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Spirit Suffers Capital Punishment

June 15, 2002 - Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA)
San Diego Spirit News Release


WASHINGTON, D.C. (Saturday, June 15, 2002) - The Washington Freedom, paced by two Abby Wambach goals, handed the San Diego Spirit their worst-ever loss in a, 4-0, shutout at RFK Stadium on Saturday evening. The Freedom had previously defeated the Spirit, 3-0, on May 5 in San Diego. The Spirit has now dropped four consecutive matches for the first time in franchise history. In addition to losing the match, three players left the contest with injuries.

Head coach Kevin Crow fielded his second different lineup in as many weeks trying to find the right combination to spark a win; the lineup was the team's tenth lineup on the season. "Ideally, you should not be doing this with your lineup at this stage of the season, but if you look at it we played a pretty good game tonight," Crow stated. Changes included inserting Kim Pickup and Rhiannon Tanaka on defense and moving Joy Fawcett to the midfield allowing her an opportunity to assist on the offensive attack. Florence Omagbemi and Mercy Akide were replaced from last week's lineup.

Washington's rookie of the year candidate, Wambach, took advantage of one of the Freedom's few good chances in the first half heading in a goal from eight yards out in the 26th minute. Wambach, the Freedom's leading scorer, skied over three Spirit defenders to put away a Pu Wei corner kick from the left side after Spirit goalkeeper Jaime Pagliarulo came off her line and missed the cross. "It was a fairly even game until we gave them a silly mistake leading to their first goal," said Crow.

Things went from bad to worse as injuries began to mount for San Diego (2-6-2, 8). Spirit forward Shannon MacMillan was forced to leave the game in the 38th minute with a strained right foot injury after being fouled five minutes earlier by Emmy Barr. In the 40th minute, Tanaka exited the match suffering from a left hamstring strain. Joy Fawcett joined her teammates on the sidelines in the 76th minute after re-injuring her left calf. "You never like injuries, but they are a part of the game," said Crow, "The players that are put in have to step up and play and for the most part they did a pretty good job of that tonight." All three players will be re-evaluated once on Monday in San Diego.

The second half began with Mia Hamm making her second appearance of the season for Washington and her first against San Diego this year. With Hamm on the field, San Diego created the better of the scoring opportunities, but could not finish any of their chances. "It's 1-0, we come out and should have scored two or three goals, but we don't. You have goals and miss them, the entire complexity of the game changes at that point. When you get the chances you must put them away and we are not putting them away." Within a 15-minute span, Julie Foudy, Sherrill Kester, Mercy Akide and Zhang Ouying each had chances inside the box to score. Freedom goalkeeper Siri Mullinix made five of her six saves after halftime to secure the win.

Washington (4-4-3, 15) converted when they had their opportunities to put the game out of reach in the final 11 minutes. The Freedom made San Diego pay as they tried to level the game on the offensive end, scoring three times in a 10-minute span. Anne Makinen finished a chance created by Mia Hamm and Wambach in the 79th minute. Two minutes later, Hamm nailed a penalty kick to increase the Freedom led to 3-0. Wambach received Bai Jie pass and collected her second goal of the match in the 89th minute slipping a shot past Pagliarulo on the two-on-one breakaway to conclude the scoring.

The Spirit returns home to Torero Stadium on Sunday, June 23, 5:00 p.m., to play host to San Diegan Mandy Clemens and the Philadelphia Charge. Various events surround the game including the Spirit hosting a "School's Out!" celebration in the Fun Zone. The first 2,000 fans entering the stadium will receive a free mini San D. Panda doll, courtesy of Channel 4 San Diego. The match will be aired live on Channel 4 San Diego beginning at 5:00 p.m.

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