	45	0	0	0	1	0	0%	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
20	MF	Janice Cayman	3	1	97	0	0	0	2	2	100%	0	0	0	1	4	1	0
1	GL	Sabrina D'Angelo	11	11	990	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
13	MF	Abby Dahlkemper	20	20	1800	2	1	2	14	8	57%	4	60	0	11	11	2	0
3	MF	Makenzy Doniak	20	15	1144	3	4	0	15	8	53%	13	1	1	6	15	1	0
28	GK	Britt Eckerstrom	3	3	270	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	1	0	0	1	0	0
4	MF	Elizabeth Eddy	20	20	1754	0	2	0	8	5	63%	6	8	1	21	12	3	0
6	DF	Abby Erceg	17	16	1474	2	1	0	13	4	31%	0	1	1	14	6	2	1
2	MF	Michaela Hahn	13	8	659	1	1	0	9	2	22%	0	0	0	3	4	1	0
17	FW	Kristen Hamilton	12	0	125	0	0	0	1	1	100%	0	0	0	3	1	1	0
15	DF	Jaelene Hinkle	15	15	1325	1	3	1	12	9	75%	12	38	0	9	9	2	0
8	MF	Ga Eul Jeon	2	1	85	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	1	0	1	4	0	0
24	DF	Alanna Kennedy	15	15	1298	0	1	0	11	6	55%	0	1	1	20	8	3	0
19	FW	Adriana Leon	10	3	342	0	0	0	12	3	25%	0	0	2	8	2	2	0
14	FW	Jessica McDonald	19	19	1665	10	7	0	61	34	56%	8	3	13	10	11	0	0
5	MF	Samantha Mewis	14	14	1260	5	2	1	39	17	44%	3	0	0	22	13	1	0
23	DF	Courtney Niemiec	6	4	397	0	0	0	2	1	50%	0	0	0	2	3	0	0
0	GK	Katelyn Rowland	6	6	540	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
10	FW	Lianne Sanderson	9	8	702	3	0	0	22	10	45%	3	1	3	5	13	0	0
11	FW	Taylor Smith	18	5	726	2	0	0	17	4	24%	1	1	0	9	11	1	0
25	FW	Meredith Speck	6	5	369	0	1	0	3	1	33%	1	1	2	3	0	1	0
9	FW	Lynn Williams	19	19	1670	11	5	0	70	34	49%	6	0	22	15	4	0	0
7	MF	McCall Zerboni	12	11	1011	0	1	0	13	4	31%	3	0	1	17	16	2	0
Team Total			20	—	19799	40	29	4	325	153	47%	60	117	47	181	148	23	1

N	Pos	Goal keeper	GP	GS	Min	GA	GA/G	PKA	PKF	Shot	SOG	Sav	Sav%
1	GK	Sabrina D'Angelo	11	11	990	16	1.45	3	4	105	52	35	67%
28	GK	Britt Eckerstrom	3	3	270	2	0.67	1	1	29	18	16	89%
0	GK	Katelyn Rowland	6	6	540	8	1.33	0	0	55	24	16	67%
Team Total			20	—	1800	26	1.30	4	5	189	94	67	71%

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References

↑ "Flash Earn Draw in Home Finale". Western New York Flash. August 27, 2016. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
↑ "WNY Flash 3-Game Win Streak Comes to an End". Western New York Flash. June 17, 2016. Archived from the original on December 22, 2016. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
↑ "2016 NWSL Statistics". National Women's Soccer League. September 25, 2016. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
↑ Goldberg, Jamie (January 9, 2017). "Western New York Flash officially moving to Cary, North Carolina". The Oregonian/OregonLive. Retrieved January 14, 2017.
↑ Tsujimoto, Ben (March 30, 2017). "WNY Flash tab Bruce to coach United Women's Soccer team". Buffalo News . Retrieved June 13, 2017.
↑ "WNY Flash Announce Preseason Schedule". WNYFlash.com. March 11, 2016. Retrieved March 23, 2016.
1 2 Graham Hays (October 2, 2016). "Sooner than expected, Western New York Flash arrive at NWSL title game". ESPN . Retrieved November 14, 2016.

External links

Official website

v t e Western New York Flash
Founded 2008 Based in Rochester, New York
The Club	History Colors and badge Supporters Roster
Stadium	All-High Stadium Niagara University
Key personnel	President: Alexandra Sahlen Head Coach: Gary Bruce
Seasons
Seasons (9)	2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

v t e National Women's Soccer League
Records and statistics Players Association U.S. Soccer
Current teams	Angel City FC Bay FC Chicago Red Stars Houston Dash Kansas City Current NJ/NY Gotham FC North Carolina Courage Orlando Pride Portland Thorns FC Racing Louisville FC San Diego Wave FC Seattle Reign FC Utah Royals Washington Spirit
Future team	NWSL Boston (2026)
Former teams	Western New York Flash (2013–16) Boston Breakers (2013–17) FC Kansas City (2013–17)
Seasons	2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Competition	NWSL Shield Playoffs Challenge Cup Summer Cup Stadiums Attendance Expansion Broadcasters
Personnel	Players Association Draftees Drafts Foreign players Owners Federation players (2013–21)
Awards	League awards Player of the Month Rookie of the Month Team of the Month Player of the Week Players' awards
Related articles	2021 abuse scandal Yates Report
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