Tuesday, September 16, 2003

 

TAMPA, FL - Nearing its 10th season of play in 2004, the W-League will see many of its top players taking to the field in the upcoming FIFA Women's World Cup. Forty-one current and former W-League players hailing from seven nations will represent 18 W-League teams.

"The W-League is fortunate to have the highest level of players come through our system and appreciates the dedication of our franchise owners, who actualize the visions and goals of the league and women soccer players in North America and around the globe," said W-League Director of Operations Tammy Crawford.

Of the 41 alumni in the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup, 17 played in the W-League this past season. Thirteen of the 24 former W-League players were playing in the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA), which announced yesterday that it was suspending operations after three seasons.

"We are saddened by the announcement that WUSA has suspended operations," said USL COO and Executive Director Dave Askinas. "We have great respect for the commitment and efforts put forth by the investors and staff of WUSA. They were very professional in their efforts and created a great product in a short period of time. Women's professional team sports have been a very difficult business over the years and were not helped by a prolonged recession in the United States."

"United Soccer Leagues remains firmly committed to the sport of women's soccer.  The W-League has been home to top-flight women's soccer in the United States and Canada for nearly ten years. USL will continue to provide highly competitive women's soccer in 2004 and beyond for the up and coming women's stars and fans of the women's game."

Leading the list of W-League alumni is Canadian Charmaine Hooper, who was the first woman inducted into the USL Hall of Fame as a member of the inaugural class last fall. Hooper was a three-time scoring champion and the 1998 W-1 Most Valuable Player as a member of the Chicago Cobras.. She was the first-ever W-League Scoring Champion while with the Rockford Dactyls in 1995 with 31 points.

Also among the 15 Canadian W-Leaguers are Rhian Wilkinson and Taryn Swiatek of the Ottawa Fury. The duo helped lead their club to the W-League Semifinals this past season with Swiatek posting the league's second best goals-against average at 0.41 and Wilkinson finishing as the 2003 Assist Leader with seven on the year. Wilkinson also had four goals.

Ottawa stunned the defending two-time W-League champion Boston Renegades in the playoffs with a 3-2 win in Boston in the Division Championship and knocked off the New Jersey Lady Stallions, 4-2, in the Conference Championship after losing to them 1-0 during the season.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian duo of Mercy Akide and Florence Omagbemi were leading the Hampton Roads Piranhas to an undefeated 14-0-0 season and the club's first league title in nine seasons of play. Akide finished 10th in the league in scoring with seven goals and five assists for 19 points, but scored her most important goal of the year in overtime of the championship to give the Piranhas the 2003 W-League Championship.

In a scoreless match in which Akide and Omagbemi controlled the play and had several dangerous chances, Akide's 96th minute strike earned her the W-League Championship Most Valuable Player honor.

The Nigerian duo are only the latest installment of successful alumni from the Virginia Beach, Virginia-based club. The club has six alumni in the tournament, including 2000 W-1 Assist Leader Angela Hucles of the US and 2001 W-1 Rookie of the Year Kelly Golebiowski of Australia.

Golebiowski is one of three former W-League Rookies of the Year in the tournament, joining 2002 honoree Elizabeth Baidu of the Northern Virginia Majestics and Ghana and 2000 W-2 honoree Nkiru Okosieme of the Charlotte Lady Eagles and Nigeria.

The Piranhas' six alumni in the tournament ranks second to the Vancouver Whitecaps, who will see eight players, six of them current, take to the field in the World Cup. The list includes veteran international player Andrea Neil, who ranks second to Hooper in all-time caps for Canada. Up and coming youngster Kara Lang is another current member of the Whitecaps squad that will represent Canada. Former Whitecaps forward Christine Sinclair is also a member of the National Team.

US internationals such as Brandi Chastain, Julie Foudy and Kristine Lilly were among the players in the early years of the W-League and are among the seven alumni on the US squad. Chastain and Foudy played for the Sacramento Storm and Lilly was a member of the Delaware Genies.

US goalkeeper Siri Mullinix helped lead the Raleigh Wings to their second straight W-1 Championship in 1999 when she stopped the 16-0 Chicago Cobras' Courtney Linex in the sixth round of the tiebreaker shootout in the final.

