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Spirit Falls, 3-1, to San Jose CyberRays

June 9, 2002 - Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA)
San Diego Spirit News Release


SAN JOSE (Sunday, June 9, 2002) - The San Diego Spirit fell victim to three fantastic finishes and dropped its third game in a row, 3-1, to the San Jose CyberRays in the coaching debut of General Manager Kevin Crow.

"You are always disappointed when you don't play well enough to win," said Crow. "Our team is still going through a big learning curve in finding ways to win. You can't have a lack of concentration at this level or you're going to get beat."

After some end-to-end play early in the match, the Spirit made like Portugal's World Cup Team against the U.S. men last week and gave up three goals in the first 35 minutes of the half. The CyberRays trifecta actually came in a nine-minute span, with the first coming in the 26th minute as the Spirit failed to clear a corner kick and the ball rolled to Michelle French on the left flank. She spun a cross into the middle, and with the Spirit defense still packed inside the goalmouth, Tisha Venturini-Hoch made a late run to slam an uncontested header into the net from four yards out.

From there, Brazilian forward Katia took over, scoring on two great individual efforts. On the first in the 31st minute, Spirit defender Fan Yunjie was guiding a seemingly harmless through-ball out of bounds, but could not shield Katia off the ball. Katia out-muscled the Chinese international on a play that might have been a foul as she pulled her shirt in the process, then dribbled straight down the end line and stuck her shot into the near post past the stranded Pagliarulo.

"You just can't have two or three lapses a game, or you're going to get hurt," said Crow. "The Brazilians are great players and they are going to kill you if you give them chances, but I honestly believe we are creating way too many opportunities for the other teams."

In the 35th minute, the Brazilian connection hooked up to score the third goal as Pretinha chipped a short pass into the penalty area from the right wing. Katia collected the ball with a deft touch and before it hit the ground, pivoted to hammer a volley past Pagliarulo into the far post to complete one of the WUSA's best goals so far this season.

"Our star players have to step up and have star performances in order for us to win," said Crow. "There are bits and pieces that we do well, but we are a team that struggles when we lose momentum. We have to find ways to fight through that and be consistent for an entire match."

Crow made several lineup changes in his first match after dismissing Carlos Juarez last week, inserting Florence Omagbemi into the midfield to replace Shannon Boxx, who had her string of 29 consecutive starts broken. Crow also gave Mercy Akide the start up front and inserted Margaret Tietjen at left back.

The CyberRays achieved the victory without two of their starters as defender Brandi Chastain was a late scratch due to a strained hamstring and defender Kelly Lindsey is out for several weeks after undergoing minor knee surgery.

With the loss, the Spirit dropped to 2-5-2 (8 pts.) and are alone in 7th place in the WUSA. The CyberRays moved to 4-3-2 (14 pts.) on the season and into fourth place.

The Spirit put together several dangerous attacks during the match, but lacked precision with the final pass, rarely threatening LaKeysia Beene in the CyberRays net.

The Spirit did a have a great chance with the score at 0-0 in the 21st minute as Akide dribble around the defense on the right side, cut towards goal and played a square pass to Zhang Ouying, but she couldn't reach the rolling ball as it scooted past an open net. The Spirit actually put the ball in the net in the 44th minute as Lori Lindsey deflected a Shannon MacMillan shot into the net, but she was standing in an offside position.

The Spirit played a better second half after switching to a 3-4-3 in an attempt to get back into the game, but Katia continued to terrorize the defense and almost scored three times in a two-minute span in the 68th and 69th minutes.

The Spirit pulled a goal back in the 75th minute after MacMillan maneuvered free on the right flank and sent a cross into the middle for Zhang to power a header into the right corner for her fourth goal of the season. Zhang had another chance in the 78th minute, running under a long pass into the penalty box, but lifted her volley over the goal.

"We're not out of it yet," said MacMillan. "There are a lot of points left out there and we have to go and get them. We're going to refocus and try to play better next game."

In an indication of the kind of day it was for the Spirit, Zhang stripped Beene at the top of the penalty area in stoppage time, but the ball bounced off Zhang and rolled wide right of the goal before she could get to it.

Defender Joy Fawcett was forced to leave the game at halftime with a mild calf strain.

The Spirit will complete its two-game road series against the Washington Freedom next Saturday, June 15, in a match that will not be televised in San Diego. The Spirit returns home on Sunday, June 23 to face the league-leading Philadelphia Charge, a team San Diego defeated in its last win back on May 19. Kickoff for the match is 5 p.m. PT and it will be shown live on Channel 4 San Diego.



Women's United Soccer Association Stories from June 9, 2002


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