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 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-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)
Source of Information Would it be possible for you to give the source of this information and perhaps even post a link if possible? I just checked the WUSA site and didn't see anything posted there about the All-Star starters. Thank you.
It's the press release that the league just sent out. ---------------- This is the press release Philly just sent out: VILLANOVA, PA (September 4, 2002) - Philadelphia Charge players Marinette Pichon, Lorrie Fair, Jenny Benson, Melissa Moore and Jen Tietjen were all named as starters for the inaugural WUSA All-Star Game that will be held Saturday, September 21 at PGE Park in Portland, Oregon at 4:00 p.m. ET. 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, Charge and San Jose CyberRays, while the South will consist of athletes from the Atlanta Beat, Carolina Courage, San Diego Spirit and Washington Freedom. Fans made up one block of voting to select the 11 starters for the North and South All-Star squads. The other three blocks that voted on the starting lineups were WUSA players, coaches/GMs and members of the media. Each voting block consists of 25 percent of the vote. Five additional reserve players will be announced on Monday, September 9. The two All-Star head coaches, in conjunction with WUSA Commissioner Tony DiCicco, will select the reserve players. Pichon, who won the league MVP award and Offensive Player of the Year honors, finished the 2002 regular season as the Charge's leader in both goals and points. Her 14 goals were good enough for second in the league, while her 29 points ranked her in a tie for third. Those totals were also single-season bests for the Charge and make her the team's all-time points leader. In addition, her 1.61 points per game ranked fourth in the league. The 5-foot-3 striker from Saint Memmie, France, who finished fourth in the WUSA in scoring, was the only Philadelphia player to finish among the league's top 20 scorers. The 26-year-old was a two-time WUSA Player of the Week and was named the Player of the Month for June. During one span she scored 11 of the Charge's 14 goals over seven games she appeared in, recording three two-goal games and one hat trick over that span. Fair, 24, who had five assists this season for the Charge, was a leader in the midfield. Her tremendous athletic ability, coupled with her high fitness level made her one of the most reliable players on the Philadelphia roster. Through two years with the Charge, the US National Team regular has one goal and seven assists. Benson was selected as one of three starting defenders, capping off a fabulous season. The 24-year-old out of Nebraska was also selected to the Second-Team All-WUSA squad for her efforts this past year. She didn't score a goal, but her playmaking ability as an attacking defender earned her three assists and a shot to make the US National Team. Benson and Fair along with teammates Heather Mitts and Stacey Tullock are currently training with the US Women's National Team in preparation of this Sunday's contest against Scotland in Columbus, OH. Tietjen was a First-Team All-WUSA selection along with Pichon and fellow defender Erica Iverson. Tietjen, who captained the squad when Kelly Smith went down for the season with a knee injury, had a goal and three assists for a career-best five points. She played every minute of every game except one and was a leader on and off the field for the Charge, helping Philadelphia hold its opponents to a league-low 22 goals, only 11.9 shots per game and a miniscule 5.5 shots on goal during the 21-game regular season. Moore, who was a finalist for Goalkeeper of the Year, was leading or at the top of every goalkeeping category all season. She finished the year with a league-best 1.00 goals-against average and posted 11 wins. She was second in save percentage (78.2) and first in winning percentage (70.0). She was claimed off waivers from the San Diego Spirit prior to 2001 and has become one of the success stories of the WUSA. 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 Milbret along with Philadelphia's contingent 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.
Who should, North division: Iverson, Lihong, Meinert. Charge should have 7 starters, not 5; they were the only 'north' team to make the post-season. Who shouldn't, North: Chastain, Venturini-Hoch. Their names and their names alone gave them a free pass. Paul
I think the other S. who didn't "start" at least some games is Danielle Slaton- was that who you were refering too?
Where's Sobs She's back from the knee injury, and I know that Philly's defense is well... simply beautiful, but.... Where's Sobs? As with Paul, I ditto with Meinert and Lihong... a bit not 100% on Iverson... And while I'm at it... where's Mellgren? I'd gladly give you Meinert starting and Mellgren coming in in the 2nd half.. come on... Lilly's though balls and throw ins to Meinert to Mellgren- they're not the "Triangle of Death" for no reason at all...... On the upcoming reserves.... The above 5 should be solid candidates, along with Kluegel and Hucles (who's often so quiet that she fails to receive the attention she deserves)...
