Updates
Mon, Apr 19th 2010, 09:54
Wambach leads Freedom to 3-1 win over Beat
Behind a goal and two assists from Abby Wambach, the Washington Freedom (1-1-0, 3 points) defeated the Atlanta Beat (0-0-1, 1 point), 3-1, Sunday evening at the Maryland Soccerplex.
“We feel good about the win because we practiced hard this week,” said Freedom defender, Sonia Bompastor. “It was an intense game for everyone and it feels good to win.”
The Freedom scored just before halftime as Bompastor rifled a free kick from the right flank which Beat goalkeeper Allison Whitworth couldn’t handle. Abby Wambach was crashing the net and cleaned up the rebound. The goal, which came in the 44th minute, was Wambach’s first of the season.
“Our first goal gave us confidence going into halftime and that was important for us,” said Wambach.
Atlanta came out of halftime strong, scoring the equalizer in the 48th minute as Ramona Bachmann slotted her shot past Freedom goalkeeper Erin McLeod from the right side of the 18-yard box. The goal was the first in Beat history.
“It was great to get our first goal in the WPS,” said Atlanta Head Coach Gareth O’Sullivan, “but we didn’t get to celebrate for very long. I think we were still caught up in our own celebration when we gave the ball away and got punished.”
The Freedom responded with Wambach dictating Washington’s second-half attack. In the 51st minute, Wambach found Sawa who struck her shot inside the near post for her first goal of the season. Then in the 90th minute, Wambach drew the Beat defense towards herself and fed Christie Welsh for her first goal of the year.
“The win today was huge, because we want to get off on a good start,” said Freedom head coach, Jim Gabarra. “I’m happy with the way the players competed today.”
“We take the positive from this game,” said O’Sullivan. “If we can eliminate some of the mistakes we made today, we will compete well in WPS this season. We play the Freedom three times this year, so we hope to have an answer for Abby Wambach who was a handful for us today.”
Washington travels to Philadelphia to face the Independence on Sunday, April 25 (6pm ET/3pm PT) while the Beat head across the country to the Bay Area to take on FC Gold Pride on Saturday, April 24 (10pm ET/7pm PT).
Comments
Erica Roberts | on 21/4/10
congratulations on the win!! On April 17th i play texas Rush and we won 7 -2. Now my team is first play. I play for Dallas Texans Houston Division.
