CyberRays 2, Carolina Courage 0

June 26, 2003 - Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA)
San Jose CyberRays News Release


SAN JOSE, Calif. (June 25, 2003) – The San Jose CyberRays snapped a four-game winless streak – longest in team history – Wednesday night with a 2-0 victory over the Carolina Courage, who were on a four-game unbeaten streak.

But the CyberRays had the better night of it on the attack, putting seven shots on goal to Carolina's four.

It was the second time this season that Carolina had come into Spartan Stadium and lost. The victory boosted the 5-6-1 CyberRays from seventh in the WUSA standings over 4-6-2 Carolina and into a three-way tie for fourth place. The CyberRays' 16 points is only four behind the first-place Boston Breakers.

Carolina lost the services of the WUSA's leading scorer, forward Danielle Fotopoulos, who suffered a left knee injury in the 39th minute. Fotopoulos' knee appeared to give way on a sudden stop and cut, and although she tried to continue, she motioned for a sub less than a minute later.

Earlier in the game Fotopoulos was temporarily sidelined to have a head cut bandaged. The knee injury will be evaluated further upon her return to North Carolina.

Keri Sanchez scored the earliest CyberRays goal of the season in the ninth minute to give San Jose a 1-0 lead. Tisha Venturini-Hoch forwarded a ball up the right side, which Pretinha saved on the end line, then laid it back to Sanchez who fired to the far post from 12 yards out.

It was the first goal of the season for Sanchez, a San Jose native, and her first as a CyberRay. She played her first two WUSA seasons for the Boston Breakers and was obtained in a draft day trade in February.

Rookie midfielder Betsy Barr got the first goal of her WUSA career in the 87th minute when a blistering shot from Pretinha was saved by Carolina goalkeeper Kristin Luckenbill, but the rebound came back out and Barr headed it home.

POST-GAME QUOTES

CyberRays coach Ian Sawyers: ``I thought the first 30 minutes were the best 30 minutes we've played overall this year. No disrepect to Carolina, but I thought we could have been up 5-0.''

On the team's winless streak and long road trip: ``It would have been easy for the team to get their heads down. We were road weary. But we're just four points out of it.''

``I felt terrible for Dani (Fotopoulos).''

CyberRays M Keri Sanchez: ``The goal felt just great. We're on a stretch where we need to win some games. Scoring that early helps you relax and be confident. In earlier games I thought we played well, but we just weren't getting those goals.''

Carolina coach Jay Entlich: ``San Jose outplayed us. Their defense played great, and their attack was terrific. They just played better than us.''

On Fotopoulos' injury: ``We don't know the severity of it yet. Our team has faced adversity all season. She was running and made a quick change of direction and something happened to her knee. You hate to make comparisons like this, but it was very similar to what happened to Hege Riise.'' (Riise, Carolina's All-WUSA midfielder, was lost for the season earlier this year to an ACL injury)

Carolina F Danielle Fotopoulos: ``I was trying to close (CyberRays defender) Thori Bryan down, and I stopped to change direction. I heard it buckle and pop. I tried to be agile after that, and I just couldn't.''



Women's United Soccer Association Stories from June 26, 2003


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central