January 10, 2001

W-League's Tampa Bay Extreme beats one of Germany's Top Women's Clubs HFV Frankfort 5-4

The W-League's Tampa Bay Extreme played host to a team representing two time German Cup Champion HFV Frankfurt Sunday in the first of two meetings between the two clubs. The second match will take place tonight at St. Petersburg High School.

Frankfurt, currently in its mid-season winter break, sent its U-23 players to Fort Myers for a week as part of the reward for winning the German Cup and to represent the nation's growing women's soccer program. The club had the choice of a trip to Portugal or the United States.

Tampa resident Phil Reiss, who used to work for the German Soccer Federation, helped arrange the friendlies between the two teams.

"It has definitely been an exciting opportunity to face HFV Frankfurt," said Extreme General Manager Rui Farias. "It is an honor for a W-League team to face high quality competition from abroad. They are a very good team with five players from the U20 German Women's National Team and several more from the U17 squad."

On Sunday, the W-1 Extreme fell behind, 2-0, early in the first half before Tia Opliger and Erin Sharpe scored to tie the game, 2-2. In the second half, HFV Frankfurt took the advantage again before Opliger, Nicole Jones and Carlene Stenson scored three straight to give the Extreme a commanding 5-3 lead late in the game. Frankfurt scored in the 89th minute to pull within one, but Tampa Bay held on for the 5-4 victory to give the franchise a 4-1 mark in international competition. The Extreme defeated a team of FHV Frankfurt's older players, who visited the U.S. on a similar trip in 2000, 2-1.

Tonight's game will double as a charity match with admission being a $4 donation to the high school's soccer program.

Following the game, HFV Frankfurt will return to Germany for the second half of its season, which will conclude in May. The team's season runs from August to December then breaks for the winter and resumes in February.