Sep 11, 2009
A season in review: Top 5 moments of 2009
Part 1: The 2009 draft
Part 2: Roster review
As I continue this look back at the 2009 season, I thought it made the most sense to recap the season with a Top 5 moments post and a Bottom 5 moments post. Obviously, this post will be the Top 5. Two caveats to this list before we begin. First, there were definitely more than 5 great moments this season, I just felt these were the season-altering moments. Second, I included the buildup from last year in this because one year ago, no team had a single player. So to go from a team in name only to the conclusion of the first season in less than 12 months is a pretty significant feat and is an important part of what happened in 2009.
Ok, on to the moments.
5. Abby Wambach hits her stride after scoring her 100th goal wearing a U.S. uniform
Freedom fans were excited to see the star that had developed right before their eyes was returning to her roots to anchor the newest version of the Freedom but it was a rough go for Abby Wambach to open the season. Wanting to put the nasty leg injury that kept her out of the 2008 Olympics behind her, Wambach found it tough to get back to form and opened the season with only two goals in her first 16 games.
Something changed for Wambach though during the last four games of the season and I believe the goal she scored on July 19 in front of her hometown crowd in Rochester (No. 100 for her international career) finally relaxed her enough that she returned to D.C. finally able to pass the hurdles she had struggled with all season. She returned to score 5 goals in the season’s last 4 games, including 2-goal efforts against Chicago and Sky Blue FC, on her way to helping the Freedom clinch the No. 3 seed in the playoffs. That final outburst also made Abby the team’s leading scorer in 2009, finishing with 8 goals.
4. Freedom finally record first shutout
The 2009 season for the Freedom seemed to be filled with multiple hurdles the team struggled to get over. One of those hurdles was recording a shutout. Having to use 3 goalkeepers to start the season, partly because of Erin McLeod’s delayed arrival, the Freedom opened the season as the team to allow the most goals and most goals per game, a stat they would never overcome in spite of also scoring the most goals during the regular season.
Looking to fix the leak in the back, Jim Gabarra finally got one of his prized pupils – USWNT pool allocation Ali Krieger – on loan from her club in Germany to help fix the problem. By combining Krieger with McLeod and moving French international Sonia Bompastor back to her natural position of defender, the Freedom posted their first shutout of 2009 on June 13 against Chicago in one of the team’s 3 doubleheaders at RFK. The downside though was that the offense failed to score, meaning the game ended in a 0-0 tie. Sonia would subsequently be moved back to the midfield role she manned all season but after finally posting a shutout the Freedom would go on to post 3 more during the season. Not bad for a team allowing 2 goals per game up to that point.
3. Freedom pick up first WPS win
As that old cliche goes, it is never a matter of if but a matter of when. The Freedom had to keep telling themselves that as they started off the season 0-2-1 and had never led a game at any point so far in the season. With Abby having failed to score and with a goal differential of minus-4, using the term rough start might have been too kind. Then came the fourth game of the young season, a cross-country trip to the Bay area of California to face FC Gold Pride.
With a change at goalkeeper and with Sonia gone to play for the French national team, the pressure was on the Freedom to make something happen. Abby did that by scoring her first goal of the season, which coincidentally gave the Freedom their first lead of 2009. That’s only half the story though. After going up 3-1 in the second half, FCGP rallied to tie the game at 3-3 and it appeared as though the Freedom would need another week to notch that first win as the game headed to stoppage time.
With a free kick the only thing left to wrap up the contest, Cat Whitehill booted the ball into the box to the head of one Abby Wambach, who put the ball past Nicole Barnhart for the win. That goal would be the first of many late-game goals the Freedom would score this year to either win or tie up a game. After numerous wins in WUSA and the W-League, the Freedom now had a win in WPS to count among its accomplishments.
2. Abby returns to her professional roots
Ok, this post may seem like one big “Abby Wambach is great” post but this her return to D.C. was huge for the franchise. While this happened in the offseason, Abby’s acquisition (even coming off of a leg injury) made every fan in town feel that maybe things wouldn’t be so different with the new league after all. If Abby had come back and played with LA for instance, every D.C. would have felt betrayed and many of the diehards probably would have turned away feeling the league was stacked against the only team to wait out the return of pro soccer.
Abby was one of the faces of the Freedom when the WUSA was forced to take a hiatus and when she came back, much of the local attention the team had earned during those days started returning as well. There were many other players who played an important role on the field in the Freedom’s playoff run, but no one else has Abby’s off-the-field impact.
The only reason this event doesn’t rank No. 1 is because of what her return brought during this first year.
1. Freedom make playoffs and host first ever WPS playoff game
While the path taken to get there and the end result weren’t the prettiest, the fact the Freedom made the playoffs in the league’s first season is huge. Between piecing this roster together – including adding many pieces after starting the season – struggling to find offense, struggling to find consistency on defense, struggling to pick up that first win and having to wait until the final game to lock down that playoff berth, the Freedom managed to hold on and finish third in the inaugural season.
Compared to the WUSA days, in which the Freedom ended that first season with only 6 wins fielding a squad that featured Mia Hamm, a playoff appearance is a good accomplishment. There is still plenty of room to improve for 2010 but the base is there to build on and all of the hard work Jim Gabarra and Clyde Watson put in while waiting for this return was well rewarded with the playoff berth.
Those are my Top 5 Freedom moments for 2009. Next week I will give you my Bottom 5. In the meantime, let me know what you think of my list. Was something ranked too high? Too low? Did I leave something better off the list? Let me know in the comments. And make sure you take a moment to vote in the new poll on the front page.
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[...] Part 1: The 2009 draft Part 2: Roster review Part 3: Top 5 moments of 2009 [...]