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CyberRays blank Atlanta 1-0 as Chastain, Sissi combine on goal

May 3, 2003 - Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA)
San Jose CyberRays News Release


ATLANTA (March 3, 2003) – For the past year the road has not been a good place for the San Jose CyberRays. Last season the team won only a single game outside Spartan Stadium.

Until Brandi Chastain scored the only goal in tonight's 1-0 victory over the Atlanta Beat in Atlanta's Herndon Stadium, it had been 363 days – two days short of a year – since the CyberRays had picked up a road victory.

``It was a big win in many ways,'' CyberRays coach Ian Sawyers said after defeating Atlanta. ``We've been playing well but not finishing things off. Tonight we asked the big players to play big, and they did.''

The game snapped a two-game CyberRays' losing streak and was the first ever for the CyberRays in Atlanta.

Chastain got onto the end of a long Sissi free kick in the 69th minute and finished it from 10 yards out. Sissi's kick from 30 yards out sailed just beyond the wall, and Chastain was there to head the ball past goalkeeper Brianna Scurry.

``We work on free kicks in training, we work to find seams,'' Chastain said. ``We're fortunate to have Sissi who can get ball to players.'' The two combined on a free kick in the 88th minute of the 2002 season-opener against the Boston Breakers to win 2-1. This time, however, Sissi was playing a substitute role, having come in for midfielder Tisha Venturini-Hoch just nine minutes earlier. It was only the third time in her career that she had not started a CyberRays match, and Sawyers said the tenor of the game was immediately changed by her presence. ``She got hold of the game and took charge of it,'' he said. ``Her being fresh-legged was a big factor. She put a big stamp on the game. She composed us and settled us down little bit.'' It was the first loss by Atlanta, 2-1-1 with seven standings points, this season. The victory created a two-game CyberRays' winning streak over the Beat. Until last season's 3-1 victory over Atlanta on July 10 in Spartan Stadium, the CyberRays had no regular-season victories in the series. The CyberRays, now 2-2 with six points, return to Spartan Stadium on Saturday to play the 2002 WUSA champion Carolina Courage in the Lark and Roger Chastain Celebration Game. Then it's right back to Atlanta on May 17 for a rematch with the Beat.



Women's United Soccer Association Stories from May 3, 2003


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