Courage Goes Down on Late Penalty Kick

"Mia is always a threat," she said.

The Courage was successful in containing women's soccer's most decorated athlete, Mia Hamm, for most of the first half. Carolina midfielder Erin Baxter's slide tackle in the 15th minute even sent her to the sideline with a knee sprain.

But Hamm refused to let anyone dominate her on Fetzer Field at her alma mater. She erupted in the game's final 10 minutes, assisting Pretinha's goal and scoring on a free kick during injury time to defeat the Courage 2-1 in front of a crowd of 6,012.

"We knew going on to that field today that she was going to do everything she could not to lose," Freedom goalkeeper Siri Mullinix said.

But not before Carolina did everything it could to gain its first win in the league's inaugural season. In the first half, the Courage controlled the ball offensively and took seven shots on goal.

Carolina forward Silvana Burtini converted one of those shots into the Courage's first-ever goal. Midfielder Hege Riise lofted the ball to the center of the goal where Carolina forwards Danielle Fotopoulos and Burtini both jumped into the air. Burtini pulled off the play and headed the ball past Mullinix in the eighth minute.

"Danielle went up, and she was early," Burtini said. "I could see she wasn't going to get the ball, so I just filled in the space behind her."

Seven minutes later, Hamm was knocked to the ground by a slide tackle compliments of Baxter. Hamm limped off the field, and no sub was made.

"I actually thought at that part of the game we started playing better," Freedom coach Jim Gabarra said. "We started moving the ball around a little bit, being short a player. I was more concerned about (Hamm's) injury and whether she would get back on the field."

Gabarra didn't have to worry for long. Hamm re-entered the game in the 22nd minute, and the offense perked up.

Once the Freedom decided it was going to control the ball, the Courage couldn't seem to regain possession for long or convert shots into goals. In the first 20 minutes of the second half, Carolina bobbled two corner-kick plays when the shots went wide.

"With this team it's critical that we become more opportunistic," McDermott said. "That will be key for this team to win."

The key for the Freedom was in Hamm's willing hands. With 30 minutes left in the game, Gabarra moved Hamm to center midfield where she set up Pretinha's diving-header in the 82nd minute to tie the score. Then, with injury time seconds ticking away, Hamm drew a foul and set up the free kick.

"I just look at the panel on the ball and try to make good contact," Hamm said. "You try to make it as simple as possible."

Simple enough for Hamm, anyway. She nailed the ball low to the ground in the far left corner of the goal to win the game and become the first U.S.-born player to score in the WUSA.

"I wanted to find a way to put her in a position where she would get more of the ball," Gabarra said. "To me it makes a lot of sense that Mia scored the first goal for an American."

The Sports Editor can be reached at sports@unc.edu.