Spirit Falls to CyberRays, 4-1, in Preseason Match

Published on March 23, 2002 under Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA)
San Diego Spirit News Release


BRAZILIANS BATTER SPIRIT AS SISSI HITS JACKPOT IN LAS VEGAS; SISSI GETS HAT TRICK AS SPIRIT FALLS, 4-1, TO CYBERRAYS IN PRESEASON

LAS VEGAS (Saturday, March 23, 2002) - The San Diego Spirit played its second and final promoted preseason match of 2002, falling to the San Jose CyberRays, 4-1, at a windswept Veterans Stadium at Cimarron Memorial High School.

The two teams tied, 2-2, last Sunday on a rainy night in Fullerton, Calif. and tonight's match was also played under adverse conditions on a rock-hard field, which was both narrow and short, as gusting winds at times turned the game from a soccer match into a pinball game. Still, both teams attempted to play quality soccer despite the conditions and the game produced five superb goals, three of them from Brazilian legend Sissi, giving the 2,753 fans an entertaining show.

It was perhaps the perfect night for Sissi to hit the Las Vegas casinos post-game, as seemingly everything she hit against the Spirit was golden. The CyberRays opened the scored in the 7th minute after Spirit defender Kim Calkins fouled Pretinha at the edge of the penalty area, just to the right of the arc. Sissi, widely hailed as one of the world's premier free-kick artists, stepped up and hammered an unstoppable wind-aided blast over the wall into right corner past a diving Carly Smolak.

The Spirit tied the game in 34th minute as Julie Foudy played Lori Lindsey through down the right flank. Lindsey played a slightly diagonal pass behind the defense to Shauna Rohbock, who dribbled into the penalty area, held off Thori Bryan and bounced her shot under Beene from 16 yards out.

The C-Rays went ahead in the 37th minute through a nice combination of quick passes at the top of the penalty area that ended when a wide-open Sissi lifted a bouncing ball over Smolak and under the crossbar from 14 yards out straight away.

After the halftime break, Sissi didn't waste any time getting her true hat trick, scoring about 20 seconds into the second half when she blasted a 30-yard shot that skipped once off the turf and seemed to surprise Smolak as it grazed the right post and rolled into the net.

The CyberRays finished the scoring in 60th minute as Katia sent perfect pass that split Spirit defense down the middle to Pretinha, who finished well into the left corner past the stranded Smolak from 16 yards out. Katia had three more good chances in her 31-minute run, but all were saved by Smolak.

The Spirit was missing two potential starting forwards in Shannon MacMillan, who did not travel with the team to Las Vegas due to a minor injury, and Chinese international Zhang Ouying, who is scheduled to arrive in San Diego in about a week.

The loss was the first of the preseason for the Spirit, which dropped to 4-1-2. The Spirit will resume training on Tuesday in preparation for the 2002 season opener against the Carolina Courage on April 13 at Torero Stadium. Kickoff is 7 p.m. Individual and season tickets are now on sale and can be purchased by calling 1-877/4SOCCER.

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