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Beat Back in 1st Place After 2-0 Win Over San Diego

July 9, 2003 - Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA)
Atlanta Beat News Release


ATLANTA (July 9, 2003) - The Atlanta Beat bounced back from a July 4 loss, with a 2-0 victory over the San Diego Spirit on Wednesday night. Nikki Serlenga scored her first goal of the season and rookie forward Abby Crumpton notched her third to seal the victory. With the win, the Beat took sole possession of first place with a 7-3-4 record and 25 points. The Spirit sits in a third place tie with the Washington Freedom and has a record of 5-4-6 with 21 points.

The first half was fast paced and physical, as Atlanta took 10 shots to San Diego's five. The teams also combined for 20 fouls in the first half and three yellow cards. Each team had good chances in the first half, the best of Atlanta's coming from Conny Pohlers, who narrowly missed twice from close range.

Julie Fleeting nearly put San Diego on the board with a point blank shot, but it was deflected out on a great defensive play from Sharolta Nonen.

The second half saw each team settle down and start moving the ball around more.

The pace slowed, but the Beat would continue to apply pressure to the Spirit's defense. The pressure paid off in the 73rd minute when Pohlers was fouled by Kim Pickup on the left side of the field, about 30 yards out from goal. Serlenga stepped up to take the free kick for Atlanta and drove a ball toward the back post. Charmaine Hooper jumped to redirect the ball, but narrowly missed. Hooper's attempt to redirect the ball froze Spirit goalkeeper Jaime Pagliarulo and the ball snuck into the back post for Serlenga's first goal of the season.

After four minutes of added time was shown, the Beat would got an insurance goal in the first of those minutes from Crumpton, a rookie forward from the University of Michigan. Crumpton, an attacking minded player, entered the game as a substitute in the 64th minute for Ifeoma Dieke, a defensive midfielder. The play began with Hooper winning a ball at the top of the 18-yard box. She dribbled at goal, but was cut off by a Spirit defender. She slipped the ball back to Pohlers at the penalty spot. Before Pohlers could fire a shot, the ball was cleared away by Spirit defender Lisa Krzykowski, but right into the path of Crumpton, who took a first time left-footed shot into the left corner of the goal.

The shutout was the 5th for Scurry this season. She made three saves on three shots on goal and her goals against average dropped to 0.86 per game. The match was the final regular season meeting between Atlanta and San Diego, with Atlanta winning the season series 1-0-2. The Beat's all-time record versus San Diego stands at 4-2-3.

Atlanta plays on Saturday, July 12, at Herndon Stadium versus the Washington Freedom at 4 p.m. The Spirit plays on July 16, at Torero Stadium versus the Washington Freedom.



Women's United Soccer Association Stories from July 9, 2003


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