|
(August 5, 2002)
Hot
News Main Page
Next>
Washington's Mia Hamm
Named WUSA Player Of The Week
ATLANTA GA (August 5, 2002)
Washington's Mia Hamm has been selected as the WUSA's Player of the Week
for the week ending August 5, 2002. The world's all-time leading scorer
in international competition combined for three goals and three assists
in two Freedom victories to help Washington secure its first WUSA
playoff berth. In both Freedom matches, Hamm entered the game at
halftime with her team down by a goal.
In a 5-2 win over Carolina on July 31, Hamm scored two goals and added
an assist while playing the second half. She scored the first of her two
goals when she ran onto an Abby Wambach cross at the left post and beat
Carolina 'keeper Kristin Luckenbill near post from close range in the
56th minute. After Bai Jie scored in the 60th minute, Hamm closed out
the scoring in the 80th minute when she blasted a 25-yard shot past a
helpless Luckenbill.
In a 3-2 victory over Atlanta on Sunday, Hamm had a goal and two
assists. The U.S. national team star scored her seventh goal of the
season in the 58th minute when she beat Atlanta defender Sharolta Nonen
and unleashed a thunderous shot straight through the middle of the
defense that beat goalkeeper Briana Scurry far post. She then sent
precise corner kicks into Bai Jie for her 75th-minute goal and to Pu Wei
during stoppage time for the game-winner.
With her four-point performance on Sunday, Hamm has now surpassed her
goal (7) and assist (5) total from last season in just 10 games, nine
fewer than all of 2001. A year ago, she finished the season with six
goals and four assists in 19 games.
This is Hamm's first player of the week award in 2002. She captured the
weekly honor twice in 2001.
Hamm garnered 43 points in the voting (21 first place, 1 second place)
to outdistance Carolina's Birgit Prinz (18 pts.), Atlanta's Charmaine
Hooper (3 pts.), Washington's Steffi Jones (1 pt.) and Philadelphia's
Zhao Lihong (1 pt.), The WUSA's Player of the Week is selected every
Monday throughout the regular season by a panel of journalists from the
Professional Soccer Reporters Association.
[Source: Dan Courtemanche - (678) 645-0757, www.WUSA.com, Paul Dodson
- (678) 645-0764, WUSA Communications]
|