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WUSA Week 14 Wrap Atlanta defense falters against Courage, finallyPosted: Wednesday July 09, 2003 6:32 PM
By Scott French, Soccer America OFF DAY: Defense finally betrayed the Beat, which gave up a pair of soft goals in a 3-2 Independence Day loss at Carolina that prevented Atlanta from putting some distance on its rivals at the top of the standings. Danielle Slaton scored from a goalmouth scramble in the 48th minute and Venus James added a second after intercepting Sharolta Nonen's back pass in the 53rd. Birgit Prinz scored from Slaton's cross 11 minutes later. The three goals are 25 percent of what Atlanta has conceded this season. The Beat -- featuring goalkeeper Briana Scurry, defenders Nonen, Nancy Augustyniak and Kylie Bivens, defensive midfielder Marci Miller and Cindy Parlow, one of the top defensive attackers in the women's game -- had surrendered only nine goals in its previous 13 matches. ''Our defense has kept us in every game this year, so we have to rally around them when things don't go our way,'' said Atlanta coach Tom Stone, who called Slaton's and James' goals ''inexcusable.'' ''They have been the best in the league for the first 13 games, and tonight we just weren't as sharp in the back as we have been all year.'' Charmaine Hooper scored her sixth and seventh goals of the season for Atlanta. FREEDOM LIMPING: Boston kept pace with the Beat after a 1-1 tie with visiting Washington on Thursday as defender Heather Aldama's first WUSA goal answered Freedom midfielder Lindsay Stoecker's three minutes earlier. Washington, on top the first third of the season, has fallen to sixth place -- but just four points off the lead -- after failing to win in its five games since May 24. The Freedom lost left back Emmy Barr to a first-half knee injury. A meniscus tear is suspected, but damage and prognosis won't be known until the magnetic-resonance imaging results are examined more closely Monday afternoon. TWO DRAWS: San Diego gained points from both its road games this week, getting three goals from rookie Christine Latham in Wednesday's 2-2 tie at San Jose and Saturday's 1-1 draw at Philadelphia. Latham's 90th-minute strike from Allie Sullivan's cross evened things in San Jose; Philly rallied to tie on Stacey Tullock's stoppage-time goal. The Spirit, which could have grabbed first place for the first time with a win in Philadelphia, is one point behind Atlanta and Boston. The Beat has one game in hand over San Diego and the Breakers. NO CARDS: The San Jose-San Diego tilt, unlike their battle three days earlier, was waged without a yellow or red card to be seen. Absent on Wednesday were Spirit defender Joy Fawcett and CyberRays forward Pretinha, who had been ejected in San Diego's victory the previous Sunday. The game did feature a goal by CyberRays forward Pretinha, last season's WUSA scoring champion. It was her second of the year, her first in nine games. The goals haven't come easy for San Jose, which has only 17 in 15 matches. They managed just one in a 2-1 loss Saturday at New York, twice hitting the goal frame and seeing three goal-bound shots cleared by Power goalscorers Jaclyn Raveia and Cheryl Salisbury. ''We had four 1v1s that we did not put away, a penalty turned down on a handball save in the box, and we hit the post twice,'' CyberRays coach Ian Sawyers mused. ''That kind of sums up how it's gone for us so far.'' Raveia and Salisbury scored from Justi Baumgardt corner kicks three minutes apart. WUSA SUMMARIES WEEK 14: Courage, Power avoid ties July 2 at San Jose SAN JOSE (5-7-2, 17 points) 2 SAN DIEGO (5-3-5, 20 points) 2. Goals: Katia (Clemens) 49, Sissi 78; Latham (Fleeting) 43, Latham (Sullivan) 90. Att.: 5,547. July 3 at Boston BOSTON (6-4-4, 22 points) 1 WASHINGTON (5-4-3, 18 points) 1 Goals: Aldama 66; Stoecker (J. Little, Wambach) 63. Att.: 8,105. July 4 at Cary, N.C. CAROLINA (5-6-3, 18 points) 3 ATLANTA (6-3-4, 22 points) 2. Goals: Slaton 48, James 53, Prinz (Slaton) 64; Hooper (Parlow, Bivens) 8, Hooper (Pohlers) 74. Att.: 6,411. July 5 at Uniondale, N.Y. NEW YORK (6-7-2, 20 points) 2 SAN JOSE (5-7-3, 17 points) 1. Goals: Raveia (Baumgardt) 57, Salisbury (Baumgardt) 60; Venturini-Hoch (Sanchez) 86). Att.: 3,057. July 5 at Villanova, Pa. PHILADELPHIA (3-6-4, 13 points) 1 SAN DIEGO (5-3-6, 21 points) 1. Goals: Latham (Fawcett, Sullivan) 80; Tullock (Maso de Moya, Kruze) 92+. Att.: 8,602.
Scott French is a senior editor at Soccer America magazine.
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