Charge Tie Courage; Pichon Scores Twice for Philly

Marinette Pichon scored two goals to help the Philadelphia Charge play to a 2-2 tie against the Carolina Courage at Villanova Stadium on Saturday night. The Charge (1-5-1, 4pts) remain tied for last place with the Courage (1-5-1, 4pts) in the eight-team WUSA standings.

Pichon scored her fourth and fifth goals of the season, giving her 19 for her career. Coupled with her two career assists, the Frenchwoman became the first Charge player to reach the 40-point plateau.

Lorrie Fair, Melanie Hoffmann and Stacey Tullock all recorded assists for the Charge, who are 5-1-1 all-time versus Carolina. Melissa Moore made two saves as Philadelphia ended a two-game homestand 0-1-1. The Charge lost to San Jose 2-0 last week.

Fair's assist was the ninth of her career, tying her for the club's all-time lead with Heather Mitts and Zhao Lihong.

Tullock now has 10 points in her last 10 games played dating back to last season.

The Charge next play on Saturday, June 7 in San Diego against the Spirit. The Charge will return home on Saturday, June 14 when they host the Spirit at 4 p.m. The first 2,000 fans 14 and under to the game will receive a Jenny Benson bobble-leg doll.

The scoring began in the 14th minute when Hoffmann sent a through ball to Pichon leaving here alone to face the Courage goalkeeper Kristin Luckenbill. Luckenbill initially saved Pichon's shot, but Pichon collected the rebound and put it into the open net for a 1-0 lead.

Birgit Prinz evened the score at one minute before the half when she beat Moore with a low shot that went through Moore's hands. The low shot by Prinz was hard to handle, as the weather conditions made it hard for Moore. It was raining on and off all night and the Astro-play surface was very slick.

Pichon's second goal of the game unfolded much like her first. She again found herself one-on-one with Luckenbill and this time put her first shot away to put the Charge ahead 2-1 in the 76th minute.

Danielle Fotopoulous tied the game by finishing a rebound off a shot by Unni Lehn in the 83rd minute.

The Charge were without Anne Makinen who was with her Finnish National team for a match against Sweden scheduled for Sunday, June 1.

Scoring Summary

	1	2	F
Carolina	1	1	2
Philadelphia	1	1	2

PHI -- Marinette Pichon 4 (Melanie Hoffmann 1, Lorrie Fair 1) 13
CAR -- Birgit Prinz 4 (Carla Overbeck 1, Erin Baxter 1) 44
PHI -- Marinette Pichon 5 (Stacey Tullock 1) 76
CAR -- Danielle Fotopoulos 5 (Unni Lehn 1, Birgit Prinz 1) 84

Carolina Courage -- Kristin Luckenbill, Staci Burt, Breanna Boyd (Danielle Slaton 46), Nel Fettig, Erin Baxter, Carla Overbeck (Brooke O'Hanley 46), Unni Lehn, Tiffany Roberts, Venus James, Danielle Fotopoulos, Birgit Prinz.

TOTAL SHOTS: 4 (4 tied with 1); SHOTS ON GOAL: 4 (4 tied with 1); FOULS: 19 (Danielle Fotopoulos 6); OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 6 (Unni Lehn 3, Birgit Prinz 3); SAVES: 3 (Kristin Luckenbill 3)

Philadelphia Charge -- Melissa Moore, Jenny Benson, Mary McVeigh, Heather Mitts, Jennifer Tietjen-Prozzo, Lorrie Fair, Emily Burt, Erin Misaki, Stacey Tullock, Marinette Pichon, Melanie Hoffmann.

TOTAL SHOTS: 8 (Marinette Pichon 5); SHOTS ON GOAL: 5 (Marinette Pichon 4); FOULS: 10 (4 tied with 2); OFFSIDES: 12 (Marinette Pichon 9); CORNER KICKS: 5 (Jenny Benson 2, Lorrie Fair 2); SAVES: 2 (Melissa Moore 2)

Misconduct Summary:
CAR -- Staci Burt (caution) 28
PHI -- Melanie Hoffmann (caution) 45
PHI -- Lorrie Fair (caution) 67

Referee: Misail Tsapos
Referee's Assistants: -Kelly Lee; Stanford Nagle
4th Official: Adam Smeltz
Attendance: 4,180
Time of Game: 1:48
Weather: Cloudy-and-66-degrees

Post Game Quotes

Carolina Courage

Head Coach Jay Entlich
On struggles of Philadelphia and Carolina:

"There are a lot of expectations when a team performs. Both teams have been hit with injuries. Every game is an incredible game. We battle day in and day out. The Charge are a high quality team, but haven't had quality breaks this year."

Forward Danielle Fotopoulos
On the game:

"We wanted to play the feet more. We were fighting really hard and trying to stay focused offensively and defensively. We really did a good job at attack, out of the back and being there at the right time."

Goalkeeper Kristin Luckenbill
On Pichon's goals:

"You never like to see Pichon coming at you. She took a strike and I stopped it. But it got back on her feet and she got it past me. She had a great left foot drive and got it in the back of the net."

Philadelphia Charge

Head Coach Mark Krikorian
On the game:

"We were playing with two [players] high tonight. They would drift from one side or another. I think the first 30 minutes we did very well, but then we stopped and allowed them way too much room on the field. I thought our defense was pretty good today. Sometimes balls don't go where you want them to go. The effort was good. We were able to possess the ball better than we had. Prinz and Fotopoulos are very capable of scoring and dangerous for whatever they are going against."

Goalkeeper Melissa Moore
On her goals allowed:

"Obviously, I lacked focus on the first goal. It was a little slick, but I came back and made some saves."

"The first save was a reaction. I saw Fotoloupos, but there wasn't much I could do then and [the ball] went right underneath me."