Sunday, June 3, 2001
By Aimee Jane
SJSports Staff Writer
The Charge lost to Washington 2-1 at home, but it still felt like a home team win. With the Sixers playing game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, who would think that the Charge would have a sellout of 11,800 tickets? Yes, they did. Most of the fans came to see the number one draw in Womens' Soccer, Mia Hamm, playing for the Washington Freedom.
The game started off in the Charge's favor. Two minutes and thirty seconds into the game, Liu Ailing, who was also awarded Player of the Week, scored to set the score at 1 - 0. Ailing made a great run into open space just outside the box, staying onsides. The pass from Martin was just perfect, as Ailing went in on a breakaway, pulling Keeper Mullinix to her left. Ailing shot to her left into the back of the net for the 1-0 lead.
Washington tied the game on a bullet shot from 35 yards out. Hamm dropped the ball back to Grubb, who hit a shot from the right side past Charge Keeper, Webber, to the top left corner of the net. Four minutes into the second half, the Freedom took the lead for good. The play started as Hamm passed the ball out to the left winger, French. French put the ball into the middle, and Pretinha put the winning goal into the back of the net.
The Charge falls back to a record of 4-2-2, while the Freedom improve to 4-2-2. Most of the screaming fans went home happy to have seen Hamm in action.
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