Monday, March 30, 2009
Los Angeles Sol defeat Washington Freedom, 2-0, in WPS Inaugural Match
CARSON, Calif. (March 29, 2009) - The Los Angeles Sol officially kicked off the 2009 Women’s Professional Soccer season with a 2-0 victory over the Washington Freedom in front of 14,832 fans in the WPS Inaugural Match at The Home Depot Center on the campus of California State University – Dominguez Hills Sunday afternoon.
The first goal in club and league history was recorded in the sixth minute of the match, when Los Angeles defender Allison Falk out-jumped a crowd of Freedom defenders in the penalty area to head in a free kick from Japanese national team star Aya Miyama.
“It was a great ball from Aya. I just went for it – I didn’t think I was going to get to it, but I did and it went in,” said the rookie from Stanford. “It was a very surreal experience … very exciting."
Sol midfielder Camille Abily (France) tallied the second of the afternoon in the 87th minute, taking a short pass from three-time defending FIFA World Player of the Year Marta, and chipping the ball over the hands of Freedom keeper Brianna Scurry.
“We’re really happy with the victory,” said Los Angeles Sol Head Coach Abner Rogers. “We dodged a few bullets and we came out with a good victory … it is only going to get better.”
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Lady Vikings Head Coach, Jay Fitzgerald will be sending live Tweets from the WPS Inaugural match at http://twitter.com/jatoathletics. Also,follow Midfielder Aly Wagner at http://twitter.com/alywagner?team=la and LA Sol General Manager Charlie Namo at http://twitter.com/LASolGM?team=la as they tweet live from the WPS Inaugural Match (Sun Mar 29).
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Women's Soccer League to Allow In-Game 'Tweets'
The new Women's Professional Soccer league will allow selected players to post short Twitter notes, called "tweets," during its inaugural game between the Los Angeles Sol and Washington Freedom on March 29, league communications director Robert Penner said.
General managers from the new seven-team league approved the idea in a conference call Friday. Depending on fan response, league officials are considering allowing players to tweet during games all season.
They still must work out some of the details, including which players will tweet and when they'll be allowed to do so; starters, obviously, likely would be limited to pregame, postgame and halftime.
General managers from the new seven-team league approved the idea in a conference call Friday. Depending on fan response, league officials are considering allowing players to tweet during games all season.
They still must work out some of the details, including which players will tweet and when they'll be allowed to do so; starters, obviously, likely would be limited to pregame, postgame and halftime.
Marta Set to Star in the WPS with Flair
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
By: Hillary Read
The first time a women’s professional soccer league launched, it pinned its hopes largely on the girl-next-door appeal of U.S. superstar Mia Hamm.
Don’t look now, but there’s a new league at hand and a new superstar at the fore. And she ain’t your mamma’s Mia.
A quick search on YouTube will give budding soccer fans all they need to know about the new face of the sport: Los Angeles Sol forward Marta Vieira da Silva, known throughout the soccer world simply as Marta, the 23-year-old Brazilian whipsaw with three FIFA World Player of the Year awards to her name and a world-class collection of embarrassed defenders in her wake.
“She may be the one star in L.A.,” Sol General Manager Charlie Naimo said of the woman who can list Kobe Bryant among her many admirers, “who is, inarguably, the very best at what she does.”
Try to get her to admit that, though – if Marta, who made her first real inroads into U.S. soccer consciousness by single-handedly destroying the U.S. in the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup semis, shares a quality with Hamm, it’s her determination to put team first.
“I came here to be one piece of the puzzle,” she said, speaking through an interpreter (she speaks Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish, and her English is rapidly improving). “My objective is to be one member of the group, working hard to do all I can to achieve positive results. I didn’t come to be a star.”
Marta is determined to put her team, the Los Angeles Sol, first.“Everywhere we go, people know who she is. But after one week, she had fit in. She’s exceeded all expectations,” Naimo said. “She’s very humble. You just watch her compete – her facial expressions, the way she attacks – and you think she’s pretty tough, but she’s embraced by everybody. There’s no jealousy. Because she’s such a good person, everybody just wants to support her.”
She may be doing her best not to stand out, but as her highlight reel attests, she’ll have to tie her legs together to avoid it. Her breathtaking blend of speed, vision, agility, and creative fury blazes a neon trail on every field.
“You don’t need to know all the nuances of the sport to appreciate her gifts,” WPS Commissioner Tonya Antonucci said. “It’s fun to watch her confuse and destroy defenses; she’s really, at this point, two clicks ahead of most of the competition chasing her.”
For a fledgling league trying to get a foothold in a turbulent economy, the pressure would seem to be on its most decorated star to perform. But Marta, who’s had enough to do trying to get used to life in L.A. and the dynamics of her new team, isn’t letting on.
“The pressure will always be there, whether it’s from outside people or people within the league,” she said. “But after all is said and done, we just have to face them head-on and do the best we can to succeed.”
“If anything, I think the pressure might be reduced for her,” Antonucci said. “She’s not playing a limited number of do-or-die games for her country in the Olympics or World Cup; she’s here to play a full season of soccer throughout the spring and summer, to win a championship for L.A. and entertain the fans. I think she may even take more chances out there. She’s got 20 games to test out some new moves.”
