The Freedom welcomed the Atlanta Beat to a 3-1 loss last night at a cold and windy Maryland SoccerPlex.
After some dangerously loose balls on both sides, the Freedom had a corner shot in by Sonia Bompastor. Abby Wambach rose to knock it into the goal in the 44th minute. The surge of adrenaline was quickly answered by the Beat as they equalized in the first minute of the second half. The Freedom responded quickly, as Abby set up Homare Sawa, who scored in the 48th minute. Just for good measure, Abby led a charge on goal with a cross to recently subbed-in Christie Welsh, who scored the third goal for the Freedom in the 89th minute.
The evening started off cloudy and cold, and although the clouds finally blew over, it remained a cold game on the metal benches, with a much smaller crowd than the season opener against Philly. This was also due to the game being late on a Sunday when the usual Freedom fans include a lot of school-aged attendees!
Lisa De Vanna started this game, giving a much needed charge to the offense. She was replaced by Christie Welsh in the 63rd minute. Lene Mykjåland was recovered from last game’s sprain to start as well, playing for 80 minutes until subbed out for Jill Gilbeau. Allie Long was in for 58 minutes, with the first game sub being Sarah Huffman replacing her. A better squad, and certainly better results, than last game, but the strength of the players coming off the bench shows the depth of the squad quite well.
