USL News Release

Saturday, August 2, 2008                          ** Additional photos soon **

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA -- The Washington Freedom took out their frustration from a hard fought semifinal loss on Thursday night to cruise to an easy 2-0 victory over the Seattle Sounders in the Third Place Game of W-League Championship.

From the opening whistle the Freedom asserted their dominance on the match. In the fifth minute high pressure from Washington in Seattle’s end caused a turnover which Lori Lindsey almost converted into a goal, but her shot went wide.

The Freedom kept up the pressure the early on in the game and almost got on the scoreboard again in the seventh minute when a dangerous ball was whipped into Seattle’s box that was deflected by Christie Welsh to an oncoming Kele Golebiowski. Golebiowski’s shot, however, clanked off the right post and went out of bounds, continuing Thursday night’s theme of three shots off the woodwork for Washington.

The Freedom finally broke through in the 11th minute when a breakdown at midfield created a two-on-one break for Washington. Ella Masar drove hard at the defender and then laid a pass off to Welsh, who calmly finished in the lower right corner of the net.

The rest of the half continued to be played in the Sounders end, but Washington could not muster any goals and the two teams headed to halftime with the Freedom leading 1-0.

The second half started with Washington substituting a lot of their star players to allow their whole team to get the experience of playing in a championship setting. Seattle seized on the new substitutes and started to gain some possession and create some chances on goal. Seattle midfielders Annie Schefter and Chalise Baysa started to find open spaces but were unable to get anything past Washington goalie Chante Sandiford, the USL Super-20 League Championship MVP two years ago. Sandiford picked up the clean sheet.

Washington finished the scoring in the 86th minute when Sarah Huffman played a nice through ball to Ali Andrzejewski, who was able to send her shot past a diving Katie Hultin.

Washington finished the year with another successful W-League campaign but this time the defending champions had to settle for third place.

This year’s W-League Championship tournament may have a larger impact off the field over the months to come as players are selected for the debut season of Women’s Professional Soccer. In 2000, the W-League final four would see 23 players go on to be drafted by the Women’s United Soccer Association as it embarked on its first year, including star players like Charmaine Hooper, Marci Miller, Lisa Krzykowski, Thori Bryan and Nel Fettig. Five players with WUSA experience were in the Virginia Beach this weekend with Seattle’s Michelle French and Washington foursome of Kele Golebiowski, Emily Janss, Lori Lindsey and Christie Welsh.