Freedom Insider

By StarCityFan

[Note from Jim: My apologies once again to StarCityFan, who submitted this to me before the Boston match but because I have been traveling didn't get around to posting until today.]

To those of us who have been Freedom fans since 2001, there’s something special about the original players from the WUSA era. Mystique, aura, frisson, whatever you want to call it, what hangs about them is that these were the first female professional soccer players in American history. They’re pioneers, even if the pioneers were eventually let down by the organizers and management of the league that made them pioneers to start with.

What I’m trying to get at is why I and a bunch of other old-school Freedom fans would take a day off work, travel to the SoccerPlex, and hang outside to watch a meaningless soccer match on a day ridiculously hot and miserable even by the standards of this benighted summer filled with hot and miserable days.

Anyhow, the Freedom announced early in the week that on Friday, July 23, at 4:30 p.m., Washington Freedom Alumni from the WUSA era would take on members of the Montgomery County Police Department in a charity match to raise money for a fund memorializing the family of one of their police officers (Details here for those wanting to know the particulars).

As soon as it was announced, I knew I had to be there. Friend and fellow Freedom Fighter Syed – whom I regularly deliver to the SoccerPlex for WPS matches – felt the same way. We actually arrived almost two hours early, in the hopes of getting a chance to hobnob with our heroines before the match. We made our way first to the site of the match, Field 12, which is immediately behind the Discovery Sports Center, that large building next to the stadium field. I noted that they’d be playing on a short field, the goals lined up across the width of the full field. Staff and interns were still working on setting up. We helped them and chatted with them a little bit, but then retreated to the air conditioned building, eventually finding seating just outside the dressing rooms while we waited for some old familiar faces to show up (That probably sounds kind of stalkerish, but it’s not as if we were lurking in some side corridor – the dressing rooms are right next to the main hallway of the facility).

Cat Whitehill and Abby Wambach were the first to show, I think, and we waved to them. Coaches Jim Gabarra and Nicci Wright went back and forth a couple of times. Eventually a small group of “classic” players wandered by with uniforms in hand: Carrie Moore, Casey Zimny, and Jacqui and Skylar Little, at least (I’ll refer to the players by their maiden names for now to ease confusion). One of the twins pointed at us and said, “And that’s who we’re here for!” They said hello briefly and went into the women’s dressing room.

Sarah Kate Noftsinger showed up down the hall, but then took a call on her cellphone and headed back in the other direction. Jennifer Grubb came through and had to be pointed to the correct room. Mia Hamm wandered by with her little girls in tow, then dropped them off in a small group of people talking with each other before heading back out front. It took me until that moment to realize that the good-looking guy talking with Jim and Cat had to be Mia’s husband, Nomar Garciaparra (What can I say? I’m not much of a baseball fan).

Most of them came out of the dressing room after a bit. They were all wearing WPS-style uniforms but with their classic numbers, except Skate, who for some reason was No. 1 instead of her traditional No. 12. We applauded as they headed down to the field, then followed them, watching as they warmed up. The magic of the afternoon might have been summarized by a short video clip that unfortunately I accidentally deleted: I was taping the players getting some water after warming up when I heard some familiar voices behind me. I turned the camera around to focus on Abby Wambach and Sarah Huffman chatting with diehard fans Stuart and Charlotte (who sit in the first two on-field seats). Some seconds on, Mia Hamm comes down the hill behind them with one daughter holding each hand. She proceeds to the field, leaving the girls with Nomar at the bottom of the hill, and heads out to warm up herself.

I think the starting lineup consisted of Mia Hamm, Sarah Kate Noftsinger, Jennifer Grubb, Carrie Moore, and Skylar Little, with Nicci Wright in goal. But it was pretty much open substitution, even during the run of play, so it was hard to keep track. Mia and Jacqui Little traded off on a regular basis, as did Emmy Barr, Carrie, and Skylar among the defenders.

