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San Diego Spirit's Wagner Helps U.S. into Algarve Cup Championship

March 18, 2003 - Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA)
San Diego Spirit News Release


VILA REAL SAN ANTONIO, Portugal (Tuesday, March 18, 2003) - San Diego Spirit Midfielder Aly Wagner scored the lone U.S. goal in the

18th minute on a world-class volley, her second goal of the tournament, giving the U.S. Women's National Team a 1-1 tie with Sweden, in

its final group match at the 2003 Algarve Cup. The tie was good enough to earn the Americans spot in the championship game on

Thursday, March 20, against long-time rival China.

With Norway's 1-0 victory over Canada in the first Group A match of the afternoon, the USA was able to draw and still advance by virtue of finishing

atop the group with five points. Norway finished second with four points, Sweden had three points from three draws, all 1-1 ties, and Canada finished

last in the group with two points. The championship game will kick off at 6 p.m. local time (10 a.m. PT) and fans can follow the game online at

www.ussoccer.com's MatchTracker presented by Philips Electronics. This is the fourth time the USA has advanced to the Algarve Cup championship game, but

has won the tournament just once in eight tries, that coming in 2000 when a Brandi Chastain penalty kick goal was good enough for a 1-0 victory over Norway.

In 1999, the USA faced China in the Algarve Cup championship game, but lost 2-1.

Like Wagner's goal in the first game against Canada, this one also had its genesis from a corner kick. The cross from the left side was cleared by the

Swedish defense, but fell to Christie Pearce just outside the top of the penalty area. She headed the ball back into the pack, where Sweden won it

again, but headed it into the air. The ball fell to Wagner just outside of the penalty arc on the left side, and she struck a first-time volley with the

laces on her right foot that dipped into the lower right corner from 19 yards out. It was the 10th goal of her international career.

"I didn't want to hit it too hard," said Wagner. "It was one of those shots where you can miss big, or hit it well, so I didn't want to swing too hard.

Luckily, I hit it well and it found the back corner. I've never played in an Algarve final and I know the team is excited to get back into the game with a

chance to win it."

The second half saw the USA -- playing its third match in five days -- begin to tire a bit and Sweden pushed forward for an equalizer. With 11 minutes left,

Hanna Ljungberg, who has scored all three of Sweden's goals thus far, got the game-tying goal. Malin Mostrom created the goal when she stole the

ball from Julie Foudy in the midfield and raced at goal before playing Ljungberg in right side of the penalty area. The diminutive striker took her

shot well, slotting it past Mullinix into the lower right corner from 15 yards out.

The U.S. defense, which was again led by veteran Spirit player Joy Fawcett, hung tough the entire game, and salted away the last 10 minutes with quality end-

game tactics. It was not the prettiest second half for the U.S. team, which struggled for possession and absorbed Swedish pressure for most of the

period, but another gritty defensive effort held Sweden to just eight total shots and only two on goal. The USA had seven shots in the match, three on

goal. "Sweden is a great team and we have a lot of respect for them," said Fawcett. "They needed to win, played a high-pressure game and we struggled

possessing the ball. We gave the ball up a lot and had to play a lot of defense, and defense can be tiring. Playing so many games with only a day of rest in

between can be tough. We played three great teams in our group, but hopefully it was good preparation for the final."

Spirit forward Shannon MacMillan scored the only other U.S. goal during the tournament in their 1-0 win over Norway.

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