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Powerless New York, Atlanta begin with 0-0 draw
ATLANTA (AP) -- Despite having prolific scorers in Sun Wen and Tiffeny Milbrett, the Atlanta Beat and New York Power fought to a 0-0 tie in their Women's United Soccer Association opener Saturday. "It's incredible, I think, to be going against my former teammates and friends," said Milbrett, a U.S. women's team star who took four shots. On a sunny, warm day at Georgia Tech's Bobby Dodd Stadium, the crowd of 20,170 was energized most when Chinese star Sun entered the game for Atlanta in the 78th minute. The forward, voted the FIFA Co-Player of the Century, did not start because of a tender left knee that required major surgery four months ago. Sun looked close to 100 percent, though, as she tried to break between New York defenders Kristy Whelchel and Christie Pearce as she dribbled inside the left corner at the 85:07 mark. Whelchel stepped in from the left and kicked the ball out of bounds. That was Atlanta's last legitimate opportunity to score, though the Beat's final official shot on goal came in the 83rd minute when forward Cindy Parlow came up short. Overtime will not be used in WUSA games until the playoffs. "I think the reason you don't see that many goals scored right now is that you have to realize these teams haven't played together for very long," Parlow said. "As the season goes on, you'll see more and more goals. Offenses will get used to playing with each other, and they'll be able to combine a little bit more and put the ball in the back of the net." Milbrett, whose 83 goals rank No. 4 on the U.S. women's career list, took New York's final shot in the 85th minute. The Power captain was dribbling in the right corner when she kicked a high shot that went wide left of Beat goalkeeper Brianna Scurry. Regarding Sun, Atlanta coach Tom Stone wanted to play Sun more, but he avoided being too anxious with 20 more regular season games to play. Sun's last full contact game was in the Olympics seven months ago. "We brought her in when we expected to, and she obviously changed the game a bit," Stone said. "At that point in the game, everybody's losing a bit of step, and here comes one of the best players in the world." Sun's former teammate on the Chinese national team, goalkeeper Gao Hong, made four saves. Atlanta midfielder Homare Sawa, who captains the Japanese national team, took seven of the Beat's 14 shots. Parlow and Nikki Serlenga each had two. Other than Milbrett, the only other New York player credited with a shot was Tamara Pearman, who had two. Jeanie Woodson, a 12-year-old from Lawrenceville, said the scoreless game didn't take away from the atmosphere. She had her face painted with the powder blue, purple and green colors of the Beat. "I think this is incredible," she said. "To have a league like this for women is amazing. I want to come to more games."
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