Late Goal Salvages Tie For Charge

The late-game heroics of Philadelphia forward Marinette Pichon salvaged a 1-1 tie for the Charge against the Washington Freedom on Saturday at Villanova Stadium. Pichon's goal in the 87th minute prolonged Philadelphia's (5-1-2, 17pts) season-long occupation of the top spot in the WUSA for at least another week and improved the club's home record to 2-0-2 this season.

The Charge's lead over second-place Carolina has temporarily been pushed to three points, pending the Courage's match at Boston later on Saturday night. Philadelphia will round out its three-game homestand next Saturday, when the team hosts Boston at 7 p.m. The first 1,200 Dads to the game will receive a Father's Day Tie. For ticket information call 215-467-GOAL.

Charge goalkeeper Melissa Moore made four saves, two of which were point-blank stops in the first half keeping the Charge within striking distance.

Pichon's goal was set up when Charge defender Heather Mitts was fouled in the 86th minute. Fellow defender Jen Tietjen struck the resulting free kick from about 30 yards out and the ball eluded Philadelphia's Mandy Clemens and a Freedom defender and found the foot of Pichon. The Frenchwoman made no mistake in placing her fourth goal of the season past Washington's Siri Mullinix.

The shot was Pichon's sixth on goal for the game, marking a new season-high for a Philadelphia player. As a matter a fact, Pichon had taken all of the Charge's shots on goal until Kerry Connors' shot in the 76th minute was saved by Mullinix.

The Freedom (2-4-3) took the lead in the 40th minute after Moore committed a foul in her own box. Washington defender Jennifer Grubb put the penalty kick just inside the right post for the 1-0 lead.

The Charge controlled much of the game's pace from that point on with several near misses coming mainly from the foot of Pichon. She struck a crossbar and a post on two shots and forced Mullinix to make several excellent saves to preserve her team's lead.

Although it struggled to put goals on the scoreboard, Philadelphia generated numerous opportunities despite being without star midfielder Kelly Smith, who was lost for the season a week ago with a torn ACL. Lorrie Fair moved to attacking midfielder while rookie Stacey Tullock made her first start in the midfield and started several scoring attempts.

The Charge recorded 15 shots, seven on goal. Washington took 11 shots, six of which were on goal.

Box Score

	1	2	F
FREEDOM	1	0	1
CHARGE	0	1	1

Scoring Summary: WAS - Jennifer Grubb 1 (penalty kick) 40'. PHI - Marinette Pichon 4 (Jen Tietjen 2) 87'.

WASHINGTON FREEDOM -- Siri Mullinix GK; Skylar Little D; Casey Zimmy D; Jennifer Grubb D; Emmy Barr D; Lindsey Stoecker M (Monica Gerardo 73); Steffi Jones M; Ann Cook M (Anne Makinen 58); Pu Wei M; Jacqui Little F (Tracey Milburn 8; Abby Wambach F. TOTAL SHOTS: 11; SHOTS ON GOAL: 6; FOULS: 15; OFFSIDES: None; CORNER KICKS: 2; SAVES: Mullinix 6; CAUTIONS: None; EJECTIONS: None.

PHILADELPHIA CHARGE -- Melissa Moore GK; Jenny Benson D (Mandy Clemens F 77); Heather Mitts D; Jennifer Tietjen D; Erica Iverson D; Stacey Tullock M; Lorrie Fair M; Zhao Lihong M; Liu Ailing M (Rebekah McDowell 77); Erin Martin M (Kerry Connors 46); Marinette Pichon F. TOTAL SHOTS: 15; SHOTS ON GOAL: 6; FOULS: 5; OFFSIDES: 3; CORNER KICKS: 9; SAVES: Moore 4; CAUTIONS: Mitts 39' (Tripping); EJECTIONS: None. Referee: Erich Simmons. Assistants: Thomas Supple, William Delaney. 4th Official: Adam Smeltz. Attendance: 9,650.