After firing six previous shots,
each one bringing the crowd to its feet, the former University
of Portland star scored a classic in the 57th minute after she
ran onto a perfect over-the-top pass from Wagner. With Ukrainian
goalkeeper Veronika Shulha caught out of the net, Milbrett
deftly lifted the ball over her and into the goal from just
outside the penalty area as the crowd erupted.
“Our focus wasn’t on Tiffeny,
our focus was on winning the game and continuing to grow as a
new team,” said U.S. head coach Greg Ryan. “I think attitude was
good for her too, so that she could settle down and play the
game. In the end, though, that kind of goal with that kind of
quality was incredible.”
With the goal, which came in her
201st career appearance, Milbrett joins Mia Hamm (158),
Elisabetta Vignotto (107), Carolina Morace (105),
Michelle Akers
(105) and Kristine Lilly (104)
as the only players in the history of international soccer to
score 100 goals for their country.
The win moved the USA to 6-0-0
on the year on the sixth anniversary date of the historic 1999
Women’s World Cup Final and marked the USA’s seventh consecutive
shutout. No team has found the net against the Americans in 2005
as the team ran their shutout streak to seven games dating back
to December 8, 2004.
While tough into the tackle,
Ukraine did not have the athleticism to run with the U.S., which
kept the pressure in the attacking half all match long. The USA
started in a 3-4-3 formation with Lilly, Welsh and Milbrett up
top and peppered the Ukrainian goal with 15 shots in the first
half, but could not break through until 31 minutes into the
match.
The first goal came when Wagner
threaded a pass behind the Ukrainian defense to the charging
Welsh, who found herself in a scrum with Shulha and sliding
defender Inesa Titova. The ball spilled out the right side of
the penalty area, and with Shulha late in untangling herself
from Titova, Welsh had time run the ball down and bend her
seven-yard shot into the net from a sharp angle. Welsh has now
scored in all six games the USA has played this year and has
seven goals total. She also upped her career total to 20,
becoming the 14th player in U.S. history to score 20 or more
goals.
The second goal came when Welsh
received the ball on the right side of the penalty area in the
36th minute. She cut inside, but was cut down by a defender. As
she was falling, the ball bounced off her toe and rolled right
to Lilly, who lined up her deadly left foot and smacked a
whistling shot just inside the right post from 18 yards out for
her 104th career goal.
After a somewhat sluggish
performance in the first half as the U.S. played down to the
pace of the Ukrainians, the American women played with more
urgency after the break and it paid off with five goals.
Wagner (who also hit the
crossbar twice in the match) scored to make it 3-0, courtesy of
Lilly, who received the ball at the top of the Ukrainian penalty
area courtesy a poor Ukrainian back pass. Lilly whirled and then
darted past Titova in the left side of the box before chipping a
short cross into the middle. Wagner beat Shulha to the ball and
struck a short, bouncing volley past the flying goalkeeper and
into the net from five yards out.
The fourth goal came off a
beautiful long ball from Shannon Boxx as she dropped her pass
right into the path of Lilly, who was running hard at the
restraining line. The ball bounced before Lilly back-heeled it
into the middle to a wide-open Fotopoulos, who drove her shot
through the legs of Shulha from 13 yards out.
Milbrett scored the fifth goal,
making history on the field where she enjoyed so much success as
a college player, but the USA was not done. Fotopoulos added her
second off a scramble that came from a free kick. The ball was
lofted into the penalty area from the left flank and spun off
the foot of a Ukrainian defender before the 5-foot-11 forward
pounded her left-footed volley into the net from close range.
The two goals upped Fotopoulos’ career total to 14 (five of
which have come against Ukraine), but they were her first scores
since she tallied on January 12, 2002, in a 7-0 rout of Mexico.
Heather O’Reilly added the
seventh and final score after coming on for Milbrett in the 77th
minute. The 20-year-old chased down a long ball from Kate
Markgraf near the left side of the penalty area, cut back
against the grain to lose a defender, and smacked her
right-footed shot into the left corner. It was O’Reilly’s fifth
career goal and first since her historic overtime score against
Germany in the 2004 Olympic semifinal match.
