Spirit Finishes Regular Season With 2-1 Win Over Freedom

August 9, 2003 - Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA)
San Diego Spirit News Release


SAN DIEGO - The San Diego Spirit finished the 2003 WUSA season in spectacular fashion, defeating the Washington Freedom, 2-1, on goals from Julie Fleeting and Christine Latham. The win in front of a sun-baked franchise-record 6,858 fans gave the Spirit its first winning record in its three-year history at 8-6-7 (31 points) and clinched sole possession of third place in the WUSA. Washington, who like the Spirit had clinched a playoff berth last week, dropped to 9-8-4 (31 points), losing the tiebreaker to the Spirit who had a 2-1-0 record against the Freedom this year. Both Spirit wins were by 2-1 scores at Torero Stadium with Fleeting and Latham scoring the goals.

The Spirit and Freedom now await their playoff opponents, which will be determined tomorrow when Boston plays at San Jose and Atlanta hosts New York. Both the Breakers and the Beat are tied on points, but Atlanta holds the tiebreaker over the Boston. The Spirit will face the second place team while the Freedom will face the regular season champion. Boston will host on Saturday, Aug. 16 (1 p.m. PT on PAX TV), and Atlanta will host on Sunday, Aug. 17 (3 p.m. PT on ESPN2).

The Spirit, who played with a great attacking rhythm the entire game, opened the scoring with the quickest goal in team history, as Fleeting tallied just 83 seconds into the match. The play started on the right flank where Kerry Connors won a tackle and then played Christine Latham down the right wing. The Canadian international blew past Jen Grubb and bent a perfect cross on the ground to the far post, where Fleeting beat Skylar Little to the ball and first-timed her shot into the left corner from seven yards out. It was Fleeting's 11th goal of the year, just one short of Shannon MacMillan's team record.

The Spirit out-shot the Freedom 15-7, with Washington putting just two shots on goal the entire game, one of which was a 48th minute equalizer from Steffi Jones, but both teams had quality chances.

In the 22nd minute, Mia Hamm got free in the left side of the penalty area, but Spirit goalkeeper Jenni Branam grabbed the cross at the near post. In the 30th minute, Latham's header off an Aly Wagner corner kick had such pace that it would have been a goal had it not smacked right into Mullinix's hands.

The Freedom had a flurry at the end of the first half that consisted of three chances in two minutes. In the 37th minute, Jacqui Little ran onto a bouncing ball off a flick from Abby Wambach and tried to loop it over Branam, but it bounced and the Spirit goalkeeper recovered to grab the ball. One minute later, Wambach flicked on a Hamm free kick, but a sliding Lindsay Stoecker could not get a solid foot on the ball. Just seconds later, Branam pulled a big flying punch off a Jacqui Little cross.

The Freedom tied the match just three minutes after the break as Australian Kelly Golebiowski sent ball over the Spirit defense to Jacqui Little, who looked to be a few steps offside. The flag stayed down however and she drove toward goal as the Spirit players appealed for offside. Little then cut a pass back to Jones, who slotted her shot into the right corner from 12 yards out. Spirit midfielder Daniela, despite a limited grasp of the English language, got a yellow card for arguing the call with the assistant referee.

The Spirit almost took the lead right back in the 49th minute as Latham collected ball inside penalty area, held off Jen Grubb, spun around the Freedom defender and fired a left-footed shot that was pushed wide by Mullinix with a great save.

The Spirit got the winning goal in the 58th minute after Jen Nielsen, starting in place of Zhang Ouying who returned to China last week to play with her national team, slid to pry a ball loose at the top of the penalty area. The ball rolled to the end line where Aly Wagner sent a perfect chip into the middle for Latham, whose header flew by Mullinix, skipped off the chest of the diving Jen Grubb and into the net. It was Latham's sixth goal of the season, the third-most ever in a season by a Spirit player.

There was a bit of controversy in the 71st minute after a Freedom free kick from right side led to a wild play. Wambach met Hamm's cross by launching herself through the penalty area on a spectacular diving header. The ball hit Branam's legs and then rebounded back to the prone Wambach, hit her on the head and then rolled into the goal, but the flag was up for offside on the original kick. Fleeting dislocated her finger on the play after getting caught in a goalmouth pileup, but after a quick tape job, returned to the field.

The Freedom had one last chance to tie in the 84th minute after Lori Lindsey got free on the right flank after a quick throw-in and crossed to Hamm, but she shot high. The Spirit had three chances at the end of the game to get another goal. A Julie Foudy-led counter attack found Fleeting open in the right side of the penalty box. With Foudy open in the middle, Fleeting chose to shoot from a poor angle and Mullinix batted the ball away. Off the ensuing corner kick, Foudy's solid header went wide right. In the waning seconds, substitute Shauna Rohbock raced in on net on a semi-breakaway, but shot right at Mullinix.

The Spirit did a fine job on the Freedom forward tandem of Hamm and Wambach, holding the talented strikers without a goal, mostly due to the gritty and savvy play of defenders Kim Pickup, Joy Fawcett and Lisa Krzykowski.



Women's United Soccer Association Stories from August 9, 2003


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