The Freedom earned a corner kick pretty much off the opening kickoff, but nothing came of it. The MoCo team seemed determined to test Nicci from long-range and kept trying to send shots her way, most of which went way, way over the goal. They eventually settled down and sent a low cross right in front of goal that looked dangerous until a Freedom defender got there first and cleared it.

Jen Grubb looked rusty in the sixth minute when she kicked a ball then went up to about her head level and out about three yards, then had so much backspin on it that it rolled right back to her. Her second attempt at a feed was much more successful. Mia took a shot shortly thereafter that slipped just wide left, then they attempted a cross that the cops defended well and got out of danger.

The police struck the first blow in the eighth minute as one of them sent in a long low shot from about 20 yards out from the left post that slipped by in front of Nicci, bounced off the inside of the right post, and went into the left side netting. That just seemed to make the WUSAers more determined, and they gradually stepped up their level of play until they were dominating possession.

In the 11th minute, Jacqui Little sent in a beautiful cross from the left flank, but the shot went just barely wide right. A minute later, Mia had some space in front of goal and was fed the ball from the right end line. This time she carefully slipped it inside the right post, then turned around and feigned a hamstring injury.

In the 15th minute, Casey Zimny fired a ball in that the opposing goalkeeper had to make a quick reaction save on. A minute later, a Freedom shot went off the right post, then after a good buildup another shot went wide left.

Nicci Wright had a big save of her own as the MoCo team put on some pressure, first another dangerous cross that was cleared but the County got possession back and got off a shot that Nicci had to grab.

In the 17th minute, Mia scored again after a succession of right-left-right crosses, finally getting a good feed from Skate that she put away. Nicci made another big save shortly thereafter, prompting the fans in attendance to burst into a spontaneous (and really bad) rendition of “Oh, Canada.” With time running out in the 20-minute first half, the cops knocked another shot off the left post.

The players gathered the water cooler and then around Jim Gabarra, who told them, “You’ve still got it – maybe not as fast, but you’ve still got it.” Amanda Cromwell, another veteran, also joined them – judging by the bench conversation, she’d misunderstood the start time.

After a few minutes, I made my way over to the “celebrity” tent, where the WPS players in attendance were hanging out. I said hello to Huffy, Becky Sauerbrunn, Erin McLeod and Christie Welsh. After a couple of minutes, General Manager Mark Washo came over to bring out one of the celebrities in attendance, and as he walked back to the field with her I realized to my chagrin that I had walked right past Marta without realizing it. He introduced her, and then she went to the sidelines to make herself available for photographs. There was a tennis-ball toss and a few other halftime events, then the game resumed with Cat Whitehill taking over the announcer’s microphone.

The Freedom continued putting on the pressure, with multiple shots in the first few minutes, but no goals. Most notably, Carrie Moore stole the ball from a MoCo defender and came in on goal with only the keeper to beat but shot it way high. I shouted, “No wonder you’re a defender!” Cat responded – over the loudspeaker – “I heard that!”

Carrie was fouled in the 25th minute for the only disciplinary whistle of the match. We fans shouted for a card just to be obnoxious. The MoCo goalkeeper made another big save shortly thereafter, then the scoring resumed in the 27th as Skate managed to knock a long shot from the left past him and in.

In the 28th minute, Mia looked in good position to send in a nice cross but completely botched it. I reflexively shouted, “What was that?” She turned to me and said something slightly rueful along the lines about she would have done a lot better 10 years ago. I concurred.

Carrie redeemed herself in the 29th minute by scoring from slightly closer in than her previous attempt. Jacqui had an easy putaway a minute later after Mia smoked her defender to get a nice, clean, low cross off. Carrie’s fellow defender Skylar had her moment of ignominy as a cop cross from the right bounced off of her and went in for an own goal.

Play stopped briefly in the 32nd minute as a MoCo player slipped and fell, but was quickly restarted with a dropped ball after it was clear he was okay.

