In what sounded like a wild and woolly second half, Christine Latham and Kristin Luckinbill were major contributors in a nifty 3-1 win for the Boston Breakers.

The Breakers scored first, on a PK by Kelly Smith in the 54th minute after Scurry fouled Hucles in the box.  Lori Lindsey equalized soon after, and Abby had a chance to give the Freedom their first lead of the new season on a second PK (after a handball).  Her shot was saved by Luckinbill, however, and Abby remains scoreless in WPS play.

Wambach’s missed penalty kick encapsulated the frustration for a Washington team that in the past two weeks has turned in two stellar performances and created a number of scoring chances but has failed to capitalize on those opportunities.

The moment also added to the early disappointment for Wambach, one of the country’s top goal scorers, who continues to work back from a broken leg suffered in a pre-Olympic friendly against Brazil on July 16.

Boston went on to slot through the eventual game winner when, in the 76th minute, Christine Latham scored off an assist by Alex Scott.  Angela Hucles added one a few minutes later to round out the scoring. Tony sounded like he was pleased … but saw room for improvement … in the Breakers’ play:

“There was some good and some bad,” said Breakers head coach Tony DiCicco. “I thought our back line and our goalkeeper Luckenbill defended very well. Offensively we finished very well in the second half. I didn’t think we passed the ball as well as we normally have, and we gave a lot of balls away, but give credit to Washington for that.

“I’m proud of this team though. The best teams find a way to get results even when not playing their best, and I thought we did that tonight.”

This puts the Breakers in a brief tie with the LA Sol for first place in the WPS standings – which will change after today’s games (Sol vs FC Gold Pride, and Red Stars vs. Sky Blue FC).  You can watch the Sky Blue-Red Stars match-up on Fox Soccer Channel this evening (6PM ET).

Meanwhile, I just love it when conservative, moralistic, right wing types are exposed in the tabloids.  The latest?  Mel Gibson.  Marriage and family, oh yeah.  I certainly don’t mind people being human and making mistakes … but when they don’t allow it in others, or lie hypocritically about their actions, they are fair game, IMHO.  Nice guy, indeed – hope his wife takes him for every penny she can, and then contributes huge amounts to B’nai B’rith and the Gay Marriage Movement.

While we’re talking hypocrisy, here’s a great piece by Gail Collins on threats from Texas’ governor Rick Perry to secede from the union.

Have you ever noticed that the states where anti-tax sentiment is strongest are frequently the same states that get way more back from the federal government than they send in? Alaska gets $1.84 for every tax dollar it sends to Washington, which is a rate of return even Bernard Madoff never pretended to achieve. Yet there they were in Ketchikan waving “Taxed Enough Already!” signs and demanding an end to federal spending.

Also, have you noticed how places that pride themselves on being superpatriotic seem to have the most people who want to abandon the country entirely and set up shop on their own?

I have to say, the idea is actually kind of appealing to me, so long as the Bushes aren’t in Kennebunkport when they do it.