(May 16, 2002)

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Founders Cup Re-Match on PAX

ATLANTA GA (May 16, 2002) - In last season's Founder's Cup, the Atlanta Beat and the then-Bay Area CyberRays battled through 90 minutes, overtime and a tense penalty kick shootout to determine the WUSA's first-ever champion.

The CyberRays, since renamed San Jose, emerged as the champs and wear the crown well, but the Beat has spent the past eight months recalling the heartbreaking loss and wondering what if.

Saturday at 4:00 p.m. (ET), the two teams meet for the first time since that day in Boston. This time, they are not at the top of the standings, though. Atlanta, in fact, is tied for last at 1-3-1, while San Jose sits
in third place with a 2-2-1 record.

All 21 games are equally important to players and coaches. A lesson many teams learned last year was not to take any game lightly. But to say Saturday's Atlanta-San Jose matchup does mean just a little bit more would
be false.

Here's why.

NO FALSE ILLUSIONS
San Jose coach Ian Sawyers: "I have no false illusions about (Atlanta).  They're in kind of a corner right now. They don't have as many points as they expected to get or deserve to get, but we never underestimate them. They need to respect us, too, because we're going to come after them."

MEMORIES DIE HARD
Beat striker Charmaine Hooper: "It was hard. I didn't really do anything for about four days after we lost, and I finally had to drag myself out and go to the gym on the fourth day."

GOING AFTER EACH OTHER
Sawyers: "We took something from them they desperately wanted. They should be coming after us all guns blazing. Make no mistake about it, they're going to be coming in here looking for blood."

SO CLOSE...
Beat goalkeeper Briana Scurry: "Our goal was to win the entire thing last year, and to get so incredibly close and have it slip through your fingers makes it that much worse."

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE BEAT? NOTHING.
Atlanta coach Tom Stone: "We know we're better than our record and so therefore it's a little more frustrating. It's just a matter of all of us playing well on the same day - the coaches coaching a good game and the players playing a good game - all in the same day. The margin of victory and defeat in our league is just miniscule."

CONFIDENT, NOT COCKY
Tisha Venturini-Hoch: "Last year is behind us; this is a new season. We believe we have a great team, and one of our strengths is that we have a lot of heart. We're not cocky, but confident. We know it won't be easy (to repeat), because the other seven teams will be gunning for us. But we believe we can win the championship again this year."

BRAZILIAN HEAT
Stone: "San Jose is one of the most dangerous teams because they can turn up the heat in the blink of an eye. They are the most experienced team in the league, I think, with Brandi (Chastain), Sissi, Pretinha, Katia, and Tisha (Venturini-Hoch). They can appear dormant for a stretch and then BOOM, the Brazilian triangle lights up and puts you on your heels."

**************

The Atlanta Beat vs. the San Jose CyberRays. Saturday. 4pm (ET) on PAX TV. Re-match of 2001 Championship.

During the broadcast the commentators will instruct fans on how to win WUSA gear, pizza parties, and a trip for 4 to Founders Cup II! Four fans have already won - will you be the next?

Players To Watch:
Atlanta:
Charmaine Hooper, Briana Scurry, Sun Wen, Kylie Bivens, Cindy Parlow

San Jose:
Sissi, Brandi Chastain, Keysia Beene, Tisha Venturini-Hoch, Michelle French, Katia

Tune-in and be counted! Forward this email to a friend!

To find your local PAX TV channel: http://www.wusa.com/pax/. PAX is currently in 90,000,000+ homes nationwide.

[Source: Tim Nash ©TEAMtalk 2002; WUSA.com Newsletter]