Skylar redeemed herself in the 33rd minute, slipping a ball just barely inside the left post and out of the goalkeeper’s reach, belying my insinuation that defenders can’t aim. Jennifer Grubb closed out the scoring in the 38th minute with a shot from about the top of the box and directly out from goal.

As we entered stoppage time, goalkeeper Nicci Wright claimed a County ball coming in from the left, dropped it at her feet, and took off at high speed for the opposing team’s goal. Much to both her and our disappointment, though, the whistle blew before she even reached midfield. The final score, by my reckoning, was 7-2 (I know it’s generally been reported as 8-2, but I watched the replay of my own video and only counted seven). For those who want to see all or part of the game, I’ve put the first half online at Vimeo. I haven’t had the chance to upload the high-scoring second-half yet, but once I do, I’ll add a comment pointing to it below.

The celebration of the Freedom veterans continued the following evening as they were all invited to watch the WPS match that evening and were introduced to the crowd at halftime. And, just for the record, here are their new last names:

Emmy Barr – Giannoni
Jacqui Little – Rimando (married to the former DC United goalkeeper)
Skylar Little – Meinhardt
Carrie Moore – O’Keeffe
Lindsay Stoecker – Gerardo (showed up for the WPS match but did not participate Friday)

Meredith Beard (née Florance, but she was already Beard when she played for the Freedom) was also at the WPS match only. Amy Gray’s name was announced, but she was not in attendance.

The capper on it all though, was the long-awaited announcement that the next member of the Hall of Freedom was WUSA captain and ironwoman Jennifer Grubb. Our host here on this blog can assure you that when he worked for the Freedom I gave him no end of grief on what I considered an egregious snubbing of Captain Grubb. So I was delighted when that was finally remedied.

And to close I will just note that on a 100-degree day with miserable humidity one player and one player only stayed on the field the whole time: Jennifer Grubb, ironwoman to the end.

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By StarCityFan

Washington Freedom (4-6-5, 17 points, 4th place) at Atlanta Beat (3-7-4, 13 points, 7th place)
Wednesday, July 28, 7:30 p.m. EDT
KSU Soccer Stadium, Kennesaw, Ga.
All-time series: Freedom lead 2-0-0
Last meeting: Freedom 2, Beat 0

Once upon a time this looked like an easy three points. Unlike Philadelphia, Atlanta was behaving like a proper expansion team, losing five matches in a row and being little threat to the competition. Of course, that was before the St. Louis Athletica folded and Atlanta picked up a bunch of their key players: Hope Solo, Lori Chalupny, Tina Ellertson, Eniola Aluko and Aya Miyama.

More recently, alas, it’s Washington that’s looked like the expansion team. Since the beginning of June, the Freedom have gone 0-4-4 and are on a three-game losing streak, while the Beat have gone 3-2-3 and are on a two-game winning streak.

When these two teams last played, the Freedom won 2-0 thanks in large part to a stellar, seven-save performance from Erin McLeod in goal. Unfortunately, McLeod is now gone for the season, and Washington will instead rely on their single pickup from the Athletica refugees, rookie goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris. Harris was the primary goalkeeper for the North Carolina Tarheels her sophomore and senior years and split the time her junior year. She’s also spent significant time on the US U-19 and U-21 teams as well as receiving a callup to the full national team last year.

Players to worry about:

Hope Solo – Despite her well-deserved reputation, the Freedom always seem to have Solo’s number. Their all-time record against Team Solo is 2-0-1, with the draw being the first match between the two teams, in which the Freedom managed to claw back from a 3-1 deficit with a header from Sonia Bompastor in stoppage time to eke out a draw. However, this trend is not something we can count on. If Hope is on her usual form, it could be a frustrating night.