Norway's Kristine Edner is unique in that in addition to playing for the Tampa Bay Extreme from 1998-99, she was also a member of USL's staff in 2000-01 when she was employed by USLsoccer.com, the official website of United Soccer Leagues. 

· 40 W-League alumni will represent seven nations in the Women's World Cup (Australia 7, Canada 15, Ghana 5, Japan 1, Nigeria 4, Norway 1, US 8).

· 17 current W-League players will play in the World Cup.

· 18 current and former W-League teams will be represented by players in the World Cup.

· 6 W-League teams will be represented by current players in the World Cup (Charlotte 2, Hampton Roads 2, Northern Virginia 3, Ottawa 3, Toronto 1, Vancouver 6).

· The Vancouver Whitecaps have the most alumni in the World Cup with 8.

· All four Canadian W-League teams will be represented by players in the World Cup.

· 3 players in the World Cup have won W-League Rookie of the Year honors - Elizabeth Baidu (Ghana) was 2002 RoY, Kelly Golebiowski (Australia) was 2001 W-1 RoY and Nkiru Okosieme (Nigeria) was the 2000 W-2 RoY.

· 2 players in the World Cup have led the W-League in assists - Angela Hucles (United States) led W-1 in 2000 and Rhian Wilkinson (Canada) led W-League in 2003.

· Charmaine Hooper (Canada) is the only player in the World Cup that has won the W-League Scoring Championship or Most Valuable Player honor - Scoring Champion in 1995, 1998 and 2000; MVP in 1998.

· Charmaine Hooper (Canada) is the only W-League player in the USL Hall of Fame, which was established last fall.

· Mercy Akide (Nigeria) and Sasha Andrews (Canada) are the only players in the World Cup on the W-League's 2003 All-League Team; Florence Omagbemi (Nigeria) and Andrea Neil (Canada) were named to W-League's 2003 All-Conference Teams along with Akide and Andrews.

· 5 players in the World Cup have won a W-League Championship - Siri Mullinix (US) and Silvana Burtini (Canada) with Raleigh in 1999, Charmaine Hooper (Canada) with Chicago in 2000 and Mercy Akide (Nigeria) and Florence Omagbemi (Nigeria) with Hampton Roads in 2003.

· 13 of the 26 W-League teams in 2003 were in at least their fifth season of play.

· The W-League was split in two levels (W-1 and W-2) from 1998-2001.

W-League Impact on the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup
(A listing of current and former W-League players by country)

Australia (7)
Kelly Golebiowski (Hampton Roads)
Cassandra Kell (Hampton Roads)
April Mann (Greensboro)
Joey Peters (Charlotte)
Cheryl Salisbury (Memphis)
Danielle Small (Toronto)
Amy Wilson (Greensboro)

Canada (15)
Sasha Andrews (Vancouver)
Silvana Burtini (Raleigh)
Randee Hermus (Vancouver)
Charmaine Hooper (Chicago, Rockford)
Kristina Kiss (Ottawa)
Kara Lang (Vancouver)
Diana Matheson (Toronto)
Erin McLeod (Vancouver)
Isabelle Morneau (Ottawa)
Carmelina Moscato (Vancouver)
Andrea Neil (Vancouver)
Christine Sinclair (Vancouver)
Taryn Swiatek (Ottawa)
Brittany Timko (Vancouver)
Rhian Wilkinson (Ottawa)

Ghana (5)
Besilea Amoo-Telleh (Northern Virginia)
Elizabeth Baidu (Northern Virginia)
Adjoa Bayor (Northern Virginia)
Alberta Sackey (Northern Virginia)
Abiba Sulemana (New York)

Japan (1)
Homare Sawa (Denver)

Nigeria (4)
Mercy Akide (Hampton Roads)
Patience Avre (Charlotte, Hampton Roads)
Nkiru Okosieme (Charlotte)
Florence Omagbemi (Hampton Roads)

Norway (1)
Kristine Edner (Tampa Bay)

United States (7)
Brandi Chastain (Sacramento)
Julie Foudy (Sacramento)
Angela Hucles (Hampton Roads)
Kristine Lilly (Delaware)
Siri Mullinix (Raleigh)
Christie Pearce (New Jersey LS, Central Jersey)

Brianna Scurry (Delaware)
Abby Wambach (Rochester)