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CyberRays host Carolina in 1st of 2 games this week

June 23, 2003 - Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA)
San Jose CyberRays News Release


SAN JOSE (June 23, 2003) – Having played seven of their last nine games on the road, the CyberRays return home to Spartan Stadium on Wednesday night to play the Carolina Courage.

At the midway point of the WUSA season, the standings are incredibly tight. The CyberRays are in seventh place, but only six points (two victories) out of first. The CyberRays have four victories. The largest number of victories in the league is five, which four teams have achieved, and the fewest is three.

Week 12 in review: Tie at second-place Washington Pretinha erupted for her second two-goal game of the season at Washington to lead the team to a 2-2 tie against the Freedom, which was in second place at the time.

Coming in Week 13: The pace quickens The first half of the season was played at a game-per-week pace. Now that pace picks up with the CyberRays hosting the Carolina Courage on Wednesday night at Spartan Stadium, then traveling to San Diego for a Sunday match against the Spirit. In all, the CyberRays will play four games in the next two weeks. Season series: 1-0-0. All-time series: 4-3-0, (3-1-0 in San Jose). Top scorers: CyberRays – Pretinha (5g+2a=12pts); Carolina – Danielle Fotopoulos (7g+6a=20pts).

CyberRays-Carolina series notes: The CyberRays won the first meeting with Carolina this season 3-1 on May 10. If the CyberRays win tonight, it will clinch the season series between the teams, the tiebreaker should the teams finish in a tie for points at the end of the regular season. ... This series is the WUSA's best barometer as to who the eventual season champion will be. The CyberRays swept all three matches against Carolina in 2001. Last season Carolina won all three games against the CyberRays. ... The CyberRays lead the series 4-3 and hold a 12-11 edge in scoring. Tisha Venturini-Hoch has scored one-third of the CyberRays' goals. ... The final game of the series is July 30 at SAS Stadium in Cary, N.C., where the CyberRays have never won.

Key matchup: Washington forward Abby Wambach against CyberRays defender Thori Bryan. A week after they were teammates in the USA-Ireland friendly, they will be pitted against each other.

Ian Sawyers on Carolina: ``We've got to use any momentum we can. They're starting to get back to form. But our team is playing well. We want to keep Peppy (Pretinha) scoring and get Katia back on track. It's going to be critical game.''

Game notes 1 streak down, 1 to go: Sunday's tie against the Washington Freedom snapped a three-game losing streak by the CyberRays, the longest in team history. However, it has been four games since the CyberRays' last victory – 2-0 over Philadelphia on May 24 – which is the most games the team has ever been without a victory. The previous longest stretch was the first three games of 2001 when they opened 0-2-1. That ended with a 2-1 victory over the Carolina Courage.

Looking ahead to the Women's World Cup: As many as 14 players in tonight's match could be playing in the World Cup this fall for their respective home countries:

CyberRays (home country) Carolina Courage (home country) D Dianne Alagich (Australia) D Carla Overbeck (USA)

GK LaKeysia Beene (USA) F Birgit Prinz (Germany)

D Thori Bryan (USA) M Hege Riise (Norway) injured

D Brandi Chastain (USA) M Tiffany Roberts (USA)

F Katia (Brazil) D Danielle Slaton (USA)

F/M Pretinha (Brazil) D Breanna Boyd (Canada)

M Sissi (Brazil) M Unni Lehn (Norway)

Blame it on the bossa nova: Pretinha's two goals against Washington kept alive the streak of at least one of the CyberRays' Brazilians being involved (scoring or assisting) on every goal of 2003. The last goal scored by the CyberRays without Brazilian input was July 27, 2002, when Lisa Nañez scored the first goal unassisted in a 4-1 victory over New York. That was 17 goals ago.

Pretinha's on a roll: The CyberRays' 11 goals in 11 games this season is the league's lowest offensive output, but don't blame it on Pretinha. Her five goals rank her 10th in the WUSA in goals and make her the only CyberRay with more than one goal this season. Sunday's game was her second two-goal game of this season and the second of her WUSA career. Both came on the road; her first was May 24 against the Philadelphia Charge in a 2-0 victory. In both she scored all the CyberRays' goals. Pretinha's first goal this season came May 10 against the Carolina Courage, which means she has scored five goals in the last seven games.

Rare tie: Sunday's tie was the first for the CyberRays this season, and coming in the 11th game, it made the CyberRays the last WUSA team to record a tie in 2003. The CyberRays' 10 ties since the league began play in 2001 are third fewest of the eight teams. Eight of those ties have come on the road, the most of any team.

Home, sweet home: The CyberRays have played seven of their last nine games on the road, a stretch in which they are 3-5-1. Now they're coming back to Spartan Stadium, and the team is the second best home team in the WUSA at 15-8-2. The CyberRays will play four of their next six at Spartan and six of the final 10. Brandi, Katia cleared: Brandi Chastain played her fourth consecutive game without a yellow card Sunday against Washington thus wiping her yellow-card slate clean. In addition, Katia sat out her yellow-card suspension against Washington and is cleared of cards. Her suspension was the second for a CyberRays player. Chastain missed the June 10, 2001 match at New York. The CyberRays have been booked 14 times this season, most of any WUSA team. Atlanta and San Diego have 13 each. Here's the current situation:

Game Chastain Katia Alagich Barr 4/5 yellow

4/19 yellow

4/27 DNP

5/3

5/10 yellow

5/17 yellow yellow

5/24

5/31

6/8

6/14 DNP yellow (4th) yellow

6/22 cleared suspended / cleared yellow

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