Spirit soccer debuted in sold-out game in April ’01
Twenty years ago the San Diego Spirit played its inaugural game before 6,155 at sold-out Torero Stadium at the University of San Diego. It ended in a 2-0 loss to the Philadelphia Charge.
The Women’s United Soccer Association, the women’s pro soccer league that included the Spirit, drew heavily on the allure of the members of the U.S. national team, including Shannon MacMillan, Julie Foudy and Joy Fawcett who played for the team. The WUSA folded in 2003 after just three seasons, but its memories remain. From The San Diego Union-Tribune, Monday, April 23, 2001:
INAUGURAL GAME A SPIRITED DEBUT SELLOUT CROWD WATCHES S.D. FALL IN WUSA OPENER
A week into its first season, the Women’s United Soccer Association has already spun its first fairy tale: Melissa Moore.
The Philadelphia Charge spoiled the inaugural match of the San Diego Spirit last night before 6,155 at sold-out Torero Stadium, winning 2-0 largely because of a 26-year-old goalkeeper who a few months ago inquired about a job with the Spirit.
Working in its office.
“I’ve got to be the luckiest person around,” said Moore, who wasn’t even invited to the league’s 200-player draft combine. “It’s been an amazing adventure for me -- going from not thinking I was even going to be on a team to starting the inaugural game. And starting it in San Diego.”
It’s been an amazing adventure for women’s soccer, too, going from $10 per diems on the national team to an eightteam pro team with $64 million in investment — in less than a decade.
“I know I’m not even from this country,” said Philadelphia forward Kelly Smith, a native of England who had a hand in both goals, “but during the national anthem, thinking about this, about the league, about all my dreams, it became a little too much. I had tears in my eyes.”
Six months ago WUSA commissioner Tony DiCicco was talking about the frantic preparations in launching a league. He made a crack about how “we might be putting the final bolts on the stadium an hour before kickoff.”
He wasn’t lying.
An hour before kickoff, a forklift drove behind the south stands with a load of wood. Outside the press box, a worker operated a buzz saw. Inside, another man was wiring it with electricity.
But other than the P.A. announcer forgetting to introduce Spirit captain Julie Foudy, everything went remarkably well at a college stadium that seated only 3,000 three months ago. Mayor Dick Murphy and Congresswoman Susan B. Davis were part of the pregame festivities, and fireworks accentuated the national anthem.
The only thing missing was goals by the home team.
Germany’s Doris Fitschen made it 1-0 in the 30th minute on a penalty kick awarded after Spirit defender Kristin Bengtsson dragged down Smith in the box. Smith made it 2-0 in the 62nd minute when she intercepted a weak back pass from Spirit defender Rhiannon Tanaka, dribbled past goalkeeper Ulrika Karlsson and tapped the ball into an empty net.
The Spirit had its chances, particularly in a frantic exchange moments into the second half. Traci Arkenberg hit a shot with her back to the goal that caromed off the post. The Charge was unable to clear the ball, and Arkenberg headed it past Moore . . . only to watch Charge defender Jenny Benson head it off the line.
“Tactically, we did well,” Spirit coach Carlos Juarez said. “We wanted to create chances and we did. But, you know, somebody’s got to put the ball in the net.”
A big reason for that: Moore.
Her husband got a job teaching middle school in Spring Valley, and when Moore bumped into a Spirit official last November she asked if the front office had any openings. She had a master’s degree in athletic administration, after all.
The Spirit invited her to local tryouts instead. She made the training-camp roster, but Juarez already had two solid goalkeepers and reluctantly waived Moore on the final cut.
Philadelphia coach Mark Krikorian was scanning the waiver list and remembered Moore from a preseason game against the Spirit -- remembered her making one spectacular save after another. He signed her and last night made her the surprise starter over Saskia Webber, the U.S. backup on the 1999 World Cup team.
“Every time Melissa made a great save,” Foudy said, “I was thinking, ‘Son of a gun.’ ”
It was a bittersweet night for Foudy. Here was a lifelong dream realized -- a sold-out stadium, live TV, a pro league all their own -- and here was her team getting shut out by a side many picked to finish last.
“Afterward I went over to the stands and all the kids were so jazzed,” Foudy said. “They were like, ‘We’re coming back. We had so much fun.’ It kind of put things in perspective. I was thinking, ‘Get over it, Jules. You have 20 more games to get it right.’ ”