Wednesday, June 12, 2002
WASHINGTON, DC - Mia Hamm returned to action after a seven-month layoff and made an immediate impact as she scored the game-winning goal to lead the Washington Freedom to a 2-1 victory over the Boston Breakers Wednesday evening at RFK Stadium. Hamm, who underwent knee surgery February 26, came on as a substitute in the 66th minute and scored six minutes later to give Washington (3-4-3, 12 pts.) its first victory since May 4, going 0-2-3 since that victory. Boston (2-4-4, 10 pts.) has not won since May 18, going 0-2-2 in its last four matches. Boston's Dagny Mellgren gave the Breakers a quick 1-0 lead in the fourth minute of the match when she scored her sixth goal of the season. The Norwegian international got behind the Washington defense to receive a pretty through ball from Maren Meinert, leaving only Freedom goalkeeper Siri Mullinix to beat. Mullinix charged out, but Mellgren dribbled around the netminder and placed the ball into the empty net. Rookie forward Abby Wambach evened the score at 1-1 in the 45th minute with her fourth goal of the season. Anne Makinen served a nice cross that found Wambach on the right side of the box, and the 5-foot-10 forward slotted a ball through Boston defender Kate Sobrero's legs for the goal. The RFK Stadium crowd came alive when Hamm entered the game midway through the second half, as she was seeing her first competitive action since November's Unity Games. The U.S. national team's all-time leading scorer made her presence felt in just six minutes when she scored the game winner in the 72nd minute. After receiving a pass on the left side of the penalty area, Hamm took a shot that was deflected by the Breakers' defense. She immediately collected the rebound, made a clever backheel move, spun around and cracked a shot from 10 yards that sailed past Boston goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc into the upper right corner. Boston battled back, and Allie Kemp nearly tied it up in the 84th minute, but Mullinix came up with a diving save in the left corner to deny the Breakers. Hamm almost added a second goal during stoppage time, taking on and beating three Boston defenders, but she was unable to convert as LeBlanc made the save. The victory was the first for Washington in five all-time meetings between the two clubs. Boston leads the series 2-1-2.
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