Barnstorming and exhibitions

There was a strange, depressing feel to women’s soccer at the end of 2003. The national team had finished a disappointing third in the Women’s World Cup, and the WUSA had suspended operations. Hardly anyone knew just what that meant, and if anyone did know, they weren’t telling. Most of us figured that there would be a year or two break while the league reorganized and got its finances in order. I’m kind of glad now that we didn’t know that it would be over five years before women’s professional soccer would start up again, and that it would be a completely different organization that did so.

The WUSA even had a few activities, most notably the WUSA Festivals, which each featured two matches between two WUSA teams, one at the Nationals Sports Center in Blaine, Minnesota, and the other at the then-new Home Depot Center in Carson, California.

The Blaine matches were on June 18 (Atlanta Beat versus New York Power) and 19 (Washington Freedom versus Boston Breakers). The lineups were tweaked, though, to bring in guest players of note. Added to the Freedom roster were four San Diego Spirit players: Shannon MacMillan, Julie Foudy, Joy Fawcett, and Angela Hucles. But wasn’t Angela a Boston player? Well, yes, except that coach Pia Sundhage traded her to San Diego after the end of the season – kind of ironic considering that Hucles proved to be one of Sundhage’s best players in the recent [2008] Olympics. The Breakers brought in Philadelphia Charge players Kelly Smith, Marinette Pichon, Stacey Tullock, Heather Mitts, and Jennifer Tietjen-Prozzo, as well as the recently graduated Cat Reddick (now Whitehill and a member of the Freedom). The result was a 3-3 tie, with Mia Hamm scoring two of the Freedom goals and Abby scoring the third. Some things never change.

The tables were turned on June 27 in LA, when the San Diego Spirit took on the Philadelphia Charge with the help of the Freedom’s Carrie Moore, Mia Hamm, Lindsay Stoecker, and Abby Wambach. The Spirit won this one with goals from Angela Hucles and Abby Wambach.

But really that was the last hurrah for the WUSA, which quietly faded away after those two events.

The Freedom, however, were far from fading. They put together a skeleton fourteen-player roster, adding Heather Mitts and Katie Barnes to their roster (but without Mia Hamm or the other national teamers), then went on something of a barnstorming tour even well before the WUSA festivals, playing various college and W-League teams. On March 26 they defeated Louisville in Louisville, 6-0, off two goals from Jacqui Little and one each from Abby, Meredith Beard, Lori Lindsey, and Laura Schott. Two days later, they went to Cincinnati and played Xavier University for a half, then the University of Cincinnati for a half, winning 4-0 and 6-0, respectively.

On April 4 came the first chance for the home crowd to see the Freedom play in 2004. A local tradition for some years has been the Kicks Against Breast Cancer women’s soccer tournament, hosted at the Freedom’s current home location, the Maryland Soccerplex in Germantown. The Freedom have been part of the featured match for as long as they’ve existed – and that goes up to the present day, as they’ll be playing Virginia there in a couple of weeks. In 2001, they played Shanghai, China. In 2002, North Carolina. That match was interesting because the Tarheel goalkeeper was given a red card for handling the ball outside the box. Anson Dorrance pleaded with the Freedom coaches that he only had one goalkeeper with him, and they relented and allowed her to stay in the match. The previous year, the opponent had been the Boston Breakers on a bitterly cold (20-degree) day. In 2004, the opponent would be the Maryland Terrapins, whom the Freedom would down, 2-0.

Six days later, the Freedom went down to Virginia Beach to play North Carolina. It was a 2-1 victory for the Freedom, with, surprisingly, the goals coming from central defenders Jennifer Grubb and Carrie Moore.

On June 1 the Freedom sent out an email detailing a 14-game summer schedule, mostly against various east coast W-League or WPSL teams, though only three of them are at the Freedom’s new home stadium at the Soccerplex.