McCann was the heart and soul of the Breakers defense, for better or for worse. The effectiveness of the defense did not change with Sobrero back in the lineup after the first four games. McCann started all 21 games, off the field for only 11 minutes all season. Fouls committed 28, suffered 19. Chrissy had the tough 1v1 matchups. Sobrero started 16 games (missing one for WNT duty), 71 minutes shy of playing complete games, FC 6, FS 12. Kate had mop-up duty keeping the "shape" of the defense, but not really playing defense. Don't get me started about Kluegel. Given the results, Boston does not deserve to have anybody on the all-star team from their defense. Meinert should get a nod, but I think that she is across the pond. Angela Hucles would be a good choice, too. Beene as the North 'keeper backup (as much as I love Karina LeBlanc). Erica Iverson and maybe Christie Pearce (to throw NYP a bone). re: non-starters Oops. I read Fawcett and thought Overbeck. Mea culpa (or is it "mia culpa" ).
you can call me biased towards tisha, but i will have to disagree with that. i think tish should totally deserve the start. if you compared her numbers this year to her fellow SJ midfielder sissi, she had the better year overall. true, she didn't start the season off too well, but the second half of the season she was on fire...scoring 6 goals out of the midfield. i also don't think tisha's name will give her a "free pass"...maybe in brandi's case, but i really do not think tisha is up there at the players that any random fan/person might recognize. i also think i could name a dozen of other players that are worthy to be an all-star that were obmitted, but the fact that tish was finally recognized and given some props, i'm happy about. it's about time!! just my two cents... lol elaine
I hope Siri gets named as a reserve. There should be two keepers on each squad. Beene should join the North squad.
nsa- Point noted on McCann- subconsciously I was thinking her all along. I posted "no Sobs?" for the PR aspect- one more NTer, one more name to market..... that is already known....
Add Lorrie Fair to the list of north starters that shouldn't. Hucles, Em Janns or Lihong in her place. Edge to Hucles for doing the dirty work all season long. Sissi v. Tisha: Sissi dished out 9 assists, TV-H only one. How many goals would TV-H had if she wasn't getting service from Sissi? I'll take Sissi, thank you.
Sorry if I snapped. That was a rant that has been pent up since the Breakers announced their end-of-season awards.
nsa- nothing wrong with speaking the truth. I applaud you for doing so. And I was just explaining my reasons for my writing what I did.
nsa- another thought- remember, it's the fans who vote for the Breakers awards. Upon seeing the Spirit awards announced, and Fawcett receiving MVP, I thought, "Hey, maybe the Breakers need to change it..." Nothing wrong with fan input; however, it may not be the *most* objective/truth-telling factor. Though on this year's Breakers awards, I was *very* happy to see Meinert's MVP... though I thought perhaps Lilly was more deserving. Plain and simple, had Lilly and Meinert not received an award, I would have been arghed to say the least. I, too, was shocked when Sobs got the Defender of the Year award...
Could have been worse I suppose, but... Although I hate Atlanta, how did they get fewer starters than woeful San Diego for the South? How can Fawcett be named with a straight face from a defense that surrendered two goals a match? I guess the best keeper in 2002 (Mullinix) will get shafted yet again as a 'Founding Player' (Scurry) will likely get the reserve spot ahead of her... I thought Prinz wasn't available for the match? If the Frankfurters are available, Steffi Jones better damn well get a reserve spot. I assume the Chinese were all unavailable? Lihong over Fair in midfield any day. Even though she didn't do jack all season, who thinks MacMillan will be named a reserve so she can come home to Portland... Meinert over anybody but Lilly in the North midfield, or even ahead of Milbrett at forward as Millie didn't score a single damn goal at home in 2002 (oops, but there's the Portland thing again...). Did someone suggest that Pearce or ANYONE from the NY defense that gave up THREE goals a game be invited??? Enough ranting for now...
"The Portland Thing" Any bets on whether or not Shannon MacMillan will be named as a reserve for the South team for that very same reason? She was the player besides Tiff that originally promoted the game for the WUSA.
D'oh!!! I totally missed that in your post the first time around. I plead temporary insanity by virtue of not having had my coffee yet at the time that was posted!