Johanna Rasmussen – With Eniola Aluko away on national team duty and Ramona Bachmann not having much impact so far, the Danish forward is the Beat’s primary scoring threat, though with only two goals on the season that’s not saying much. Still, the Freedom’s defense, backed by a rookie goalkeeper, may be vulnerable.

Kia McNeill – If I were to compose a drinking game for this match, one of the entries would be “Kia McNeill fouls Abby Wambach (Double if she gets carded).” And against the Freedom, McNeill has a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time: Bompastor scored her aforementioned header goal after the ball bounced off McNeill’s head first, then in last year’s match at RFK Homare Sawa’s shot bounced off McNeill’s leg and into the net for the game-winning goal. We’ll have to see if the Hope/Kia curse holds or gets broken.

Players to root for:

Ashlyn Harris – Well, duh! Goalkeeper staffing has been an adventure for the Freedom through much of the WPS era, first with Erin McLeod’s green card issues, then with coach Nicci Wright having to don the gloves when Kati Jo Spisak got injured while McLeod was on national team duty. On the other hand, there seems to be a WPS tradition of unsung goalkeepers rising to the task, with Jillian Loyden last year earning Player of the Week honors when she stepped in for Hope Solo, and Karen Bardsley this year proving to be All-World after Jenni Branam was injured. Let’s hope Harris is another name to add to this list.

Abby Wambach – My impression is that the key difference between the Freedom and FC Gold Pride last Sunday was that their world-class striker was better than our world-class striker. Abby had as many chances at Marta, but they all seemed to go off-target or right to the goalkeeper. She seemed to start off the year strongly but has faded in the stretch. Washington needs a Player of the Week performance out of her again, and soon.

Sarah Huffman – Huffy would be my Woman of the Match from Sunday. Full of energy and all over the field, she worked hard to make things happen. Her finest moment might have been one occasion when she was triple-teamed when deep on the right flank but nevertheless cut and weaved into enough room to get off a promising-looking cross. We need more of that.

The bottom line is that, barring a possible Sky Blue FC collapse, there are no easy points any more. Atlanta has bolstered its lineup, FCGP is unstoppable, Philadelphia is formidable and Chicago and Boston are getting their acts together. Washington needs to do the same if they’re to remain in the playoff hunt.

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By StarCityFan

By the numbers:
Position in standings: 4th (final playoff position)
Standings points: 17
Record: 4-3-5
Goals scored: 17 (3rd in league)
Goals allowed: 14 (5th in league)
Home record: 3-1-3 (2nd in league)
Away record: 1-2-2 (6th in league)

We’re halfway through the season, and the Freedom are in playoff position, though just barely and only after a fairly favorable schedule, with seven home games out of 12. And the Freedom are the most home-biased team in the league, with one of the best records at home but one of the worst on the road (The only worse road team is the expansion Atlanta Beat, who have had a hard time winning anywhere).

In fact, I think the Freedom should be in a better position than they are. If you look at the schedule and assume they should generally beat the teams below them and lose to the teams ahead of them, they’ve been upset more often than they’ve upset the opposition. They’ve faced the fifth place Chicago Red Stars twice and the sixth place Boston Breakers twice each, all at the SoccerPlex, but only have three points to show for it out of a possible 12 (one loss and three draws). On the other side, they beat Philadelphia at home and tied FC Gold Pride and Sky Blue FC on the road, and of those the only one that feels like a genuine upset is the Gold Pride match. But let’s be generous and say the Freedom picked up five upset points but while letting 12 upset points go for a net of minus-7.

Basically, that means that if Washington had kept to form they’d be in second place, one point behind the league leaders, instead of fourth and eight points behind.

But that’s all water under the bridge. Instead, let’s look ahead. As I’ve noted before, the Freedom start out the second half of the season with six out of eight games on the road, and the only two home games are against the top two teams in the league. But there are some glimmers of hope. Two of the road matches are against the Boston Breakers in Boston, where the Breakers have yet to win this year – heck, they’re worse at home than any other team is on the road. On the other hand, the Washington Freedom have never, ever beaten a Boston team in Boston, going back to the WUSA days (You can even extend this to the W-League days on a technicality, because the W-League Boston Renegades played in Framingham). Perhaps it’s high time.