That WPS boasts Marta as one of its featured attractions, alongside U.S. stars like Abby Wambach and Kristine Lilly, underscores the game’s international momentum, which has come a long way from the WUSA’s heavy reliance on home-grown talent.
“Marta, Kelly Smith (England national team/Boston Breakers), Formiga (Brazil national team/FC Gold Pride) – it’s so important to have these guys in the league, to let the rest of the world know we’re serious,” Naimo said.
“It was league-defining to get her signed, especially since we’re advertising ourselves as the world’s best women’s soccer league,” Antonucci said. “And although the U.S. has traditionally dominated with athleticism and skill, there’s something else going on now; you see fans getting excited about the growing creativity and free nature of the sport. I think this infusion of international talent can bring more rhythmic attack and flair to the U.S. game.”
Flair will be on full display in Sunday’s WPS opener between Los Angeles and Washington, with bruising Freedom frontliner Wambach providing a neat counterpoint to Marta’s flash.
“I think it says a lot about the quality of the league that each of the teams has players who play at a very high level, players from all over the world,” Marta said. “This has been a time of getting to know each other, getting used to everyone’s game. And it’s been going well so far.”
By: Hillary Read
The first time a women’s professional soccer league launched, it pinned its hopes largely on the girl-next-door appeal of U.S. superstar Mia Hamm.
Don’t look now, but there’s a new league at hand and a new superstar at the fore. And she ain’t your mamma’s Mia.
A quick search on YouTube will give budding soccer fans all they need to know about the new face of the sport: Los Angeles Sol forward Marta Vieira da Silva, known throughout the soccer world simply as Marta, the 23-year-old Brazilian whipsaw with three FIFA World Player of the Year awards to her name and a world-class collection of embarrassed defenders in her wake.
“She may be the one star in L.A.,” Sol General Manager Charlie Naimo said of the woman who can list Kobe Bryant among her many admirers, “who is, inarguably, the very best at what she does.”
Try to get her to admit that, though – if Marta, who made her first real inroads into U.S. soccer consciousness by single-handedly destroying the U.S. in the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup semis, shares a quality with Hamm, it’s her determination to put team first.
“I came here to be one piece of the puzzle,” she said, speaking through an interpreter (she speaks Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish, and her English is rapidly improving). “My objective is to be one member of the group, working hard to do all I can to achieve positive results. I didn’t come to be a star.”
Marta is determined to put her team, the Los Angeles Sol, first.“Everywhere we go, people know who she is. But after one week, she had fit in. She’s exceeded all expectations,” Naimo said. “She’s very humble. You just watch her compete – her facial expressions, the way she attacks – and you think she’s pretty tough, but she’s embraced by everybody. There’s no jealousy. Because she’s such a good person, everybody just wants to support her.”
She may be doing her best not to stand out, but as her highlight reel attests, she’ll have to tie her legs together to avoid it. Her breathtaking blend of speed, vision, agility, and creative fury blazes a neon trail on every field.
“You don’t need to know all the nuances of the sport to appreciate her gifts,” WPS Commissioner Tonya Antonucci said. “It’s fun to watch her confuse and destroy defenses; she’s really, at this point, two clicks ahead of most of the competition chasing her.”
For a fledgling league trying to get a foothold in a turbulent economy, the pressure would seem to be on its most decorated star to perform. But Marta, who’s had enough to do trying to get used to life in L.A. and the dynamics of her new team, isn’t letting on.
“The pressure will always be there, whether it’s from outside people or people within the league,” she said. “But after all is said and done, we just have to face them head-on and do the best we can to succeed.”
“If anything, I think the pressure might be reduced for her,” Antonucci said. “She’s not playing a limited number of do-or-die games for her country in the Olympics or World Cup; she’s here to play a full season of soccer throughout the spring and summer, to win a championship for L.A. and entertain the fans. I think she may even take more chances out there. She’s got 20 games to test out some new moves.”
That WPS boasts Marta as one of its featured attractions, alongside U.S. stars like Abby Wambach and Kristine Lilly, underscores the game’s international momentum, which has come a long way from the WUSA’s heavy reliance on home-grown talent.
“Marta, Kelly Smith (England national team/Boston Breakers), Formiga (Brazil national team/FC Gold Pride) – it’s so important to have these guys in the league, to let the rest of the world know we’re serious,” Naimo said.
“It was league-defining to get her signed, especially since we’re advertising ourselves as the world’s best women’s soccer league,” Antonucci said. “And although the U.S. has traditionally dominated with athleticism and skill, there’s something else going on now; you see fans getting excited about the growing creativity and free nature of the sport. I think this infusion of international talent can bring more rhythmic attack and flair to the U.S. game.”
Flair will be on full display in Sunday’s WPS opener between Los Angeles and Washington, with bruising Freedom frontliner Wambach providing a neat counterpoint to Marta’s flash.
“I think it says a lot about the quality of the league that each of the teams has players who play at a very high level, players from all over the world,” Marta said. “This has been a time of getting to know each other, getting used to everyone’s game. And it’s been going well so far.”
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