Soccer's Biggest KickThe U.S. women's team won gold for themselves as well as for a legion of future fansby Peter King
The United States won another gold medal last night, but the real winner of the soccer match at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Ga., might have been the next generation of American female athletes.
Before 76,481, the biggest crowd ever to watch a women's soccer match, Shannon MacMillan and Tiffeny Milbrett, former teammates at the University of Portland, each scored a goal to give the United States a 2-1 victory over China and the first Olympic gold medal ever awarded in the event. MacMillan put the U.S. ahead 1-0 in the first half, and Milbrett broke a 1-1 tie in the second.
There was no stopping Milbrett, who had the winning goal, no matter what tactic Shui Qingxia (8) tried.
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With the U.S. softball team having won a gold medal on Tuesday, the soccer team's victory gave the U.S. the second leg of a possible Olympic triple crown in the major American women's sports. The U.S. women's basketball team needs a win in today's semifinals and a victory in Sunday's final to finish it off. "We made a great statement for women and for women's soccer in this stadium tonight," MacMillan said afterward. "We had 75,000 paying to watch women's soccer. When I was growing up—and that was just a few years ago—we never had anything like this."
The gold medal clincher came in the 68th minute, when Milbrett took a perfect cross from defender Joy Fawcett. From five yards out, Milbrett split two defenders and sent a hard shot to the right of Chinese goalie Gao Hong, who dived for the ball but could only touch it with the fingertips of her right hand.
This team will scatter around the world now, with strikers Milbrett and MacMillan heading to Japan to play professionally, several others bound for college coaching jobs and still others retiring from the sport. But they all leave these Games as one of the most underappreciated American amateur teams of all time, with a 1991 World Cup title, an unbeaten record in the qualifying tournament for the 1995 World Cup and, now, the Olympic gold medal.
And what a way to go out. The atmosphere in Sanford Stadium—filled with a sea of red-white-and-blue-clad fans, who had paid as much as $133 a seat—was every bit as frenzied as it would be on a chilly fall evening for a Georgia-Alabama football game. "We know," U.S. captain Carla Overbeck said before the game, "that we have to be ready to play the game of our lives. The crowd will definitely help."
The stadium was only half-filled at the start of the bronze medal game (Norway 2, Brazil 0), during which the three U.S. team vans made their way from the university dormitory to the stadium. Inside the middle van, MacMillan tuned out the world with her Walkman. Only when the security officer in the front seat asked for her autograph was her concentration broken, and then just momentarily. Her focus stood her in good stead when the game got going.
In the 18th minute of the first half, Kristine Lilly lifted a cross from the deep left corner toward the penalty area. Mia Hamm, marked by three defenders, rushed toward the ball, and as she slid to kick it toward the goal, Gao dived to her right. It didn't matter, because the ball hit the right goalpost, ricocheting straight to MacMillan, who was four yards from the goal line. She settled it, then fooled Gao, who moved to the right. MacMillan kicked the ball left, a low chopper past Gao. When the ball settled against the back of the net, MacMillan sprinted, openmouthed and wide-eyed, 30 yards from the goal and dived headfirst, like Kenny Lofton stealing second. In an instant, a half-dozen of her teammates had piled on.
Eight minutes later the Americans missed a chance to put the game away. Hamm, the marvelous striker from North Carolina, eluded three defenders and found herself alone for half a second, 15 yards from Gao. Soccer games are won and lost in just such moments, but this time, when Hamm shuffled her feet and kicked as hard as she could with her right, the ball landed in Gao's gut. So much for a rout.
Eight minutes later, in the 32nd minute, China got even. Striker Sun Wen maneuvered past Overbeck and came nearly face-to-face with goalie Briana Scurry, 15 feet from the goal. Sun realized that she had two choices: She could either try to line the ball to one side of Scurry or try to loft a Texas leaguer over the goalie's head. Sun made the right choice, and the pop-up bounced the final yards into the middle of the goal.
If that goal deflated the Americans, Milbrett soon enough lifted their spirits with her perfect placement of Fawcett's pass. Sanford Stadium—fans both male and female—erupted in celebration. But in the quiet that came after the game had ended, Hamm struggled for words as she blinked back tears. "What we said tonight," she said, "is that anyone, man or woman, can go out there on the field and put their heart into something."
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