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Spirit Downs Courage, 2-1, on Goals by Foudy and Wagner

May 24, 2003 - Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA)
San Diego Spirit News Release


CARY, N.C. - The San Diego Spirit picked up their second win on the road this season, downing the Carolina Courage, 2-1, as midfielders Julie Foudy and Aly Wagner scored their first goals of the year. The Spirit remained undefeated on the road at 2-0-2 with four of the next five matches at Torero Stadium.

The Spirit moved to 3-1-3 (12 points) while Carolina dropped to 1-5-0 (3 pts) and picked up their fourth home loss of the season. It was also the Spirit's first-ever win over the Courage. The win moved the Spirit temporarily into second place in the WUSA standings pending the outcomes of the weekend's games.

Both teams were playing without their top attackers as the Spirit's Shannon MacMillan is out for the season with a knee injury and German Birgit Prinz is in Europe with her national team.

The Spirit had the run of play throughout the match, out-shooting the Courage 13-6, with most of the Carolina danger coming in the first half from Danielle Slaton runs down the left flank and in the second half from Danielle Fotopoulos headers. Despite the superiority in shots, the Spirit were not accurate, forcing just one save from Carolina goalkeeper Kristen Luckenbill..

The Spirit scored just seconds before halftime as forward Christine Latham, fresh off scoring a goal for Canada against England last Thursday, was knocked down in penalty box by Staci Burt, who had a fistful of her jersey. Foudy stepped up and finished her shot past the diving Luckenbill for her first goal of the year and first Spirit penalty kick goal of the year.

The Spirit had trouble beating the Courage back line with long balls, dropping far too many short onto the heads of defenders, and were foiled all afternoon by the offside trap, being whistled a club record 11 times.

Carolina's most dangerous chance in the first half came on a 25-yard free kick by Slaton that slammed into the defensive wall. Allie Sullivan had a dangerous chance in the 25th minute after Julie Fleeting had flicked a ball with her head into the penalty box, but the 5-foot-3 forward slid to hit her shot over the top.

With the Spirit in control of the match, but with Carolina finding a bit better rhythm, the Courage tied the game in the 76th minute. Spirit defender Lisa Krzykowski had a bead on a rolling ball in the right side of the penalty area, but as she went to clear, stumbled and fell, giving Venus James a chance at goal. Spirit goalkeeper Jaime Pagliarulo pushed the shot wide for a corner kick. Off the corner kick, Fotopoulos rose powerfully above the Spirit defense and headed the ball home from six yards out.

It took the Spirit just two minutes to answer and the winning goal came from number one draft choice Aly Wagner, who had fired five previous shots without finding the frame. The sequence started when substitute Zhang Ouying dropped a long ball to Fleeting on the right side of the penalty box. The Scottish forward, just back from national team duty where she scored three goals against Ukraine, collected the ball well, held off Staci Burt and squared a pass to Wagner, who froze Tiffany Roberts with a nifty move then bent her shot into the left corner from 19 yards out past the diving Luckenbill.

Pagliarulo had yet another solid game for the Spirit, making big punches in the 60th and 81st minutes off dangerous Courage services. Fleeting gave up her body in stoppage time, taking a hard hit from Fotopoulos to stop the 5-foot-10 striker from getting a solid head on the ball off a free kick.

The Spirit returns home next to face the Atlanta Beat on Saturday, May 31, at 6 p.m. PT at Torero Stadium.

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Women's United Soccer Association Stories from May 24, 2003


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