Beat Undefeated in Three Games Faces Defending WUSA Champs, Carolina Courage on Saturday

June 2, 2003 - Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA)
Atlanta Beat News Release


ATLANTA (June 2, 2003) - The Atlanta Beat heads into the week with a dubious task ahead, stop the team's biggest nemesis, the Carolina Courage and one of the league's top attacking duos, Birgit Prinz and Danielle Fotopoulos, without one of the team's best defenders and best midfielders. The Beat will face the Courage on Saturday, June 7, at 4 p.m. without Nancy Augustyniak, due to a red card suspension and without Homare Sawa, on call with the Japanese Women's National Team.

Atlanta Beat vs. Carolina Courage Preview - Saturday, June 6, 4 p.m. ET, - Herndon Stadium The Beat and Courage meet for the first time in the 2003 WUSA season on Saturday in the nationally televised PAX-TV game. The Beat is coming off of its second 1-1 tie of the season versus the San Diego Spirit. The Beat is 4-1-3 with 15 points and sits just one point behind the Washington Freedom in 2nd place.

The Carolina Courage is coming off of a 2-2 tie with the Philadelphia Charge and is 1-5-1 with only four points. The Courage sits in 7th place, tied with the Charge in points, but ahead in goal differential. The Courage, also the defending WUSA champions have suffered through a tough season to date, losing their main playmaker and one of the best midfielders in the world, Hege Riise, to a season ending knee injury.

Over the past two seasons, the Courage has been the Beat's biggest nemesis. The Beat has won just one of six meetings through two seasons of WUSA action. The Beat holds a 1-4-1 regular season record and a 0-1-0 post-season record versus Carolina. The only win over Carolina came on July 27, of 2002 in a 1-0 game at Herndon Stadium in which Charmaine Hooper notched the game winner.

Atlanta's 2002 season was ended at the feet of Carolina on August 17, at SAS Stadium in Cary, North Carolina, in the WUSA semifinals. The Beat led the game 1-0 and seemingly had the victory in hand, until the 89th minute when Atlanta gave up a penalty kick that was converted by Danielle Fotopoulos. The Beat had also been forced to play the final 33 minutes of regulation a player down, as Julie Augustyniak was issued her second yellow card and was sent off in the 57th minute.

With the game tied 1-1, overtime ensued and only two minutes into overtime, the Courage scored the golden goal. After a Birgit Prinz shot that rebounded from a Scurry save, Carla Overbeck tapped in the game winner, sending the Courage to Founders Cup II. The Courage defeated the Washington Freedom 3-2 in Founders Cup II to become only the second team crowned WUSA Champions.

Key matchup: Bivens & Nonen vs. Prinz & Fotop - The Courage has the second leading scoring tandem, behind Atlanta, in the WUSA. Prinz and Fotopoulos have scored a combined 25 points off nine goals and seven assists. Fotopoulos, with five goals and five assists, is tied for second in points scored, while Prinz has the 9th leading point total in the WUSA with four goals and two assists for 10 points. With Nancy Augustyniak out, due to a red card suspension, Head Coach Tom Stone may be forced to move Ifeoma Dieke, a rookie, onto the wing and would move Bivens into the central defense. Bivens and Nonen have helped lead the Beat's defense, ranked 1st in the WUSA, to a one loss season so far. The Beat's defensive tandem will have to match Carolina's physical play up front to stop the Courage from scoring goals.

Tom Stone's quotes on match versus Carolina: "We haven't played Carolina yet this season, so we'll have to be prepared for something new when we step onto the field on Saturday. The Courage present problems for us, with their two power forwards up top in Prinz and Fotopoulos."

"Although their record does not show this, Carolina is still a very dangerous team and that attacking duo up top can really do some damage."

Beat 1 vs. Spirit 1, Recap - May 31, 2003 The Beat and Spirit played to another 1-1 tie this season, this time at Torero Stadium in San Diego. The Beat went up early, thanks for a Charmaine Hooper goal, her third in two games. The Beat held onto the lead for 79 minutes until a Hooper foul resulted in a penalty kick.

Julie Foudy converted the ensuing penalty kick and the Spirit held on for a tie. The Beat took 24 shots to the Spirit's 15 and had 11 shots on goal to San Diego's six, yet could not convert to send the game out of reach.

With the game winding down in injury time, the Beat was dealt the team's second red card of the season, as Nancy Augustyniak was forced to bring down Zhang Ouying on a breakaway. The ball was sent through the Beat's defense onto the foot of the streaking Zhang. Augustyniak raced down the field and brought down the Chinese player before she could enter the penalty box. The Spirit's ensuing free kick was blocked and the game ended 1-1.

The Spirit sits in 4th place in the league standings with a 3-1-4 record and 13 points. The Beat and Spirit will face off for the final regular season meeting in Atlanta on Wednesday, July 9 at 7 p.m.

Tom Stone's Quotes on match versus San Diego:

"I give San Diego credit, we left the door open and they took advantage. I think that the way we played in the first half, the way we kept the ball and got our numbers forward is what we are looking for. We did that for about 60 minutes."

Stone on the Beat's defense:

"Nonen and Nancy (Augustyniak) are probably the best duo in the league. We have only given up one goal during the run of play, that pretty much says it all."

Additional Notes

Homare Sawa on Call for the Japanese National Team The Beat's playmaking central midfielder will be on call with the Japanese Women's National Team, as they attempt to qualify for the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup, now being held in the United States in the fall of 2003. The tournament is taking place in Thailand from June 8-21. Sawa will miss at least two matches, the June 7, home match versus Carolina, and the June 14, road match at Carolina. Depending on if the Japanese women qualify for the final rounds, Sawa may miss the June 22 match at Philadelphia.

The top two teams in the Asian qualifying tournament will move on to the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup and the 3rd place team will play in play-in game versus CONCACAF's 3rd place team, Mexico.

Beat Seeing Red

The Atlanta Beat holds the dubious honor of being the only team to have a player sent off with a red card in the 2003 WUSA season, and it's happened twice. Beat defender Kylie Bivens was issued two yellow cards and an ensuing red in Atlanta's match versus the San Jose CyberRays on May 17, a 1-0 Beat win. On May 31, defender Nancy Augustyniak was issued a red card versus the Spirit in a 1-1 Beat tie.

Beat Ahead of Pace, Off to Best Start in Team History

With a 4-1-3 record and 15 points, the Atlanta Beat is off to it's best point total in eight games leading into a season. In the inaugural season, the Beat had won one fewer game, tied one more, and had a 3-1-4 record and 13 points, through eight games. In 2002, the Beat was 4-3-1 with 13 points through eight games. The Beat is two points ahead of last season's pace and sits in 2nd place.

Atlanta is well ahead of the teams scoring pace from the past two seasons, with 18 goals through eight games. In 2001 the Beat had scored only five goals through eight and in 2002 had scored 10 goals through eight games. The Beat has allowed only five goals, a league best, in 2003. In 2002 the Beat had allowed 10 goals through eight games and in 2001 had allowed only four goals.



Women's United Soccer Association Stories from June 2, 2003


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