WOW, what a match. Washington is a VERY dangerous team, especially offensively. They have a heavy Brazilian flavor with Pretinha and Roseli. Add to that the world's most dangerous flanker in Bai Jie (China), and of course Mia Hamm, you have a very dangerous front four (perhaps only matched by a healthy Atlanta side).
Unfortunately, Atlanta is a little banged up, especially Sun Wen, the Chinese international from Shanghai who is still recoverning from an ankle injury. Despite that, Emily Burt's hustle, which has excited Beat fans in her two previous starts, created the first goal of the match. She took a loose ball inside the box, got the ball over the Charmaine Hooper who knocked the ball into the net 30 minutes into the match. The match remained 1-0 at halftime.
As advertised, Washington is dangerous. Freedom pressure early into the second half forced a handball by Beat defender Dayna Smith (who besides the hand ball played an excellent match) in the penalty area. Mia Hamm converted the penalty to level the match at 1-1.
The Beat didn't want to settle for another draw. The heroics came from an unlikely source. Kerry Cragg got the ball with her back facing the goal. She made a well thought out pass to Cindy Parlow who immediately got the ball into defender Kylie Bivens who won a jumping match with Freedom keeper Siri Mullinix and knocked the ball into the goal for her first goal of the season. The Beat got a much needed 2-1 victory over the Freedom and made their stake for first place in the league. It only lasted 24 hours, but it was a sign to the rest of the league that the Beat were a team to be reckoned with and the road to the WUSA title would go through Atlanta.
Most incredibly was that Bai Jie was almost a non-factor in the match. Bai, the Chinese international from Hebei Province, has gone around defenders with little effort most of her career. Not so against the Beat. Coach Tom Stone had an excellent game plan to keep her contained and limit one of Washington's most dangerous options.
The Beat seem to be back in form and ready for all comers. Now, we are all ready to welcome back the Spirit who gained a draw in the last minutes due to a foul by Nigerian international Akide on Bri which allowed the ball into the net.