Pichon Leads Charge To Win, 2-0

Marinette Pichon recorded her second straight multi-goal game to lead the Philadelphia Charge over the Washington Freedom, 2-0, on Wednesday night at Villanova Stadium. Pichon scored twice and Pavlina Scasna added two assists, as the Charge (5-11-4, 19 points) won consecutive games for the first time this season, playing in their home finale.

Hope Solo made four saves, recording her second straight shutout. The rookie goalkeeper is now 3-4-0 this season, having split time in net with Melissa Moore. She preserved her shutout when she made two fantastic lunging saves, one in the 66th minute and the other in the 85th.

Pichon recorded her 13th and 14th goals of the year, tying the Charge's single-season franchise best, which she set last season on her way to earning the league MVP and Offensive Player of the Year awards. The Frenchwoman also scored two goals in Philadelphia's 3-0 win over the first-place Atlanta Beat on Saturday night.

The Freedom (9-7-4, 31 pts) are fighting for home-field advantage in the playoffs. The team's two top scorers Mia Hamm and Abby Wambach were held pointless. It is the first time since July 16 that the high-powered duo has been held scoreless in the same game. The two players combined for five goals in Saturday's 5-0 win over the San Jose CyberRays.

Scasna's assists where her first points of the season. The Czech Republic national team member had missed 14 games this season with left foot tendinitis.

Pichon struck for her first goal in the 20th minute. Scasna fed a ball through to Pichon, who scored her 13th goal of the season from inside the box while shouldering off a Freedom defender.

The French national team member then made it 2-0 in the 53rd minute when she tapped a cross from Scasna across her body and one-timed it past Siri Mullinix.

The Charge ended their season series against the Freedom 1-2-0. Washington had outscored the Charge 8-3 over the first two games, both of which the Charge played without Pichon.

Head coach Mark Krikorian made a few changes to his starting lineup tonight. Krikorian started Scasna at forward in place of Melanie Hoffmann. Also, with Anne Makinen missing the final two games due to Finnish national team duty, Mary McVeigh started at defensive midfield, while Lorrie Fair moved back to right back and Jenny Benson moved up to left midfield. Rachel Kruze started at left back in place of Benson, while Heather Mitts moved into central defense.

Charge midfielder Kelly Smith came on as a second half substitute. Smith, who had missed most of the season with a knee injury, was playing in just her second game since her return. She sat out Saturday's win over Atlanta. The Charge next take to the field in Carolina to wrap up their 2003 season on Saturday, August 9 at 4 p.m.

Scoring Summary:
	1	2	F
Washington	0	0	0
Philadelphia	1	1	2

PHI -- Marinette Pichon 13 (Pavlina Scasna 1) 20
PHI -- Marinette Pichon 14 (Pavlina Scasna 2, Mary McVeigh 1) 53

Washington Freedom -- Siri Mullinix, Carrie Moore, Jennifer Grubb, Casey Zimny (Lori Lindsey 71), Skylar Little, Lindsay Stoecker (Jennifer Meier 61), Kelly Golebiowski, Steffi Jones, Mia Hamm, Jacqui Little (Meredith Beard 76), Abby Wambach.

TOTAL SHOTS: 13 (Mia Hamm 4); SHOTS ON GOAL: 4 (4 tied with 1); FOULS: 12 (Abby Wambach 4); OFFSIDES: 3 (3 tied with 1); CORNER KICKS: 6 (Mia Hamm 6); SAVES: 2 (Siri Mullinix 2)

Philadelphia Charge -- Hope Solo, Lorrie Fair, Rachel Kruze (Kelly Smith 46), Heather Mitts (Karyn Hall 77), Jennifer Tietjen-Prozzo, Emily Burt (Erin Misaki 46), Jenny Benson, Stacey Tullock, Mary McVeigh, Pavlina Scasna (Melanie Hoffmann 72), Marinette Pichon.

TOTAL SHOTS: 18 (Marinette Pichon 8); SHOTS ON GOAL: 4 (Marinette Pichon 3); FOULS: 6 (6 tied with 1); OFFSIDES: 2 (Kelly Smith 1, Stacey Tullock 1); CORNER KICKS: 8 (Jenny Benson 6); SAVES: 4 (Hope Solo 4)

Misconduct Summary:
WAS -- Jacqui Little (caution) 51

Referee: Terry Vaughn
Referee's Assistants: -Stanford Nagle; Melanie Johnson
4th Official: Ed Marco
Attendance: 9,208
Time of Game: 1:49
Weather: Partly Cloudy-and-82-degrees

All Statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial

Philadelphia Charge Post Game Quotes
Philadelphia Charge

Head Coach Mark Krikorian:

On the game:

"We gave some of our injured bodies some minutes today. We use these games to evaluate players. It is less about specifics of teams and more about the players. Our backline and midfield did a good job to close the space down and not allow a lot of opportunities in the first half. The second half went faster than we would've wanted."

On Pavlina Scasna:

"She is very good at holding the ball and creating dangerous situations. She ran herself ragged. Her performance was very encouraging."

On Abby Wambach and Mia Hamm:

"In each team there are different good attacking players. Abby [Wambach] and Mia [Hamm] are two completely different players. Wambach causes difficulty because she is so strong. Mia is so clever in how she handles the ball. We tried to compete with Abby each time and stick with the other players. We knew their passing lanes pretty good. You know they will get chances-you want to limit them."

Forward Pavlina Scasna:

"It was amazing to start and play in front of so many people. [The fact that] we won was the most important thing. It was great."

Forward Marinette Pichon:

"Starting the game, we [Pichon and Scasa] didn't know each other very well. We found each other pretty well tonight. She did a great job."

Goalie Hope Solo:

"Once again, our defense played really well. We changed the line a little bit and stayed strong."

Washington Freedom

Head Coach Jim

On the game:

"Hope [Solo] made saves and we missed chances. They matched Abby's physical presence. We had a couple of good chances each half that we didn't make. We have to get our rhythm back. A lot of emotion was spent to get into the playoffs. Philly had a good energy level tonight."

"I was surprised that [Heather] Mitts was in the center. It is difficult to play a Philly team that has all their players on the field and are talented."

Defensiveman Jennifer Grubb about Philadelphia's Forwards:

"They are some of the best in the league. They have a great ability to finish their chances. They get in and make great runs and find the spaces."

Forward Mia Hamm:

"Their early goal [gave them momentum]. Either we didn't put balls on the frame or Hope Solo made amazing saves. You saw her confidence grow after the first save. We wanted to make better decisions. I had several chances to put balls away. Solo played an amazing game tonight. You have to give credit to them."