|
In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors.
|
Spirit 2, Freedom 1
Saturday August 09, 2003
SAN DIEGO (AP) Christine Latham scored in the 58th minute and
assisted on the quickest goal in San Diego's history to lift the
Spirit past the Washington Freedom 2-1 Saturday.
Latham sent a crossing pass to Julie Fleeting, who scored her
11th goal of the season 1:23 into the game. The previous record for
the Spirit's fastest goal was set by Zhang Ouying when she scored
in the third minute against New York last season.
The Freedom rebounded to tie on a goal by Steffi Jones three
minutes into the second half.
The Spirit (8-6-7) clinched third place in the WUSA, ahead of
the Freedom (9-8-4). Both teams finished with 31 points in the
standings, but the Spirit took the tiebreaker on the basis of a 2-1
edge in the season series.
Washington, which placed third a year ago, closed the regular
season with two straight losses.
The Freedom had an apparent goal by Abby Wambach nullified in
the 70th minute because of an offside call.
Fleeting finished the season one goal shy of matching the San
Diego record for goals in one season, established by Shannon
MacMillan in 2001.
The Spirit closed the regular season with a six-game home
unbeaten streak.
San Diego set a club record for wins in one season, surpassing
its 7-7-7 mark in 2001.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
|