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WPS First Round: at Washington Freedom, Saturday, Aug. 15 (4 p.m., FSN)

BY MIKE VORKUNOV

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

On a lush green open field alongside Weston Canal Road in Zarepath, Sky Blue FC is playing a game of German handball. 12 players to each side, the game is akin to Ultimate Frisbee with a soccer ball and the only way to score is by heading the ball into a make shift goal on each side of the field. Watching them run around, fighting for every point, there is no trace of the drama Sky Blue has had to deal with all season long. No residual stains of the theater that has been the last ten days.

Which is much more impressive than it sounds. On July 30, the organization named its third coach of the season. Ian Sawyers, Sky Blue's first coach and general manager was suspended, and then fired. His replacement Kelly Lindsey quit. And while the front office was playing musical chairs, the players on the field were barely keeping themselves in position for a playoff spot.

The attitude around the team had become so pessimistic that it was a surprise when something positive finally happened.

"Every week there's something different that happens to us," forward Natasha Kai said. "When something good happens its ‘Oh my gosh something good finally happened to us'."

Coming in to visit the team during her rehab from laparoscopic surgery, Rampone saw that then-coach Lindsey was no where to be seen at practice. General Manager Gerry Marrone asked her to run practice in Lindsey's absence. Later she found out that Lindsey had come in and resigned earlier that day.

Then when Marrone asked Rampone to taking on coaching duties, Rampone saw no way to turn it down.

"I knew at that point I could do this, the team needs you," Rampone said. "We couldn't miss out on training sessions going into the Gold Pride game. I just went with it because I think the team needed me."

Fulfilling her team's needs is what Rampone has done the entire season, doing everything that's been asked of her and more. Along with being a player and now coach, Rampone has also played the role of den mother at times.

She was the one that convinced Kai to play for the team. They even live together during the season.

"She's the reason why I'm here," Kai said. "She talked me into coming. I was like ‘New Jersey, what?'"

And because this is the first time many of the players have played with each other, Rampone was the one organizing team bonding sessions to the Jersey Shore. Although that didn't turn out so well because of the seemingly non-stop rain this summer.

While Rampone's presence as coach has seemed to finally bring calm to the team, the early season was hard to navigate.

This being the first season of the Women's Professional Soccer league, Sky Blue and the six other teams were literally thrown together. When they were first met, the team was no more tied together than an AAU travel team.

With only three native Jersey players, the rest had to find temporary residence. While Kai has moved in with Rampone, the majority of the others made their homes at a hotel close to Yurcak Field, their home stadium in Piscataway.

So it was no surprise that the team's chemistry was non-existent when the season started. The results showed as much. Sky Blue started out 1-5-1.

But as the season went on, and one controversy after another hit them, the players grew closer together.

"I think the hardest thing when you throw (players together) is with Internationals and American players at the highest levels as well as college players, everybody has been coached differently," Rampone said. "Everybody has different philosophies. Soccer is a funny sport because everybody has different opinions on how it should be played... But I think our team has adjusted late, but it's better to adjust late than not adjust at all. This is why we've been more successful at the end of the season."

Sky Blue (7-8-5) will play in the First Round of the WPS playoffs Saturday at Washington (4 p.m., FSN).