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10-Player Spirit Ties Charge, 1-1

June 23, 2002 - Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA)
San Diego Spirit News Release


SAN DIEGO (Sunday, June 23, 2002) - Zhang Ouying scored in the 49th minute as the San Diego Spirit battled through numerous adversities to pull off a 1-1 tie with the league-leading Philadelphia Charge.

The Spirit moved to 2-6-3 (9 points) and broke its four-game losing streak, while also getting the first point in interim head coach Kevin Crow's career, while the Charge remained in first place at 7-1-3 (24 points).

"It was impressive to be able to get a point while playing a man down for 75 minutes," said Spirit captain Julie Foudy. "That is a long time to play with a man down, especially against a team like Philly. We stayed organized and played well and I'm proud of the team."

The Spirit played without its top player in forward Shannon MacMillan, who missed the game with a foot injury, as well as starting defender Rhiannon Tanaka, who was sidelined with a strained hamstring. Then with just 15 minutes gone, forward Mercy Akide was ejected from the match for head-butting Charge goalkeeper Melissa Moore after the two had clashed in the penalty area on a crossed ball.

The two had words, and when Akide stepped toward Moore, she inadvertently butted Moore lightly on the bridge of her nose while standing directly in front of referee Jesse Johnson, who pulled out his red card.

"I thought we played well a man down, but we could have played better since Philadelphia did not change their game much," said Crow. "It was a silly mistake by Mercy and she owed the team a big apology for putting them in a hole. She realized it and apologized so we will go forward from here. We are a team."

Down to 10 players, the Spirit still played a quality match, generating enough attack to put eight of its 15 shots on goal and forcing Moore into seven saves. The Charge had more of the dangerous chances during the match, but it was the Spirit who actually scored the Charge goal. With seconds left in the first half, Kerry Connors got loose in the right side of the penalty area and squared up on Spirit goalkeeper Jaime Pagliarulo. She then took a touch inside and bent her shot off the left post. Spirit defender Fan Yunjie was scrambling back to cover and couldn't get a solid foot on the ball as it spun off her shin and into the net.

Charge forward Marinette Pichon had scored six of her team's last eight goals, and almost tallied again in the 8th minute as a through-ball beat the Spirit's back line, but her shot hit the right post from 13 yards out. Liu Ailing had a quality chance in the 13th minute, but knocked a shot over the cross bar with her shin after the ball bounced around in the middle following a Lorrie Fair cross.

Two minutes later, the Spirit was down to 10 women and played an extremely organized match the rest of the way. The Charge had several chances from the top of the penalty area in the first half, but both Stacey Tullock and Mary-Frances Monroe put shots over the top. In the 28th minute, the Charge put ball in net off a corner kick, but the referee called a push in the box and disallowed the goal.

Just four minutes into the second half, the Spirit tied the game on a lightning counter-attack as Lori Lindsey played Zhang through into the right side of the penalty area. Zhang got a step on Lorrie Fair and stuffed her shot through the legs of Moore to tie the game. It was Zhang's team-leading fifth goal of the year.

The Spirit relied on tough defense and counter-attacks to gut out the tie, but both sides still had a couple of good chances. In the 59th minute, a free kick from Charge defender Jenny Benson drew a great diving save from Pagliarulo. In the 69th minute, Spirit substitute Margaret Tietjen beat Zhao Lihong to ball down left flank and cut the ball back to another substitute, Shauna Rohbock, but she shot weakly with her left foot from 15 yards.

In the 85th minute, Rohbock had another chance off a long cross from Foudy, but her looping header couldn't beat Moore.

The match marked the Spirit and WUSA debut of defender Anna Kraus, acquired last week in a trade for the Atlanta Beat. Kraus, the 7th player taken in the 2002 WUSA Draft, played 90 minutes and was extremely solid in the defense as well as contributing to the attack.

"I believed in myself and the team believed in me so I went out and played the best I could," said Kraus, a member of the 2001 NCAA champions at Santa Clara University, who did not get any action with the Beat during the first half of the season.

The match also marked the return of midfielder Jenny Mascaro, who played the last 19 minutes. She had not played since breaking a bone in her foot during the Spirit's second match of the season on April 20.

The Spirit travels to Carolina for its next match, facing the Carolina Courage on Saturday, June 29, at the brand-new SAS Stadium. The match will be shown tape-delayed on Channel 4 San Diego at 7 p.m. PT. The Spirit will be looking for some revenge from the 2-1 loss on opening day in a match which saw San Diego inadvertently score both the Courage's goals.

"This is another step forward," added Crow. "The game in San Jose was a transition and last week in Washington was a big step in the right direction even though we lost. Today was another positive step. I keep telling the players that as long as we keep improving, the results will come."



Women's United Soccer Association Stories from June 23, 2002


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