WUSA roundup

MacMillan tears up knee in Spirit draw.

Shannon MacMillan's WUSA season and Women's World Cup appeared to come to an end with a knee injury tonight when she right knee collapsed in a non-contact situation in the San Diego Spirit's 1-1 sraw with the Boston Breakers.-- San Diego Spirit web site photo --

SAN DIEGO (Sunday, May 18, 2003) -- The San Diego Spirit and United States Women's World Cup program suffered a devastating blow tonight when striker Shannon MacMillan went down with a serious injury to her right knee in a 1-1 draw with the Boston Breakers before 5,128 at Torero Stadium tonight.

MacMillan, the leading U.S. scorer since the beginning of 2002, had two chances to score before she went out, sending a header just wide of the right post early and then drilling a shot over the crossbar from 20 yards out. In the eighth minute, as MacMillan went to play a loose ball with her left leg, her right plant leg buckled. An MRI Exam is scheduled for tomorrow, but a torn anterior cruciate ligament is suspected.

"My cleat got stuck and my knee went one way and my body went the other," MacMillan said. "I heard a pop that sounded like when you crack your knuckles. As soon as I went down, I knew it was bad because of the pain I was feeling."

MacMillan, who has 58 career international goals, led the U.S. women with 17 in 2002 and with six thus far this year. Rookie Susan Bush replaced MacMillan for her WUSA debut.

"She is a threat for us on the field and it's a big loss in that way, but more importantly, we just feel awful for her," said Spirit and U.S. captain Julie Foudy. "We will be beside her every day until she gets back."

Said the Spirit team physician, Dr. Lee Rice, "It's a probable ligament injury to the right knee. She'll have an MRI in the morning and we'll know more about the diagnosis and treatment procedure at that time."

The Spirits (2-1-3, 9 points) earned its third consecutive tie when former Breaker forward Allie Sullivan scored her first goal in the 50th minute. Midfielder Aly Wagner's free kick from close to the right sideline bounced around in the Breakers' penalty area before Sullivan pivoted and drive a 16-yard blast across goalkeeper Karina LaBlanc and into the right side netting from 16 yards out to even things at 1-1.

"The team is going through some tough times right now (with MacMillan's injury and the death of Christine Latham's father), but you saw tonight that people can step up and perform," Sullivan said. "Hopefully, that will carry us through the next few games."

Boston (3-2-2, 11) scored soon after MacMillan left the game when Spirit defender Joy Fawcett gave away the ball. The Breakers' Maren Meinert passed to fellow forward Dagny Mellgren behind the defense and the Norwegian international deftly chipped her shot over goalkeeper Jaime Pagliarulo for her fourth goal from 18 yards for a 1-0 lead in the eighth minute.

With the assist, Meinert tied Atlanta's Maribel Dominguez as the top scorer in the league with 14 points. Each player has six goals and two assists.

"We were not patient," Boston coach Pia Sundhage said. "We seem to watch Maren Meinert instead of playing with her. We need to support her and keep possession. We should have raised the level of play but we didn't. We put in a good fight and got a point."

The Spirit was without forward Julie Fleeting, who is in Scotland playing for her national team, and forward Christine Latham, who is in Canada after the death of her father last week.

"I told the players that the look on my face (after the game) was not disappointment in our play, but I just feel for Mac," San Diego coach Omid Namazi said. "The good thing is that we have players who can fill that role. Tonight we played without two or our top players in Fleeting and Latham, but then again you are talking about Shannon MacMillan and that's a huge loss no matter how you look at it."

Referee: Misali Tsapos. Referee's assistants: Sandra Belmont; Diane Driggers, Attendance: 5,128 at Torero Stadium in San Diego. Temperature: Sunny, breezy, 72 degrees.

Carolina 5, Washington 2: Game story.
Philadelphia 2, New York 1: Game story.
Atlanta 1, San Jose 0: Game story.