The game the next day wasn’t too far afield, however, against the W-League Northern Virginia Majestics at their home field in McLean, VA. By this time the original Freedom players had dwindled down to Nicci Wright, Emmy Barr, Lindsay Stoecker, Meredith Beard, Jacqui Little, and Carrie Moore, who for the first time was given the captain’s armband. The Freedom won, 4-0, off goals from Meredith Beard, Jacqui Little, and two unidentified young players.

Reports from the road matches is that the Freedom have a skeleton roster, sometimes with only 11 players, and have to borrow players from the other team. On June 6, Monica Gerardo plays for her former team instead of her usual Steel City Sparks in a Pittsburgh match. On June 9, the Freedom play the Carolina Dynamo in Greensboro, NC, and borrow two players for the second half in a losing, 7-2, cause. But the only regular players traveling with the team are Carrie Moore and Nicci Wright.

The Freedom play a home-and-home against the New Jersey Wildcats, one of the best W-League teams, winning at the Soccerplex 1-1 on June 25, then getting trounced 7-0 on July 7 in New Jersey. The Wildcats have some familiar faces in the form of Kelly Smith and Marinette Pichon, formerly of the Charge. Inbetweentimes they beat the WPSL Maryland Pride, 7-0, despite having Meredith Beard, Jacqui Little, and Carrie Moore as the only ex-pros on the team.

Then on July 9 there’s a match at Trinity College in downtown DC against the California Storm. Trinity College has been hosting the Freedom’s practices (it helps that former Freedom staffer Becky Vuksta is their athletic director). This was fun because we fans were just sitting on the grass next to the field watching them play. The Freedom manage a 2-2 tie even though they only have two ex-WUSAers (Carrie and Nicci), while the Storm have Sissi, Laura Schott, and at least two other former pros.

The big match of the year, though, comes on July 14. DC United is hosting a friendly with the English team Nottingham Forest, who have also brought along their women’s team to play the Freedom. The site is Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, and it will be the first time the Freedom have played there since August 2 almost a year ago. The event attracts eight former Freedom players: Nicci Wright, Carrie Moore, Jennifer Grubb, Lindsay Stoecker, Lori Lindsey, Casey Zimny, Meredith Beard, and Laura Schott. Siri Mullinix also attends but doesn’t dress or play. The rest of the roster is filled out with young local players.

The men’s game is exciting, a 1-1 draw that DC wins on penalty kicks, 4-3. In contrast, the women’s game is one of the most lopsided I’ve ever seen, as Washington puts on a passing clinic, beating Nottingham Forest, 8-0. Nottingham Forest not only has zero shots on goal but almost no offensive possession as the Freedom control the ball almost as if they were playing traffic cones rather than live players. Despite the participation of so many ex-pros, the woman of the match is one of the teenagers, who scores a hat trick. I make a point of noting her name as someone to keep an eye on: Ali Krieger. Also appearing is another young player, Madison Keller, who is also on our current [WPS 2009] roster.

The high point, though, is not the match but the unveiling of the championship banner, which will hang at RFK until the Washington Nationals move in, whereupon it is displayed at the Soccerplex. (It has since been taken down – these things don’t last forever, after all).

Their last home game of the season is July 17 against the Steel City Sparks. Regulars Nicci Wright, Carrie Moore, Jennifer Grubb, and Lindsay Stoecker lead Washington to a 4-2 victory. I forget whether it’s this game or an earlier one, but in one of these the entire second half the flow of the game was very strange. The only Freedom players on the field were goalkeeper Nicci Wright and central defenders Carrie Moore and Lindsay Stoecker. Everyone else in the blue-and-white was U-17 or thereabouts. So play basically went like this: the other team would bring the ball forward largely unscathed until they got close to the goal, whereupon Carrie, Lindsay, or Nicci would strip them of the ball and clear it downfield. They’d bring it up again, and the same thing would happen. This went on for nearly 45 minutes, like waves breaking against an unyielding concrete barrier. So the makeshift team approach – WUSA veterans mixed in with young players – was not a great success. Fortunately, that would change the following year.

Next time: The Freedom go recruiting