2003 Women's United Soccer Association season

The 2003 Women's United Soccer Association season was the third and final season for WUSA, the first top level professional women's soccer league in the United States. The regular season began on April 5 and ended on August 10. The playoffs began on August 16, with the championship match between played on August 24 between the Washington Freedom and the Atlanta Beat.

Women's United Soccer Association

Season	2003
Champions	Washington Freedom
← 2002

Competition format

• The regular season began on April 5 and ended on August 10.
• 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 17. The winners of the semifinals met at Torero Stadium in San Diego, California for the final on August 24.

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Boston Breakers	21	10	7	4	33	29	+4	37	Regular season winners
2	Atlanta Beat	21	9	8	4	34	19	+15	35	Qualification to playoffs
3	San Diego Spirit	21	8	7	6	27	26	+1	31
4	Washington Freedom (C)	21	9	4	8	40	31	+9	31
5	New York Power	21	7	5	9	33	43	−10	26
6	San Jose CyberRays	21	7	4	10	23	30	−7	25
7	Carolina Courage	21	7	4	10	31	33	−2	25
8	Philadelphia Charge	21	5	5	11	30	40	−10	20

Source: WUSA^[1][2]
(C) Champions

Playoffs

	Semi-Finals					Founders Cup
	1	Boston Breakers	0 (1)
	4	Washington Freedom	0 (3)
						4	Washington Freedom	2
						2	Atlanta Beat	1
	2	Atlanta Beat	2
	3	San Diego Spirit	1

Semi-finals

Boston Breakers v Washington Freedom

August 16, 2003 Semi-Finals	Boston Breakers	0–0 (a.e.t.) (1–3 p)	Washington Freedom	Boston, Massachusetts
		Report		Stadium: Nickerson Field Attendance: 9,070 Referee: Misail Tsapos
	Penalties
	Meinert Lilly Mellgren Aldama		Meier Little Hamm

Atlanta Beat v San Diego Spirit

August 17, 2003 Semi-Finals	Atlanta Beat	2–1 (a.e.t.)	San Diego Spirit	Atlanta, Georgia
	Pohlers 90+2' Hooper 94'	Report	Wagner 38'	Stadium: Herndon Stadium Attendance: 8,123 Referee: Erich Simmons

Founders Cup III

Main article: 2003 WUSA Founders Cup

Washington Freedom v Atlanta Beat

August 24, 2003 Founders Cup	Washington Freedom	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Atlanta Beat	San Diego, California
	Wambach 7', 96'	Report	Hooper 46' (pen.)	Stadium: Torero Stadium Attendance: 7,106 Referee: Terry Vaughn

Awards

Award	Player	Club
Most Valuable Player	Maren Meinert	Boston Breakers
Defensive Player of the Year	Joy Fawcett	San Diego Spirit
Goalkeeper of the Year	Briana Scurry	Washington Freedom
Rookie of the Year	Christine Latham	San Diego Spirit
Coach of the Year	Pia Sundhage	Boston Breakers
Humanitarian Award	Jenny Benson	Philadelphia Charge
Team Community Service Award		San Jose CyberRays
Team Fair Play Award		Philadelphia Charge
Referee of the Year	Terry Vaughn
Executive of the Year	Joe Cummings	Boston Breakers
Goal of the Year	Abby Wambach	Washington Freedom

Source:^[3]

See also

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

• List of WUSA drafts

References

1. "2003 WUSA Regular Season Standings". Soccer Times. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
2. "WUSA Stats and Standings (Archived)". Archived from the original on October 8, 2003. Retrieved May 20, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
3. "Meinert wins most valuable player". USA Today. Retrieved May 20, 2014.

External links

• WUSA Website (archive.org)
• WUSA on Fun While It Lasted