Freedom Insider

With a chance to seal the deal, the Freedom failed to clinch a playoff spot … at least for the time being. With Boston losing and Sky Blue FC off, the Freedom remain in 3rd place heading into their final regular season game, at home on Saturday. I know Jim Gabarra was nervous about this stretch of the schedule and while there is no need to make excuses, going from Chicago to DC to the Bay Area would be a tough stretch for anyone.

And with the first season coming to a close, the Freedom have signed another goalkeeper, presumably in an effort to keep coach Nicci Wright from having to join the full roster. After the W-League team beat the Charlotte Lady Eagles in the W-League playoffs, the Freedom signed Charlotte’s goalkeeper, Katie Forbis, for the rest of the season. With KJ Spisak and Briana Scurry both still nursing injuries, I guess it was only inevitable.

OTHER WPS NEWS

Fallout from the Freedom-Breakers game last week was that Boston coach Tony DiCicco was suspended again for his comments on the game’s officiating. The fine and community service hours (really, that is a punishment?) were increased over the previous infraction.

Want to know how WPS attendance compares with MLS or USL-1? What about how the team’s are comparing with each other? Kenn has compiled the numbers and it looks like the Freedom have the second best attendance numbers in the league, falling just behind LA and world sensation Marta. (h/t to USA Today’s Beau Dure for pointing this out on his twitter account)

W-LEAGUE

On the plus side, the W-League Freedom advanced to the W-League final by defeating the Ottawa Fury on penalty kicks. Exciting finish for the team’s first home playoff game and the only way it is topped is the fact that the W-League final will be hosted by the Freedom. The Freedom will host Pali Blues (the “farm” team for the LA Sol), the defending W-League champions and the team that knocked the Freedom out of the playoffs last year. The game will be at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.

Also in W-League news, USL announced the 2009 All-League team and award winners. No Freedom players made the team, but with a couple of awards still under consideration it should be pointed out that goalkeeper Chante Sandiford is up U19 Player of the Year Finalist. In 9 games, Sandiford had a .495 GAA with 38 saves and 4 shutouts. Sandiford currently plays collegiately for UCLA.

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With only three games left in their season, this FFR is going to focus solely on the Freedom’s W-League side.

One point out of second first place in the Northeast Division, the Freedom face their toughest task of the season at the Maryland SoccerPlex on Thursday as they take on the only team to beat them this season – the division leading and currently unbeaten Hudson Valley Quickstrike Lady Blues.

Having lost to Hudson Valley 4-2 back on May 31, a win Thursday would be a huge step in locking up the division. The Freedom would still need to win their last two games (which luckily are both at home as well) to keep the slim lead they would get from a win Thursday but that is a lot more direct than hoping someone else beats Hudson Valley if the Freedom lose.

The winner of this matchup almost guarantees themselves the regular season W-League championship (again, provided they win out) and an automatic spot in the championship tournament.

What’s most amazing about this run the Freedom are making this year is the fact that this team was essentially picked clean. While a lot of players from last year’s team returned to college after the season, a lot of them were seniors and found themselves drafted by WPS teams back in January. Freedom W-League stalwarts such as Sarah Huffman, Alex Singer, Lori Lindsey, Emily Janss, Becky Sauerbrunn, etc. are all with the WPS Freedom now and others like Ella Masar and Nikki Krzysik are with other WPS teams.

The one thing Washington did have going for it though is the fact that the WPS franchise decided to maintain its connection to the W-League. Most WPS teams do have some connection with a local W-League team but none of them has the WPS coach directly coaching the W-League players like the Freedom have with Jim Gabarra. Gabarra is instilling the same system with both teams, which should help his W-League players make the jump to WPS. Of course, there is no way to protect those players as of yet so they are fair game to all WPS teams right now, but don’t be surprised if some sort of feeder system is put in place to protect this development for any team that heads down this road (it looks like Philly is doing something similar in the WPSL).

The other thing that seems to have benefited the Freedom is keeping players in the area once they have had a taste of the big club. After being released from the WPS roster in May, Jayme Leigh Cargnoni decided to play for the W-League side and has logged 134 minutes in 3 games played this season. Other players like Brittany Tegeler, Katie Watson, Kimmy Germain and actually participated in Washington’s WPS preseason camp but failed to make the final roster. Their contributions have been vital as Tegeler is second on the team in both goals, assists and points (8, 5 and 21, respectively) while Watson has played in all 11 of the team’s matches and Germain has played in 10.

Obviously, these are only a couple of the ladies making this team successful, but it is an important part.

With the recent struggles the WPS team has gone through (more on that in the preview of tomorrow’s game), it’s nice to see that at least one of the team’s wearing the Freedom badge is trying to build on the club’s championship tradition. And if you are looking for something to do on Thursday at 7 p.m., go cheer help them out by cheering them on as they try to do so.

Who knows, maybe next year a few of these names might be gracing a few WPS rosters.

Congrats to Sandiford, Osher

I know this is a little late but congrats to GK Chante Sandiford, who was named Player of the Week for Week 10 of the 2009 W-League season. Congrats also go to defender Mara Osher, who was also named to the Week 10 W-League Team of the Week.

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Like pro baseball teams, the Freedom are more than just the squad that plays in WPS. Jim Gabarra has tried to emulate the European club setup with the youth system the team has in place, although not all of the players will be guaranteed a way to move up from the W-League squad to WPS.

To honor the system Washington has put in place to help sustain pro soccer here in the U.S., once a week I will recap the scores from the previous week. Because this is the first week of this report, the recap will be a little longer as we recap the entire season.

W-League

The W-League Freedom opened the season with 3 games on the road. They opened the season with a 1-0 win over the Boston Renegades before splitting its road trip in New York the last weekend in May. While the WPS team was battling to a scoreless tie with Chicago at RFK last Saturday, the W-League team put on a goal scoring clinic in a 4-0 win over the Western Mass Lady Pioneers. Brittany Tegeler, a Freedom WPS camp invitee, had 2 goals while Tiffany McCarty and Jennifer Parsons each added a goal. GKs Chante Sandiford and Alyssa Pont combined for the clean sheet.

Results (Visiting team listed first)
May 9: Washington Freedom 1:0 Boston Renegades
May 30: Washington Freedom 3:1 Long Island Rough Riders
May 31: Washington Freedom 2:4 Hudson Valley Lady Quickstrike Blues
June 13: Western Mass Lady Pioneers 0:4 Washington Freedom

U20

If you want to see a working definition of the word dominant, look no further than the Freedom U20 squad, which in has won its first 3 games of the season by a combined score of 20-0. The Freedom sits in second place in the Mid Atlantic, although mostly because it has played two fewer games than leading Parsippany SC, which has “only” outscored its opponents 19-1 in its five matches.

Results (Visiting team listed first)
June 10: Super Nova FC 0:7 Washington Freedom
June 13: NJ Rangers FC 0:8 Washington Freedom
June 14: Washington Freedom 5:0 Brooklyn Nights

U16

The Freedom U16 team battled to a 1-1 tie with Quickstrike FC in its 2009 opener on Saturday.

U15

Facing Quickstrike FC in its 2009 opener on Saturday, the U15 Freedom fell 2-1.

U14

The U14 Freedom opened opened the season with a convincing 3-0 win over Quickstrike FC on Saturday.

U13

Like its U14 counterparts, the U13 Freedom opened 2009 with a win over Quickstrike FC on Saturday – 2-1.

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