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Parity Continues In The
WUSA ATLANTA GA (April 21, 2002) - It may be early in the season, but the Women's United Soccer Association continues to field eight teams that can beat each other on any given day. In similar fashion to the 2001 season, the parity among WUSA clubs is continuing in the second year of play as seven of the league's eight teams currently have three points after the first two weekends. Depending on the day, any WUSA team can come away with a victory. During the first weekend of the 2002 season, the visitors were victorious in three of the four openers. The second weekend saw all three home teams come away with the win. While seven teams have three points, the one club that does not have a point in two games is the Atlanta Beat, the consensus preseason favorite among soccer journalists. The Beat was defeated Saturday, 3-1, at Boston. The loss came after Philadelphia downed Atlanta 2-0 on April 13 in Atlanta. The Breakers were bolstered by the return of Kristine Lilly, while Atlanta was missing forward Sun Wen, who did not make the trip due to a left adductor strain suffered in practice during the week. "We're seeing a team that for the first time since it's been playing is having its character tested," said Atlanta Head Coach Tom Stone, who felt the Beat had a stronger game against Boston compared to the club's opener against Philadelphia. "If we had played last week like we did this week, we probably would have come away with a point." Atlanta (0-2-0) will have a chance to pick up its first victory when the Beat battles Washington (1-1-0) this Saturday, April 27, in a nationally televised match on PAX from Herndon Stadium in Atlanta. Washington was a surprise winner over defending WUSA champion San Jose on Sunday, defeating the CyberRays 2-1 on a rainy day at RFK Stadium. "Atlanta is a very physical and hardworking team that is difficult to match up with due to their unique system of play (4-2-2-2)," said Washington Head Coach Jim Gabarra. "We love the challenge they present." After a tough loss to Washington on Sunday, San Jose (1-1-0) heads back home to battle a much-improved Carolina Courage (1-0-0) on Saturday at Spartan Stadium as part of a doubleheader that features the U.S. national team vs. Finland in game one and the CyberRays and Courage in the second match. San Jose swept the Courage in three meetings in 2001. "I'm sure we've become a bigger target for Carolina as a result of our series last season, and they're an improved team from last year," San Jose Head Coach Ian Sawyers said following Sunday's loss at Washington. "This time they'll be playing us with the psyche of a winner.'' The San Diego Spirit (1-1-0) will look to continue its high-scoring ways when the club makes its first road trip of the season with a visit to Boston (1-1-0) on Saturday. Coming off a record-setting 6-1 win over New York on April 20, San Diego faces an inspired Breakers squad led by Lilly and goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc. With starter Tracy Ducar out until later this summer with a knee injury, LaBlanc has come up big, making numerous acrobatic saves for the Breakers during the first two matches. LeBlanc will be active against Spirit team that scores goals in bunches. "It looks like we got out of town in the nick of time," Carolina Head Coach Marcia McDermott commented on San Diego's 6-1 win over New York. "That result demonstrates just how even all the teams in the WUSA really are. Every team is excellent on paper and can beat any other team in any given week." The question for New York Head Coach Pat Farmer is, 'Which Power team will show up?' Will it be the Power squad that exploded for four goals in a 4-1 win over Washington during the opening weekend? Or will it be the version that surrendered a WUSA-record six goals to San Diego in Saturday's 6-1 loss to the Spirit? New York (1-1-0) hosts Philadelphia (1-0-0) in the Power's home opener on Saturday. New York will face a high-powered Charge offense led by Kelly Smith and Chinese internationals Zhao Lihong and Liu Ailing. "We played well in our exhibition match against them on April 7 in New Jersey," said Farmer, referring to the Power's 2-1 victory over the Charge. "The have a very potent offensive team which includes some special players that we will have to watch out for." [Source: Dan Courtemanche, (404) 269-8269,
www.WUSA.com, Paul Dodson, (404)
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