We did a short road trip to see the St. Louis Athletica play vs their Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) opponent, the FC Gold from San Diego, CA. I've covered some Women's National Team Soccer back in 2000 when I did KCSoccerSpot.com and this game was eye opening for me. The Athletica won the game, their first of the season and league, on an amazing corner that was bent past the post and keeper.
The game has progressed so much in the last 10 years. I saw the pace in the first 10 minutes and commented to my daughters that there was no way they could sustain it for the entire 90 minutes. I was wrong. These girls were fast and had lungs to match. They were not only fast at the front but all across the pitch. I've never seen anything like it. The league is made up of not only the best the US has to offer but hand picked international players as well. What is really great to see is a smattering of the 90's and 2000 era team mixed in with the new young guns. Tiffany Milbrett and Brandi Chastain were in the house. Unbelievable.
And pace is not all that's changed. These ladies were amazingly skilled and tactically sound as well. Both sides were playing a wonderful game with minimal touches, threading passes into spaces a mouse couldn't run through. I got a press pass to shoot pictures at the USA vs Canada game in Kansas City in August 2000. I was like a kid in a candy store. We tied 1-1. The game, while entertaining was a much more physical match but much less tactical game than what I was seeing in MLS at the time. The Athletica and FC Gold both would have given the 2000 USA Womens team a run for their money if not a spanking.
The game was held on Southern Illinois University's stadium just 20 minutes from downtown St. Louis. The atmosphere at the game was reminescent of the old KC Mystics W-League games we used to attend here in KC. Small stadium with a great showing of fan support. Fantastic access to the players and a great seat no matter where you stood. The team went all out to make this an enjoyable game for us. The stadium is far away from the hustle and bustle of the city but close enough to hotels and other major attractions to make this a great weekend getaway.
We ended up staying overnight at a hotel just minutes from the stadium and then hitting the Gateway Arch and a riverboat ride on the way home. A great weekend I'm sure the girls won't forget.
The great surprise ending of the game? We were walking out and heard the girls names being yelled from the stands. What? There sits last years Harrisonville Assistant Coach Annie Sevy and her family. She was getting ready to move back to H'ville for the summer so she had enlisted her Mom and Dad to move her stuff back from Greenville College in Illinois. Small world.
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