With regard to play on the field, the Freedom have combined old problems with new ones. Washington has always had an issue of consistency throughout the WPS era: if the offense is successful, the defense is inept. If the defense holds on for a shutout, the offense doesn’t score. Freedom matches seem to be either 0-0 or 4-3, without a whole lot in between. The new issue is holding onto a lead, something I’ve discussed before and so won’t go into again.

I think we have the talent to compete at the highest levels in this league. Gold Pride may have Marta, but we have Abby Wambach. Philadelphia has Karina LeBlanc and Allison Falk, but we have Erin McLeod and Cat Whitehill. Sky Blue has Heather O’Reilly and Rosana, but we have Sonia Bompastor and Homare Sawa. I think it comes down to desire, teamwork and focus. We’ll find out in the remaining 12 matches if the Freedom have enough of all of those to remain in contention.

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By StarCityFan

If you wanted to see fireworks on Sunday night at the SoccerPlex, you had to stick around for the pyrotechnic kind because there weren’t any during the game, as neither the Washington Freedom nor the Chicago Red Stars could put the ball in the net.

The Freedom’s problem was that they seldom seemed to be able to get their attack organized enough to make a serious threat. I can only remember a handful of exciting moments that weren’t from set pieces. In the seventh minute, Lene Mykjåland got the ball and headed for the back line. She passed the ball over to Abby Wambach then got it back right as she passed through the line, but she wasn’t able to get a shot off before Chicago goalkeeper Jillian Loyden nabbed it. As the first half was winding down, Wambach got behind the defense but from a challenging angle on the left side, and her shot went just barely wide of the right post. In the 60th minute, Lene did a beautiful job of weaving through the defense in order to get off a centering pass, but Abby didn’t run onto it in time. Two minutes later, Abby and Sarah Huffman came charging downfield against a retreating defense. Abby’s centering pass was right to Sarah’s feet in front of goal, but Huffy was called offsides on the play. In the 77th minute, Nikki Marshall, now playing forward, had a two-on-one break with Abby, but Nikki’s cross from the left flank was off-target and cleared for a corner kick.

Chicago had far more chances, but either the Freedom back line or Erin McLeod came up with a big play, the shot was from such a distance that McLeod just gobbled it up, or the shot was taken by Ella Masar, who despite her two-goal game last week seemed unable to hit the broad side of a barn from three yards away.

In the very early going, a Red Stars player whose identity I didn’t catch made an acrobatic over-the-back kick off a throw-in that sprung Masar into the box just outside the left post, but her shot went wide left. Ella had the ball in front of goal in the 14th minute but was stripped from behind. Cristiane wasted an extended Chicago possession two minutes later by taking a shot from 25 yards out that went high. Two minutes after that, Chicago had a two-on-one break, but Masar’s shot went over the goal from about 10 yards out. In the 35th minute, Chicago took a free kick from 35 yards out that Erin tipped over the bar. The resulting corner kick provided a nice heading opportunity, but the ball went straight to Erin. Cristiane sprung Masar in the 37th minute, but Erin managed to save the shot. Four minutes later, Cristiane got through with only Marshall to beat, but Nikki managed to knock the ball out for a corner kick. The corner kick resulted in one of those heart-in-mouth sequences when the ball is being knocked around among a scrum of players right in front of goal. A Chicago player who couldn’t have been much more than a yard out knocked the ball toward goal, but somehow Sonia Bompastor managed to get in the way of it and clear it out of danger.

Three minutes into the second half, Cat Whitehill made a bad clearance to Cristiane, who took a quick shot trying to catch McLeod off her guard, but Erin was ready and managed to grab it. Megan Rapinoe wasted another Red Stars possession in the 54th minute by taking a low shot from about 20 yards out that went wide left. A free kick from 30 yards in the next minute went right to Erin, as did a long shot that concluded another passing sequence a minute later. I was beginning to wonder if Chicago had any other strategies in mind.

