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Beat Extends Winning Streak to Four Games with 4-1 Win over San Diego

August 1, 2002 - Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA)
Atlanta Beat News Release


San Diego, Calif. (July 31, 2002) - The Atlanta Beat extended its winning streak to four games on Wednesday night with a 4-1 win over the San Diego Spirit. San Diego opened the scoring with a goal from Scottish star Julie Fleeting, but the Beat came back with four unanswered goals. Sun Wen scored the Beat's first goal and then Homare Sawa scored two and Charmaine Hooper one, as the Beat improved its record to 10-7-1 with 31 points. The Beat closed the month of July with a 4-2-0 record and is in 4th place, but Atlanta is only four points out of first place with three games remaining.

The Beat went into the match versus the Spirit on a three game winning streak, looking to add another in the hopes of improving its playoff chances. Early in the day, the Washington Freedom downed the Carolina Courage solidifying their hopes of being in the top four at the end of the regular season.

Both teams opened the game playing nice attacking soccer. In the 5th minute of play, Sun Wen sent Hooper through the defense with a nice flick pass, but before Hooper could take the point blank shot, a Spirit defender broke up the play. Only two minutes later Sawa sent Sun Wen through on a similar play, but Sun Wen's shot sailed above the cross bar. Sun Wen nearly put the Beat ahead in the 16th minute when she headed a Nikki Serlenga free kick on goal, but Spirit goalkeeper Carly Smolak dove to her right and caught the ball in the air before it hit the left corner of the net.

The Spirit's first scoring opportunity came in the 10th minute of play when forward Shannon MacMillan made a darting run down the right wing and dribbled towards the top of the penalty area. MacMillan hit a shot that was headed towards the left corner of the goal, but Briana Scurry dove to her right and saved the shot. San Diego would grab the lead in the 18th minute off a Fleeting goal. Julie Foudy played a pass up the middle of the field for Jen Mascaro, who flicked the ball by the Beat defense. Fleeting was alone on the back post and hit a right-footed shot into the left corner of the goal.

The Spirit's lead only lasted six minutes as the Beat came back with a goal from Sun Wen. The scoring play began when defender Lisa Krzykowski played a long pass up the right wing to forward Cindy Parlow, who flicked the ball inside to Sun Wen. With space in front of her, Sun Wen dribbled from 28 yards out towards the top of the penalty area and fired a shot at goal. The shot was blocked by Spirit defender Rhiannon Tanaka, but Sun Wen picked up the loose ball dribbled into the penalty area and slid the ball by Smolak into the left corner of the goal. The goal was Sun Wen's fourth of the season.

Atlanta took the lead in the 34th minute on a Sawa goal, her 6th of the season. The play started again from the right marking back position as Krzykowski sent a long ball up the field to Hooper, who let the ball run by her into the penalty area. Sawa ran in behind the defense and lifted the ball over Smolak into the left corner of the goal. The Beat out shot the Spirit 8-5 in the first half, with four shots on goal to San Diego's three.

With the Beat ahead 2-1 the Spirit was still very in much in the game, but the Beat extended its lead to 3-1 in the 46th minute. Parlow began the scoring play by stealing a Spirit pass and sending the ball up the field for Sawa. She took a touch inside towards the top of the penalty area and rolled the ball behind her to an overlapping Hooper, who dribbled by one defender and hit a left-footed shot into the right corner of the goal. The tally was Hooper's team leading 10th goal of the season and her fourth in as many games. The Spirit's offense continued to push forward and Joy Fawcett nearly brought the Beat within a goal in the 57th minute. The Spirit sent a corner kick into the box and the Beat failed to clear the ball. Fawcett jumped on the loose ball and hit a shot headed for the left corner of the goal, but Briana Scurry dove to her left and swatted the ball away before it crossed the line.

The Beat would hold off the Spirit attack and would put the final nail in the coffin in the 72nd minute as Sawa notched her second goal of the game. Julie Augustyniak started the play as she raced down the left sideline and crossed the ball from the end line towards the center of the penalty box. Defender Anna Kraus deflected the ball in the air towards the penalty spot. Sawa met the ball in full stride and struck a left-footed volley into the right corner of the goal. The goal was Sawa's seventh of the season and second in the game. Sawa has notched five goals in the month of May.

The win extended the Beat's current winning streak to four games, tying a team best achieved earlier in the 2002 season. The Beat remains in 4th place in the WUSA standings one point behind the 3rd place Washington Freedom and only four points behind the 1st place Philadelphia Charge. The Beat heads from San Diego to face the Freedom on Sunday, August 4 for the final regular season meeting versus Washington. The Freedom is currently in 3rd place in the WUSA standings with a record of 9-5-5 and 32 points.

Tickets for Atlanta Beat home games range in price from $8-$20 and can be purchased at www.ticketmaster.com or by calling the TicketMaster number in your area. In Atlanta, call (404) 249-6400 and from outside Atlanta call 1-800-326-4000. Fans can also find a link to TicketMaster on the Beat's web site at www.theatlantabeat.com.

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