2001 Women's United Soccer Association season

The 2001 Women's United Soccer Association season served as the inaugural season for WUSA, the top level professional women's soccer league in the United States. The regular season began on April 14 and ended on August 12, with the postseason games being held on August 18 and August 25.

Women's United Soccer Association

Season	2001
Champions	Bay Area CyberRays
Goals scored	235
Average goals/game	2.80
Top goalscorer	Tiffeny Milbrett (16)
2002 →

Attendance figures were high for the first season, particularly early in the season, though not near the levels organizers were expecting based on the attendance for the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup. The league spent its initial $40m budget, intended to last five years, in just this first season.

Competition format

• The season began on April 14 and ended on August 12.
• Each team played a total of 21 games, three against each opponent (either twice at home and once away or vice versa). This caused an uneven schedule with teams hosting either 10 or 11 home games each.
• The four teams with the most points from the regular season qualified for the playoffs. The regular season champions and runners-up hosted the fourth- and third-placed teams, respectively, in the single-game semifinals on August 18. The winners of the semifinals met at Foxboro Stadium for the final on August 25.

Results table

Abbreviation and Color Key: Atlanta Beat - ATL • Bay Area CyberRays - BAY • Boston Breakers - BOS • Carolina Courage - CAR New York Power - NYP • Philadelphia Charge - PHI • San Diego Spirit - SDS • Washington Freedom - WSH Win  • Loss  • Tie  • Home
Club	Match
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21
Atlanta Beat[1]	NYP	PHI	BOS	SDS	PHI	BAY	CAR	BOS	WSH	SDS	CAR	PHI	WSH	NYP	BAY	NYP	CAR	SDS	BOS	WSH	BAY
	0-0	0-0	0-1	1-1	0-2	0-1	0-2	1-1	2-1	3-2	1-1	1-1	3-2	0-3	1-1	2-1	3-2	3-1	0-1	1-2	4-0
Bay Area CyberRays[2]	WSH	BOS	PHI	CAR	BOS	ATL	SDS	NYP	CAR	PHI	SDS	NYP	WSH	BOS	ATL	WSH	SDS	CAR	PHI	NYP	ATL
	1-0	1-1	3-2	2-1	2-4	0-1	3-1	0-0	2-0	3-0	0-0	1-0	2-3	0-2	1-1	1-0	0-2	1-2	3-2	0-1	4-0
Boston Breakers[3]	CAR	BAY	ATL	WSH	BAY	PHI	NYP	ATL	SDS	WSH	NYP	SDS	CAR	BAY	PHI	CAR	NYP	WSH	ATL	SDS	PHI
	0-1	1-1	0-1	2-2	2-4	2-3	2-3	1-1	3-1	1-0	3-1	3-1	2-1	0-2	1-2	1-2	4-2	2-1	0-1	0-1	2-1
Carolina Courage[4]	BOS	WSH	NYP	BAY	WSH	SDS	ATL	NYP	PHI	BAY	ATL	WSH	PHI	BOS	SDS	BOS	ATL	BAY	NYP	PHI	SDS
	0-1	1-2	3-1	2-1	2-2	4-3	0-2	2-4	3-0	2-0	1-1	2-0	2-0	2-1	2-0	1-2	3-2	1-2	0-1	5-1	2-2
New York Power[5]	ATL	SDS	CAR	PHI	SDS	WSH	BOS	CAR	BAY	PHI	BOS	SDS	BAY	ATL	WSH	ATL	BOS	PHI	CAR	BAY	WSH
	0-0	0-0	3-1	2-2	0-1	1-2	2-3	2-4	0-0	2-1	3-1	1-1	1-0	0-3	2-1	2-1	4-2	2-1	0-1	0-1	0-2
Philadelphia Charge[6]	SDS	ATL	BAY	NYP	ATL	BOS	WSH	WSH	CAR	NYP	BAY	ATL	CAR	SDS	BOS	WSH	NYP	BAY	CAR	SDS	BOS
	0-2	0-0	3-2	2-2	0-2	2-3	0-2	1-2	3-0	2-1	3-0	1-1	2-0	3-0	1-2	0-2	2-1	3-2	5-1	1-1	2-1
San Diego Spirit[7]	PHI	NYP	WSH	ATL	NYP	CAR	BAY	BOS	ATL	WSH	BAY	NYP	BOS	PHI	CAR	BAY	ATL	WSH	BOS	PHI	CAR
	0-2	0-0	2-0	1-1	0-1	4-3	0-1	3-1	3-2	2-3	0-0	1-1	3-1	3-0	2-0	0-2	3-1	2-2	0-1	1-1	2-2
Washington Freedom[8]	BAY	CAR	SDS	BOS	CAR	NYP	PHI	PHI	ATL	BOS	SDS	CAR	WSH	BAY	NYP	BAY	PHI	BOS	SDS	ATL	NYP
	1-0	1-2	2-0	2-2	2-2	1-2	0-2	1-2	2-1	1-0	2-3	2-0	3-2	2-3	2-1	1-0	0-2	2-1	2-2	1-2	0-2