The match marked the first-ever
caps for two players, as defender Tina Frimpong, a Vancouver,
Washington product, came on in the 55th minute and midfielder
Carli Lloyd entered the match in the 64th. Goalkeeper Nicole
Barnhart, making her second-ever start in the nets for the USA,
earned her second career shutout, but was not forced to make a
save.
Five players on the U.S. roster
– Barnhart, Lindsay Tarpley, O’Reilly, Lori Chalupny and Lloyd –
will leave for Europe next week with the U.S. Under-21 Women’s
National Team to compete in the 15th Annual Nordic Cup in
Sweden. The USA will be going for its seventh consecutive Nordic
Cup title.
The U.S. women will finish
their three-game summer schedule on July 24, taking on Iceland
at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. Kickoff for that
match is 2 p.m. PT. It will also be broadcast live on ESPN2.
Tickets for both matches are on sale at all local area
Ticketmaster outlets and at
www.ussoccer.com.
About Induction 2005
The
National Soccer Hall of Fame will host
Induction 2005 in
Oneonta, New York on August 27th through the 29th. Induction Weekend kicks
off on Saturday, August 27th with a Northern Eagle Beverage
Pub Night starting at
7:00 p.m. Then on Sunday, August 28th the Hall of Fame will
present the 2nd Annual
Hall of Fame Golf Tournament
presented by Nike at the Delhi Golf Course in Delhi, New York.
For those who are interested in exploring beautiful Otsego
County there will a
Leatherstocking Summer Sampler
tour at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday.
The Hall of Fame will host the
President's Reception & Dinner,
sponsored by Field Turf and Clark Companies, starting at 6:00
p.m. in the Hall of Fame's Atrium.
The
Induction Ceremony on
Monday, August 29th
honors three of the most identifiable
players in U.S. Men's National Team history and pioneers of Major
League Soccer as
Marcelo Balboa,
John
Harkes, and
Tab
Ramos
will be enshrined into the Hall of Fame
starting at 10:00 a.m. The ceremony is free of charge and open
to the public and will take place in the Museum. The
2005 Hall of Fame Game
will kickoff at 1:00 p.m. on
August 29th and will
feature four-time MLS Cup Champion D.C. United as they take on
the Colorado Rapids.
Tickets for the
Hall of Fame Golf Tournament,
President's Reception & Dinner
and the
Hall of Fame Game
are available at the Hall of Fame by calling 1-800-545-FAME
(3263), or visit 3 More Reasons ..., our Ticket
Outlet at 66 Main Street in Cooperstown, New York.
About the National
Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum
Located in
Oneonta, New York, the National Soccer Hall of Fame opened a 30,000
square foot, state-of-the-art museum on June 12, 1999. The Hall of Fame
tells the story of soccer in
America through artifacts, photographs, and video clips. The new
Hall features an extensive interactive, youth oriented Kicks
Zone where visitors have fun kicking,
heading and playing computer trivia stations and video
soccer games. The VideoWall portrays some of the greatest
moments and the greatest goals in history as well as live soccer
action with World Cup, MLS, and U.S. Soccer matches. Unique and
rare artifacts on exhibit range from the world’s oldest soccer
ball to the FIFA Women’s World Cup trophy won by the USA in
1999,
Pelé's and Mia Hamm’s uniforms, Kristine Lilly’s golden
shoes, NASL championship rings, the original MLS championship
trophy, MLS gallery - it’s all at the National Soccer Hall of
Fame. In addition to the interactive Museum, the National Soccer
Hall of Fame complex boasts the
Kicks
Zone Store,
a research library, four world-class soccer fields and
office/meeting facilities. The Hall plans to add a stadium, an
indoor soccer arena and housing facilities in the future.
The mission of
the National Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum is to Celebrate the
History,
Honor the Heroes, Inspire the Youth and Preserve the Legacy of
the sport soccer in the United States.
Related Information
U.S. MNT
Drop Canada 2-0 in 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup |
U.S. MNT Beat Cuba 4-1 in 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup |
Media Credential Application for Hall of Fame Game Available