Can't catch a break: Talent-laden WUSA keeps Ducar on toes
by Mark Murphy
Thursday, May 10, 2001
The founders of the Women's United Soccer Association were smart to limit the initial competition to eight teams.
True to the league's most ambitious hopes, every match has been played with World Cup-level talent. Every team is loaded, especially in the attacking positions.
And that's what has made Breakers goalkeeper Tracy Ducar's job such a game-to-game race to keep up with the changing faces and the differing styles. Only the level of talent doesn't waver.
"It seems that with a lot of teams, the front-runners are members of the (U.S.) national team, or they're international players,'' the 27-year-old North Andover native said after yesterday's practice at Wellesley's Babson College. "Most of these teams are putting their internationals up front, and it's good, a good challenge.
"That's what makes this league so good. That's what you want to see out of this league. I expected these games to be tight and close. As the season progresses, the teams are going to get better, because the players will start to feel more comfortable with each other. You'll find more creative play.''
Not that what Ducar has seen so far has been anything less.
She now goes from last weekend's 1-0 loss to Atlanta at BU's Nickerson Field - a game in which Ducar made five dynamic saves against an attack that included world class strikers Sun Wen, Cindy Parlow and Charmaine Hooper - to Saturday's challenge in Washington against the Freedom.
That means a date against her former national teammate, Mia Hamm, in addition to a pair of Brazilian strikers, Pretinha and Roseli.
"The quality of these games are as good as if you were with the national team,'' said Ducar. "As soon as you get past one opponent, you can't relax, because you know that there's a totally different style coming up in the next game.''
As powerful as Atlanta was up front, the Freedom are just as explosive in an entirely different way, combining Hamm's on-the-ball skill with the similar style of her two Brazilian teammates.
"They will play the ball into Mia, and the same with the Brazilians. They're all very good with the ball at their feet,'' Ducar said.
But so far Ducar has managed to make the necessary adjustments.
She didn't have a prayer against the Homare Sawa shot that gave Atlanta the win last Saturday, coming at the end of a slick three-pass sequence that cut apart the Breakers defense.
Ducar is second in the WUSA with 14 saves over three games, in addition to ranking third in goals-against average with an 0.67 mark.
And in part, Ducar has a year away from the sport to thank for her early performance. She was admittedly crushed about being dropped from the national team pool after coach April Heinrichs took over the program from Tony DeCicco following the 1999 World Cup.
But for a player who has suffered from back pain and bulging disc trouble ever since she had spinal fusion as a high school athlete in 1989, the year off turned out to be a blessing.
"Anytime you get cut from a team, it's a disappointment,'' she said. "The first two months after that were real hard, but it turned out to be really good for me. And besides, last year was a really tough one for the national team. They played 41 games last year.''