New York's shutout of CyberRays finishes wacky WUSA weekend
June 8, 2003 - Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA)
San Jose CyberRays News Release
SAN JOSE (June 8, 2003) â It's a strange weekend in the WUSA when the lower ranked team wins all four league games and the CyberRays lose to the New York Power.
This was a strange weekend.
Playing the last of the WUSA's four games with the first three all upsets, the CyberRays had a chance to grab a share of third place Sunday with a victory over New York, a team they had not lost to in all seven of their previous meetings, including the 2001 semifinals. Instead, New York made it four-for-four for underdogs by blanking the CyberRays 2-0.
With the WUSA standings tightly bunched at the top, the loss cost the 4-5 CyberRays three spots in the standings. Instead of third, they are tied with New York at 12 standings points, but New York holds fifth and the CyberRays sixth because of the head-to-head result.
``It was strange,'' said New York coach Tom Sermanni, who was referring to the fact that he was used to sitting as an assistant on the CyberRays' bench, where he spent two seasons, rather than on the visitors'. But his comment applied to other aspects of the game:
Margaret Tietjen's game-winning goal in the 63rd minute was a 40-yard free kick that dipped under the crossbar into the right corner of the net on what she intended to be a cross. ``To be honest,'' she said, ``my first thought was 'She's off the line, I could score,' but then it was so far out, I decided to cross it in.''
New York's second goal, in the 76th minute, came from a pair of players â Tammy Pearman, who sent the cross in from the left side, and Emily Janss, who headed it into the net from inside the six-yard box â who had been subbed into the game.
New York keeper Saskia Webber, playing in her first game this season, got her shutout making only four saves. It was the second game in a row the CyberRays had failed to score.
``You've got to score to win games,'' CyberRays coach Ian Sawyers said. ``We've got to work hard to look at the tape and see what exactly what was happening.''
In an effort to shake things up offensively, Sawyers benched slumping forward Katia, who led the WUSA in scoring last season, in the first half. Katia had one of the CyberRays' shots on goal, but Webber wasn't faced with any save as difficult as the long ball launched by Tiffeny Milbrett in the 53rd minute that goalkeeper LaKeysia Beene barely tipped over the bar.
``I honestly thought [Tietjen's goal] was going out of bounds,'' Beene said. ``I thought I'd just watch it go by; otherwise I would have covered it up. What hurts the most is letting the team down, and after that just seeing heads go down. It's a heartbreaker.''
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Women's United Soccer Association Stories from June 8, 2003
- New York's shutout of CyberRays finishes wacky WUSA weekend - San Jose CyberRays
- San Jose Blanks Power, 2-0 - San Jose CyberRays
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