WUSA ALL-STAR STARTERS UNVEILED - 13 of the 22 Starters Competed at Women's World Cup '99 - ATLANTA (Wednesday, September 4, 2002) - The Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) today unveiled the starting lineups for the North and South All-Star teams that will compete in the 2002 WUSA All-Star Game in Portland, Oregon on September 21. The WUSA's inaugural All-Star Game, presented by Hyundai, will have a World Cup flavor as 13 of the 22 starters competed at the historic Women's World Cup in 1999. Headlining the list for the South All-Stars is Washington's Mia Hamm, San Diego's Julie Foudy and 2002 WUSA Defensive Player of the Year Danielle Slaton of the Carolina Courage. San Jose's Brandi Chastain, New York's Tiffeny Milbrett and 2002 WUSA Most Valuable Player and Offensive Player of the Year Marinette Pichon of the Philadelphia Charge lead the North squad. Carolina and Philadelphia each placed five players on the starting lineups, while San Jose has four starters. Washington (3 players), San Diego (2), Atlanta (1), Boston (1) and New York (1) round out the starting lineups. Fans, WUSA players, WUSA coaches and general managers, and a media panel selected the All-Star starting lineups. Each group's total votes represented 25 percent of the total. Five additional reserve players will be announced on Monday, September 9. The reserve players will be selected by the two All-Star head coaches in conjunction with WUSA Commissioner Tony DiCicco. SOUTH ALL-STAR STARTING LINEUP GK Kristin Luckenbill Carolina 2002 WUSA Goalkeeper of the Year DEF Danielle Slaton Carolina 2002 WUSA Defensive Player of the Year DEF Jennifer Grubb Washington Has played in every minute of every Freedom game in two seasons DEF Joy Fawcett San Diego U.S. national team veteran has three children MID Hege Riise Carolina Norwegian standout is considered the world's best playmaker MID Tiffany Roberts Carolina Many coaches consider her the WUSA's best defensive midfielder MID Homare Sawa Atlanta Japanese star increased scoring production by 150 percent in 2002 MID Julie Foudy San Diego Captain of the U.S. national team F Mia Hamm Washington The world's all-time leading scorer at the international level F Birgit Prinz Carolina German star was the MVP of Founders Cup II on August 24 F Abby Wambach Washington Rising U.S. national team star was the 2002 WUSA Rookie of the Year NORTH ALL-STAR STARTING LINEUP GK Melissa Moore Philadelphia Led the WUSA in goals against average (1.00) in 2002 DEF Brandi Chastain San Jose World Cup veteran played forward and defense in 2002 DEF Jenny Benson Philadelphia Newcomer to the U.S. national team should see action vs. Scotland DEF Jennifer Tietjen Philadelphia Was a finalist for the 2002 WUSA Defensive Player of the Year award MID Kristine Lilly Boston Is the world leader (men and women) in national team appearances (236) MID Lorrie Fair Philadelphia The midfield engine for the Philadelphia Charge MID Sissi San Jose Creative player tied for the scoring lead at Women's World Cup '99 MID Tisha Venturini-Hoch San Jose Champion in the NCAA, Olympic Games, World Cup and WUSA F Katia San Jose Led the WUSA in scoring in 2002 with 15 goals, five assists for 35 points F Marinette Pichon Philadelphia 2002 WUSA Most Valuable Player and Offensive Player of the Year F Tiffeny Milbrett New York Portland native is the WUSA's all-time leading scorer (26g, 11a, 63 pts.) The 2002 WUSA All-Star Game will be held at PGE Park in Portland, Oregon on Saturday, September 21 at 4:00 p.m. ET (1:00 p.m. PT). The match will be broadcast live nationally on PAX TV to more than 90 million households in the United States and several other countries worldwide. The format for the WUSA All-Star Game will feature the North All-Stars vs. the South All-Stars, as the best players from the WUSA's eight teams will be split into two squads. The North team will feature players from the Boston Breakers, New York Power, Philadelphia Charge and San Jose CyberRays, while the South will consist of athletes from the Atlanta Beat, Carolina Courage, San Diego Spirit and Washington Freedom. Carolina Courage Head Coach Marcia McDermott and Philadelphia Charge Head Coach Mark Krikorian will serve as the head coaches of the two WUSA All-Star teams. Atlanta Beat Head Coach Tom Stone will serve as McDermott's assistant coach for the South All-Stars while San Jose CyberRays Head Coach Ian Sawyers will serve as Krikorian's assistant on the North team. WUSA All-Star Game tickets can be purchased at PGE Park and all Portland-area Ticketmaster outlets, including select Fred Meyer and G.I. Joe's locations. Tickets are also available by calling Ticketmaster at (503) 224-4400 or by going online at www.ticketmaster.com. Individual tickets to the WUSA All-Star Game are priced from $15-$45. In addition, a special $4.75 ticket is available for a limited time only in the Fred Meyer Family Seat Section. WUSA ALL-STARS BY THE NUMBERS NORTH SOUTH TOTAL Players who competed at World Cup '99 7 6 13 Players who competed in the 2000 Olympics 6 6 12 International players 3 3 6 Current members of their respective national team 8 9 17 Rookies 0 2 (Wambach, Slaton) Featuring the best women's soccer players in the world, WUSA athletes include Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain, Tiffeny Milbrett, Danielle Slaton, Julie Foudy and dozens of international stars. The eight WUSA teams are the Atlanta Beat, Boston Breakers, Carolina Courage, New York Power, Philadelphia Charge, San Diego Spirit, San Jose CyberRays and the Washington Freedom. The WUSA recently completed its 2002 season when the Carolina Courage defeated the Washington Freedom 3-2 at Founders Cup II.
