Sports stats



Spirit Tie League Leaders

June 24, 2002 - Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA)
San Diego Spirit News Release


The Spirit is coming off a hard-fought 1-1 tie against the Philadelphia Charge that did more for the team's psyche than for their place in the league standings. Still, a draw with the best team in the WUSA while playing with only 10 players after the early ejection of Mercy Akide, and without top forward Shannon MacMillan, showed that the Spirit has the talent to compete with the best teams in the league. A lightning counter-attack goal by forward Zhang Ouying tied the game in the 49th minute and the Spirit played organized and tough defense the rest of the way, even taking the game to the Charge in spurts. The Spirit now faces an even bigger challenge, facing the red-hot Carolina Courage at the brand-new SAS Stadium, as San Diego has never beaten Carolina. The Spirit will be without Akide who will serve her one-game suspension and may be without MacMillan, who is still recovering from a foot strain.

NEXT ON THE SLATE: Carolina Courage, 6/29, 4:00 p.m. PT at SAS Stadium - San Diego visits the Carolina Courage and their new SAS Stadium in Cary, N.C. on Saturday, June 29, 4:00 p.m. PT. The Spirit have a few scores to settle with the Courage including an opening day 2-1 defeat to Carolina. The Spirit have never beaten Carolina in four attempts. The match will be shown on a delayed basis at 7:00 p.m. PT on Channel 4 San Diego.

SD v CAR 2002, 0-1-0; SD v CAR Lifetime, 0-3-1; SD v CAR in San Diego, 0-1-1; SD v CAR in Carolina, 0-2-0

2002 Leading Scorer v CAR, Zhang, 1; Lifetime Leading Scorer v CAR, MacMillan, 4

Complete Match Preview on Thursday, June 27

SPIRIT NEWS:

COMING SOON TO A PITCH NEAR YOU... JULIE FLEETING

The paperwork is being processed for the highly anticipated arrival of Scottish forward Julie Fleeting. She is expected to join the Spirit on July 8 and be available to play against Boston on July 10. Fleeting, Scotland's all-time leading scorer and captain, will hopefully bring some grit and goal scoring to the center-forward position for the Spirit.

100,000th SPIRIT FAN TO PASS THROUGH GATES ON JULY 6

The Spirit are just 3,318 fans away from breaking the 100,000th fan mark in team history. In 17 career matches, the team has attracted 96,882 patrons. San Diego is averaging 5,638 fans this season compared to last year's final average total of 5,714. On May 5, the Spirit broke the team's single-game attendance record with a crowd of 6,311. The July 6 match versus Boston will also be Beach Towel and Photo Day. The first 2,000 fans through the turnstiles will receive a free Spirit beach towel. Fans will be able to take photos with the players on the field between 11:00 - 11:30 a.m.

DEBUTS AND RETURNS

Defender Anna Kraus made her professional debut against the Charge on Sunday, starting and playing the full 90 minutes. Kraus, acquired last week in a trade with Atlanta, played a solid game in the back while playing even with the talented Philadelphia forward line. Returning to the lineup after missing two months with a broken foot was midfielder Jen Mascaro. She played the last 19 minutes of the match and hopefully is on her way to full fitness.

QUEENS OF THE LANES

Shauna Rohbock and Julie Foudy were queens of the bowling lanes at last week's team bowling party at the Sunset Bowl. Foudy bowled her best game ever in the first round with a 164. However, her performance was overshadowed by Rohbock's 173 in the second game.

THREE DOT INFO...