Shortly thereafter, Masar got in a footrace with Whitehill, but despite the speed differential, Ella was prevented from getting a shot off. In the 65th minute, Rapinoe sprung Cristiane behind the defense, but Marshall’s catch-up speed was just enough for her to slide-tackle the ball out-of-bounds cleanly before Cristiane could get a shot off. That corner kick resulted in an off-target header, as did another one a minute later, with Masar managing to head the ball wide from three yards out. She was almost immediately replaced by Casey Nogueira, a development I found worrying as Nogueira is a deadly finisher.

In the 73rd minute, Cristiane and Kosovare Asllani tried to do some clever passing in the box to get McLeod out-of-position, but they tried one pass too many, and Erin was able to get to the ball. Chicago took another long shot that went wide shortly thereafter. There was a scary moment for the Freedom in the 81st minute as Whitehill fell when trying to clear the ball, instead sending it rolling slowly towards Nogueira. But the Freedom defenders in the area quickly converged, and forced Nogueira to give up the ball to Karen Carney, who got off a good shot but one that McLeod managed to grab. In the 84th minute, Nogueira got her own breakaway. Erin came out to challenge her near the perimeter of the box, but missed. Fortunately for the Freedom, Casey’s shot trickled just wide of the right post. Chicago had one last chance on a good-looking cross in stoppage time, but the player in front of the goal couldn’t get her head to it before it went by.

All in all, the Freedom were fortunate to keep a clean sheet. Some of it was luck, some of it was poor finishing by Chicago, and a lot of it was hard work by the back line and McLeod. At the other end, it’s a bit of a mystery as to why the Freedom attack was so anemic. I wonder a bit if our young Norwegian is having problems adjusting to the scorching weather, as she seemed to disappear for long periods of time during the game.

Interesting developments include Marshall’s first minutes at forward and Brittany Klein’s first few minutes (starting at 87) for the Freedom, period. It will be interesting to see if there’s much more of either.

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I would imagine by now you have at least seen the results from the USWNT vs. International Abby XI vs. Marta XI WPS All-Star game. Apparently over 4,600 were on hand to see Marta score two goals in leading her team to a 5-2 victory. Not bad for a league that has been criticized for its lack of goal scoring.

It was also fun to see the league try something new to engage fans other than just letting them vote for the players that should be in the game. The “playground” style picking process the league touted was a fun wrinkle for a game that should be about the fans.

Of course the biggest negative to come out of the game has to be the injury Sky Blue FC GK Karen Bardsley suffered in training. SBFC is now without its No. 1 GK for 6-8 weeks, and it happened training for a game that meant nothing to SBFC’s position in the standings. This always seems to be the biggest argument against in-season All-Star games and this incident will probably get the league rethinking the move from postseason to midseason.

It will also be interesting to see how the players rebound this weekend’s matches. Hopefully for us Freedom fans Abby Wambach, Cat Whitehill, Erin McLeod, Sonia Bompastor and Becky Sauerbrunn will be ready for Chicago on Sunday.

LINKS

Here are a couple of articles I found over the last two days that are worth checking out if you are looking for something to read.

• An Interview With Becky Sauerbrunn (All White Kit) – The interview took place before the All-Star game but most of the questions weren’t All-Star related and is worth a read.
• After bad break, Wambach returns to form in WPS (USA Today) – It’s good to get more pub in one of the biggest papers in the nation but is it really necessary to center this article around Abby’s leg injury that occurred two years ago?
• Wambach a leader in more ways than one (The Gazette) – Apparently it was Abby Wambach day in the media yesterday, both locally and nationally. This article has some mentions of the leg break but it also recaps the season so far for the Freedom.

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