5 reserves that will be picked by the head coach of each squad with help from DiCicco. I need to find my WUSA Insider newsletter. 5 reserves + 11 starters per side.
Only one Beat player in the starting lineup?!?!? I guess Tom must have done a great job getting the team to the playoffs with only one all-star starter in the line-up.
I'm proud for Homare (congrats!), but it's sh!tty that we only had one player make the starting line-up. The team that finished 7th (SD) had one more starter than us ....this freakin' league will never get passed the USWNT all-stars. Do they not remember who scored all the goals last year in the 4-3 South win???? The scorers: HOOPER, PARLOW, SAWA and Macmillian. The Beat will never get respect in this league. Foudy shouldn't be starting over Serlenga or Bivens. Most of the other choices are pretty much okay. The Beat better make-up the majority of the reserves, or I will definitely be pissed. Scurry, Parlow, Serlenga, Hooper, Bivens and Nancy A....should all be looked at for reserve spots But ya know Marcia will push to have Fotop in there... that deserves another -------->
It would be great if WUSA actually gave us the numbers from the voting online. I think it would be interesting. My guess is they will not post them but if they ask us to vote, they should give us our results or don't do it at all. Baseball gives a running total on all voting for their All Star Game. We want the numbers! We want the numbers!
I agree! Give us the numbers, and prove the results!!!!!! Like they would alter them before hand if it was different from what they posted
I'd like to know how many people in Portland actually watched PAX every Saturday to catch the WUSA games. Because if the numbers are low (they probably are) the League wouldn't want to send a bunch of "no names" (I hate to say that ) to an All-Star game when the people to whom they're trying to sell tickets and get excited about the possibility of having a team there, they want them to know who the players are. Honestly, I think they're still trying to sell the League. So in a way they're stuck sending in most of the USWNT players and "Big Name" Internationals. It sucks but... what can you do? They might as well just call it The Founders vs The Internationals. It's a joke to us, but not to them. Remember, it's not just a game anymore... it's a business.
It is a business and Portland will probably be one of the first expansion teams. Shannon MacMillan is a big star in Portland where she and Millie played for Clive Charles. Clive is being honored for his contributions to Soccer so you know Shannon will be the first pick by the coaches. Most of the picks for the starting lineup are right on but a few have been selected for who they are rather than what they achieved during the season. This is a problem in all sports. Having said all of this I still want to ee the Numbers for the fan voting. They asked us to come to games, they ask us to pay our money, the ask us to support our teams and players and they ask us to vote. All we ask is to see the numbers.
Like with All-Star games in other leagues...no one takes these things seriously. The list of 22 players that has been selected will not make or break the league. This match has no bearing whatsoever in the whole scheme of things. Hell it probably won't even get above a .06 rating. I'm going to Portland for All-Star weekend so I can do some stalking. And I'm suprised no one has mentioned Michelle French yet.
And I live in Portland so I can stalk for a lot less money. Michelle French hardly got any playing time because that prick coach in SJ has no idea what he's doing. IMO Mr. Soccer, I agree with you. I'd like to see the numbers myself, just so I'd know.
If it truly doesn't matter then they should just take the fan vote and run with it. Fear, I realize this is just a fun event but they really should reward those who performed well within the 2002 season and not just give some players an easy ride. The league will succeed because it is great soccer and I believe some of the young players are simply better.