San Diego is 1-13-5 lifetime when the opponent scores the first goal...San Diego is on its first five-game winless streak ...San Diego has allowed two or more goals in seven of 11 games...San Diego has allowed three or more goals in two consecutive road games...has lost three consecutive road games...has trailed at the half in five consecutive games...has trailed at the 75th minute in four of five games...has allowed the opponent to score the first goal in five consecutive games...San Diego ended a scoreless streak at home of 182 minutes and overall at 154 minutes...Fan's own goal was the second of her career, the first one coming on 6/21/01 v WAS...The own goal was the club's second of the season...After starting the season with nine goals in the first three matches...The Spirit has played 81 minutes a woman down, allowing one goal for and scoring one goal... San Diego has registered five goals in its last eight ... San Diego has drawn even with its opponents in goal scoring at Torero Stadium (9-9) ... San Diego has allowed 13 of the 21 total goals allowed during the first 45 minutes of play this season...Shannon MacMillan missed her first game due to an injury, previously she had missed two games due to national team commitments.

CALENDARS: MEDIA WATCH

6/27- KPRI 102.1 - Spirit Report with Jaime Pagliarulo, 9:00 a.m.

6/28- XTRA Sports 690 - Mac & Cheese Show with John Kentera, 9:00 p.m.,

6/29- KSDO 1130 Inside Soccer - Match updates from Carolina, 4:00 p.m.

WHAT'S HAPPENING

6/29 MATCH @ CAROLINA, 4:00 p.m. PT, SAS Stadium,

Tape delay on Channel 4 San Diego, 7:00 p.m.

TRAINING

6/25- Training, 10:30 a.m.-12:00 noon, Torero Stadium

6/26- Training, 9:30-11:30 a.m., Torero Stadium

6/27- Travel Day to Carolina

6/28- Training, TBA, SAS Stadium

All times and locations are subject to change

UPCOMING SCHEDULE:

HOME-AND-HOME WITH THE BREAKERS

The Spirit begins a home-and-home series with the Boston Breakers in a crucial two-game set. San Diego hosts Boston at Torero Stadium on Saturday, July 6 at 1:00 p.m. PT for a PAX TV nationally televised contest. Four days later in Boston, the teams square off for the third and final time in 2002 on Wednesday, July 6, at 4:00 p.m. The match can be tracked online at WUSA.com.

THIS WEEK IN SPIRIT HISTORY

LATE HEROICS GIVES SPIRIT A 1-1 TIE

Shannon Boxx scores in the 86th minute to equalize the match against the first-pace New York Power in San Diego. The game was played before 4,506, featured the debut of goalkeeper Carly Smolak, as both teams were missing their national team players.

QUOTE SHEET:

Kraus on her first start in the WUSA...

"Of course you're always nervous, because you want to play the best that you can and I just came in here and told myself to play it like any other game. I believe in myself, the team believed in me and I went out and just played hard and to the best of my ability."

Kevin Crow on coming back after the Akide ejection...

"I thought that we played well a man down, but we could have played better since Philadelphia did not change their game much. I really preached keeping the ball and having possession, making the other team worker hard in the second half and I think we did that."

Kevin Crow on the result being a confidence builder...

"This is another step. The game in San Jose was a transition, last week in Washington was a big step in the right direction even though we lost and today was another positive move in the right direction. I keep telling the players as long as we keep making progress, the results will come."

Kevin Crow on Mercy Akide...

"It was a silly mistake by Mercy and she owes her team a big apology for putting them in a hole that early. She realized it and apologized, so we will go forward from here. We are a team."

Julie Foudy on where the team goes from here...

"We have said this to ourselves all along that we can go two ways from here, we can call it a season and pack up or we can fight like hell and make a run for it. I am so proud of everyone today for their effort."

INSIDE THE WUSA (wusa.com)

RESULTS

6/19- Philadelphia 3 @ Carolina 1

6/22- Carolina 3 @ Washington 1...San Jose 1 @ Atlanta 2...New York 2 @ Boston 5

6/23- Philadelphia 1 @ SPIRIT 1

SCHEDULE

6/26- Carolina @ New York

6/29- San Jose @ Boston...Washington @ New York...Atlanta @ Philadelphia...SPIRIT @ Carolina



Women's United Soccer Association Stories from June 24, 2002


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central