(July 21, 2002)

Scurry Returns With U.S. Women's Soccer Team

MINNEAPOLIS MN (July 21, 2002) Briana Scurry lunged to bat away Liu Ying's third-round penalty kick in the 1999 World Cup. What followed is easy to remember: Brandi Chastain scored the winning goal against China, setting off her now famous display of exuberance and sports bra.

What happened to Scurry, 30, after that defining match is a little more difficult to explain. Instead of using that defining moment as a launching point for even greater accomplishments, Scurry stayed down.

But after disappearing from the national team for almost two years, Scurry, a graduate of Anoka High, is back. In her first appearance since 2000, she will start in goal for the United States at noon today as it attempts to break a four-match losing streak to Norway.

"I've rededicated myself now to not just trying to be better than everybody else, but trying to be as good as I can be," Scurry said. "I've changed my eating habits, I've committed myself, and it's been working out. Who knows how it's going to work in the next six months to a year, but I'm hoping for the best."

A top-flight player should make almost every penalty kick. Two things can get in the way: a lapse in concentration or a brilliant goaltender. Scurry's chances of being the starter for the United States in the 2000 Olympics should have been about the same as that of making a penalty kick. Ironically, Scurry was trumped by the two things she depended on to make the big World Cup save.

Scurry traveled after the World Cup, making various soccer-related appearances at events. But she also neglected her training and lost her focus.

"I got a little out of shape," she said.

Scurry was called into the national team training camp in 2000, but as she tried to play herself back into shape she developed a stress fracture. By the time she recovered, Siri Mullinix had claimed the starting spot in goal. Scurry, a veteran of 103 international matches and the starter since 1994, was relegated to back-up duty for the Olympics.

Always known as being rather brash, Scurry became miffed that she wasn't starting. A small part of her might have felt vindicated when Mullinix floundered in the gold medal match loss to Norway.

"I personally still feel that if I was playing in the goal in the final we would have won it," Scurry said. "I'm just a big-game player. When it's on the line, I've been very successful.

U.S. coach April Heinrichs, though, said she felt fortunate to have Mullinix in tow because Scurry wasn't ready yet.

"Anytime you take someone who has helped this country win a World Cup, and you say to them, 'Your form, your performance and your physical dimension has taken a step backwards,' that's disappointing and difficult to confront," Heinrichs said.

But it was the truth, she added.

"A lot of young players will come up and say, 'I'm a gamer,' " Heinrichs said. "When someone says, 'I'm a gamer,' what it means is they haven't figured out how to be a trainer, how to be a champion and maximize their potential. I think Bri has now learned that."

Scurry didn't want to admit it at the time, but it was probably the wake-up call she needed.

"I never knew what it felt like to sit on the bench," she said. "To be honest, during the Olympics, I absolutely hated it. I've gotten both perspectives now. I couldn't speak on that before."

So Scurry jumped into the newly formed WUSA pro league and began training with a purpose. Now in the middle of her second season with Atlanta, she has become perhaps the top goalie in the league. Scurry declined an offer to join the national team last year because she wanted to wait until she felt the time was right.

That time is today. The save three years ago was big, but Scurry's biggest save might have been her career.

"I just want to come out, be myself and do my thing," Scurry said. "I want to try to integrate myself back into things. My WUSA team is amazing, but the national team, there's nothing like it."

[Source: Michael Rand, Minneapolis Star Tribune; Dan Courtemanche, Vice President of Communications, WUSA, Work: 678-645-0757,Cell: 404-759-0216, Fax: 678-645-1771, dcourtemanche@wusa.com, www.wusa.com]