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Atlanta Beat	21	10	7	4	31	21	+10	37	Regular Season Championship
2	Bay Area CyberRays	21	11	4	6	27	23	+4	37	Qualification to play-offs
3	New York Power	21	9	5	7	30	25	+5	32
4	Philadelphia Charge	21	9	4	8	35	28	+7	31
5	San Diego Spirit	21	7	7	7	29	28	+1	28
6	Boston Breakers	21	8	3	10	29	35	−6	27
7	Washington Freedom	21	6	3	12	26	35	−9	21
8	Carolina Courage	21	6	3	12	28	40	−12	21

Updated to match(es) played on August 2001. Source:

Playoffs

Home teams listed second

	Semi-Finals					Founders Cup
	3	New York Power	2
	2	Bay Area CyberRays	3
						2	Bay Area CyberRays	3 (4)
						1	Atlanta Beat	3 (2)
	4	Philadelphia Charge	2
	1	Atlanta Beat	3

Semi-finals

New York Power v Bay Area CyberRays

August 18, 2001 Semi-Finals	New York Power	2–3	Bay Area CyberRays	San Jose, California
1:30 pm PDT	Janss 5' Lalor 45'	Report	Murray 4', 82' Chastain 40' (pen.)	Stadium: Spartan Stadium Attendance: 7,756 Referee: Kari Seitz

Philadelphia Charge v Atlanta Beat

August 18, 2001 Semi-Finals	Philadelphia Charge	2–3 (a.e.t.)	Atlanta Beat	Atlanta, Georgia
6:45 pm EDT	Smith 33' Clemens 36'	Report	Sun 67' (pen.) Parlow 79', 101'	Stadium: Bobby Dodd Stadium Attendance: 12,138 Referee: Ricardo Salazar

Founders Cup

Main article: 2001 WUSA Founders Cup

Bay Area CyberRays v Atlanta Beat

August 25, 2001 Founders Cup	Bay Area CyberRays	3–3 (a.e.t.) (4–2 p)	Atlanta Beat	Boston, Massachusetts
2:00 pm EDT	Chastain 6' Murray 43' Venturini 86'	Report	Bivens 11' Hooper 14' Sun Wen 83'	Stadium: Foxboro Stadium Attendance: 21,078 Referee: Sandra Hunt
	Penalties
	Venturini Dorn Kátia Murray		Sun Wen Serlenga Hooper Blalack

Awards

Award	Player	Club
Most Valuable Player	Tiffeny Milbrett	New York Power
Offensive Player of the Year	Tiffeny Milbrett	New York Power
Defensive Player of the Year	Doris Fitschen	Philadelphia Charge
Goalkeeper of the Year	LaKeysia Beene	Bay Area CyberRays
Coach of the Year	Ian Sawyers	Bay Area CyberRays
Humanitarian Award	Kate Sobrero	Boston Breakers
Team Community Service Award		Washington Freedom
Team Fair Play Award		New York Power

Source:^[9]

Statistical leaders

Top scorers Rank Player Nation Club Goals 1 Tiffeny Milbrett USA New York Power 16 2 Charmaine Hooper CAN Atlanta Beat 12 Shannon MacMillan USA San Diego Spirit 12 4 Dagny Mellgren NOR Boston Breakers 11 5 Liu Ailing PRC Philadelphia Charge 10 6 Julie Murray AUS Bay Area CyberRays 9 Danielle Fotopoulos USA Carolina Courage 9 8 Maren Meinert GER Boston Breakers 8 9 Kátia BRA Bay Area CyberRays 7 10 Hege Riise NOR Carolina Courage 8 Mia Hamm USA Washington Spirit 8

Top assists Rank Player Nation Club Assists 1 Kristine Lilly USA Boston Breakers 10 Sissi BRA Bay Area CyberRays 10 3 Hege Riise NOR Carolina Courage 8 4 Maren Meinert GER Boston Breakers 7 Cindy Parlow USA Atlanta Beat 7 Julie Foudy USA San Diego Spirit 7 7 Shannon MacMillan USA San Diego Spirit 6 8 Margaret Tietjen USA San Diego Spirit 5 Kylie Bivens USA Atlanta Beat 5 Brandi Chastain USA Bay Area CyberRays 5 Michelle French USA Washington Spirit 5 Nel Fettig USA New York Power 5 Danielle Fotopoulos USA Carolina Courage 5 Sara Whalen USA New York Power 5 Source:[10]

See also

• Women's association football portal
• Sports portal
• Association football portal

• List of WUSA drafts