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March 19, 2001
Washington
Freedom lose WUSA exhibition match 1-0 against the Carolina Courage
in the Fifth Annual Kicks Against Breast Cancer Tournament
Before a near
sellout crowd of 2,500 last Saturday, the Washington Freedom lost
their first WUSA exhibition match 1-0 against theCarolina Courage.
The games were part of the fifth annual Kicks Against Breast Cancer
Intercollegiate Soccer Tournament, which took place at the Maryland
SoccerPlex in Germantown, MD. The tournament raised over $60,000
for the Claudia Mayer Breast Cancer Foundation.
The frigid
temperatures and the absence on the field of the Freedom's Michelle
French and Mia Hamm failed to dampen the enthusiasm of the Freedom
dominated crowd who came out to cheer on their new team. French
was out due to a viral infection and Hamm is still recovering from
shoulder surgery last December.
Despite the
loss, Freedom's General Manager, Katy Button, summed up the feeling
of the crowd after the game: "It was a great game for a great cause."
The game was
the second of the day for the Freedom after a late morning 2 0 win
over William and Mary. The opening whistle for the evening game
caught the Freedom on their heels, but it took only six minutes
for midfielder Anne Makinen, this year's top college prospect, to
get off the first shot of thegame. Courage keeper, Kristin Luckenbill,
who made some spectacular saves, had no trouble handling Makinen's
ball.
The next opportunity
for the Freedom came in the 10th minute when Courage defender Tiffany
Roberts took down Pretinha 20 yards from the net. Jennifer Grubb
took the direct kick, which cleared the wall but sailed just high
of the goal.
Without French
and Hamm, the Freedom relied on the brilliant play of Brazilian
National Team Members Roseli and Pretinha. Courage defenders, led
by former U.S. National Team captain Carla Overbeck and Chinese
sensation Wen Lirong, were disciplined and ready, double- and triple-teaming
any player who threatened with the ball and pulling as many as six
players back
every time the Freedom made a play.
Thanks to
solid defense from the Freedom back line of Emmy Barr, Lindsay Stoecker
and Skylar Little, goal keeper Siri Mullinix only had to come up
with two big saves. After the first of three first-half Courage
corner kicks, a Freedom defender headed the ball to the top of the
box where it was intercepted by Meredith Florance whose shot was
pulled back from the line by
Mullinix. The second save of the game for Mullinix was in the 30th
minute when she punched out a long high shot from the left side.
Freedom head
coach Jim Gabarra spread the goal-tending responsibilities. Former
University of Portland All-American Erin Fahey managed three saves
in the second period In
the 63rd minute a solid shot by Pretinha bounced off the far post
and into Luckenbill's hands. Luckenbill seized the opportunity with
a deep punt nabbed by Canadian player Silvana Burtini, who charged
into the box and drilled a low shot past Fahey into the far right
corner of the net.
Although the
Freedom out shot their opponents 15-8, Burtini's goal would be the
only score of the night.
Despite the
loss, Freedom Head Coach, Jim Gabarra, who became a father of a
baby girl Thursday night, was pleased with his team's play. "This
team passed the ball like they had been playing together for years
rather than 17 days. Roseli and Pretinha are going to force teams
to play defensive ball, just like the Courage did tonight, and that
will open up all sorts of opportunities for us."
The fans braved
falling temperatures and strong winds yet were equally optimistic
and they definitely plan to be at RFK stadium to cheer the Freedom
at the April 14th WUSA season opener against the Bay Area CyberRays.
Members of the U14 Damascus Strikers, a Division I WAGS team know
that they are witnessing history. "It's like a good example for
younger girls," explained Madison Kerth. Her teammate, Jessie Wolfe
concurred: "We've only had the men to look up to before this."
Over the weekend
players Stephanie Loehr, Robin McCullough, Rikki-Ann Serrins and
Tanya Vogel were cut from the preseason roster. The current preseason
roster stands at 23 players. In a strong vote of confidence in his
current roster, Coach Gabarra declined to participate in this Tuesday's
WUSA waived player draft.
In other Freedom
news, the entire team attended a Freedom Fan Fest on Sunday at RFK
Stadium. Over 1,000 fans attended the event where players signed
autographs and picked ball kids from a lottery of local soccer teams.
On Wednesday,
the Freedom will travel to San Diego, CA to participate in WUSA
Spring Training Camp. The Freedom will return to D.C. in time for
an April 2nd announcement of the final player roster. Game Report
WUSA's Washington Freedom vs. Carolina Courage
Washington 0 Carolina 1
Maryland SoccerPlex
March 17, 2001 kick off 7:00 pm Attendance: 2,500 cold and
windy 42 °F
Scoring:
Carolina: Silvana
Burtini (Luckenbill) 65th
Washington
Pretinha, Roseli (Jackie Mynarski), Krista Davey (Amy Gray),
Anne Makinen (Monica Gerardo), Amanda Cromwell (Justi Baumgardt),
Tracey
Milburn, Jennifer Grubb, Emmy Barr (Carrie Moore), Lindsay Stoecker,
Skylar
Little and Siri Mullinix (Erin Fahey).
Carolina
Meredith
Florance (Maren Hendershot), Danielle Fotopolos (Asta
Helgadottir, Beth Sheppard), Tiffany Roberts (Naomi Stone), Sarah
Dacey
(Nicole Roberts), Silvana Burtini (Mikka Hansen), Kim Yankowski
(Erin
Baxter), Naomi Stone (Fanta Cooper), Wen Lirong, Carla Overbeck,
Staci Burt
and Kristin Luckenbill.
Burtini
in action 1998
CONCACAF Copyright. WSW
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