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Spirit Ties Boston, 1-1, on Sullivan Goal; MacMillan Injured

May 18, 2003 - Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA)
San Diego Spirit News Release


SAN DIEGO - The San Diego Spirit notched its third 1-1 tie in a row, drawing the Boston Breakers on a beautiful night at Torero Stadium as former Breaker Allie Sullivan scored a brilliant goal in the 50th minute. The Spirit was dealt a harsh blow in just the eighth minute as star forward Shannon MacMillan went down with a serious injury to her right knee. The U.S. Women's National Team player will have an MRI tomorrow to evaluate the extent of the injury.

The Spirit moved to 2-1-3 (9 points) on the season while Boston moved to 3-2-2 (11 points). The Spirit is tied for fourth place in the WUSA with three other teams, but is just four points out of first place.

MacMillan actually had two chances to score before she got hurt, sending a header just wide of the right post early on and then drilling a shot over the top from 20 yards out. The non-contact injury occurred as MacMillan was collecting a ball on the left sideline.

The Boston goal came just seconds after MacMillan was carried off the field as defender Joy Fawcett uncharacteristically gave away the ball in the back. Boston quickly took advantage of the miscue as Maren Meinert played a pass to Dagny Mellgren behind the Spirit defense and the Norwegian international deftly chipped her shot over goalkeeper Jaime Pagliarulo and into the net from 18 yards out. With the assist, Meinert tied Atlanta's Maribel Dominguez as the top scorer in the league.

The Spirit was without forward Julie Fleeting, who is in Scotland playing for her national team, and forward Christine Latham, who is back in Canada after the death of her father last week, and after MacMillan went down, were forced to play 80 minutes without their top three strikers. Still, rookie Susan Bush, who replaced MacMillan, did well in her WUSA debut and the rest of Spirit also picked up their games.

It seemed that the Spirit had tied the game in the 13th minute when Zhang Ouying beat Boston goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc to the near post, but the flag was up for offside.

The Spirit dominated the first 30 minutes of the second half, and out-shot Boston 10-2 after the break, but could only get one goal, that coming from Sullivan, who played her first two WUSA seasons with the Breakers. The goal started from an Aly Wagner free-kick close to the right sideline. The ball bounced around in the Breakers penalty area before Sullivan latched onto it in the left side of the penalty area and pivoted to strike a screamer across the goalkeeper into the right side netting from 16 yards out. It was her first goal for the Spirit.

The Breakers had a quality chance in the 30th minute when Mellgren slipped behind the defense on a counter attack, but a great diving save by Pagliarulo knocked her shot away. Pagliarulo also made a big save in the 55th minute after Kristine Lilly had slid to strike a hard shot from a stiff angle that hit the Spirit goalkeeper's legs and bounced away.

Sullivan's speed caused Boston problems all game long, and she foreshadowed her goal in stoppage time of the first half, cutting back on a defender in the right side of the penalty area before firing a shot that was headed into the upper right corner when LeBlanc tipped it over the bar.

Spirit defender Kim Pickup had a solid chance in the 74th minute with a header off corner kick, but LeBlanc made a solid save in traffic on a collapse dive to her left. One minute later, Boston had a good chance as Pagliarulo and Fawcett collided at the top of the penalty area, but the Spirit managed to clear the ball away.

Sullivan had a chance to win the game in the 81st minute as Daniela played her through and the speedy striker split two defenders, but the ball skidded away from her and she slid into a nasty collision with LeBlanc before the ball bounced away. Sullivan also had a heavy collision with LeBlanc in the opening match of the season at Torero Stadium, a 2-1 Spirit loss. The match completed the season series between the two teams just six games into the 2003 campaign.

Boston had a little more of the match in the last 15 minutes, but it was the Spirit who had a great chance to win it in stoppage time. Daniela, a Brazilian who played very well in the midfield and pulled off four nutmegs and popped the ball over defender's heads at least twice in the match, hit her wide-open shot over the top from 18 yards out.



Women's United Soccer Association Stories from May 18, 2003


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