Why does this season seem less satisfying than last season? Part of it is, of course, that expectations were higher this year. But I thought I'd look at the numbers and see what they tell us.
| Description |
2003 |
2002 |
Comments |
| Final position |
4th |
3rd |
|
| Record |
9-8-4 |
11-5-5 |
Basically, two wins better in 2002 |
| Standings points |
31 (6 points out of 1st) |
38 (2 points out of 1st) |
The 2002 team came within a Mia Hamm PK or a Casey Zimny non-foul of the regular-season championship. |
| Home record |
6-2-2 |
6-2-3 |
No significant difference here, though note one more home game in 2002. |
| Away record |
3-6-2 |
5-3-2 |
Significant difference here! This is where the two additional wins came from. |
| Last 10 |
4-4-2 |
7-1-2 |
Another difference: this year the Freedom earned a playoff spot largely on their early-season performance, then were mediocre the rest of the way. Last year, they struggled early but righted themselves and finished very strongly. |
| Record versus playoff teams |
1-5-3 (0-1-2 Boston, 0-2-1 Atlanta, 1-2-0 San Diego) |
3-3-3 (1-1-1 Carolina, 0-1-2 Philadelphia, 2-1-0 Atlanta) |
Another notable difference. The 2002 team won the season series with every team except Philadelphia (and we know how that turned out!). |
| Record when scoring first |
8-0-2 |
7-1-4 |
In 2002, the Freedom scored first in their first game, then fell apart and lost when New York tied the match up and ended up losing. To their credit, they never lost a game again after taking the lead. |
| Record when other team scores first |
1-8-2 |
4-4-0 |
Perhaps the biggest difference of all: the Freedom only have one comeback to their name this year (the season opener against Carolina), while they had four last year (five if you count the 5-2 Carolina win, in which the Courage scored the 2nd and 3rd goals). This may account for the subjective difference between the seasons as much as anything: there are few things more satisfying than a come-from-behind win but few things more demoralizing than having the other team score early and know that that's probably the game right there. |
| Scoring distribution |
| Player |
G |
A |
Pts |
| Abby |
13 |
7 |
33 |
| Mia |
11 |
11 |
33 |
| Jacqui |
2 |
6 |
10 |
| Lindsay |
4 |
1 |
9 |
| Steffi |
2 |
4 |
8 |
| Rest of team |
8 |
17 |
33 |
|
| Player |
G |
A |
Pts |
| Abby |
10 |
10 |
30 |
| Mia |
8 |
6 |
22 |
| Bai |
6 |
5 |
17 |
| Jacqui |
3 |
4 |
10 |
| Pu |
1 |
8 |
10 |
| Rest of team |
12 |
17 |
41 |
|
Our attack was a lot more one-dimensional in 2003 than in 2002, primarily due to the loss of Bai Jie. Jacqui Little had about the same production despite having about 50% more playing time (1545 minutes vs. 1019). I think this has as much to do with her being in the less-than-ideal role of starter versus second-half sparkplug as her overall performance. Kudos to Abby, though, for putting up impressive numbers two years in a row - the only player in WUSA history to get 30 points or more in consecutive seasons - despite having opposing defenses giving her much closer attention. |