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Tuesday, April 24, 2001
Frozen Moment: Lilly saves day in overtime
By Melanie Jackson
ESPN.com
This piece was originally published on ESPN.com after the U.S. Women's National Team defeated China on penalty kicks to win the World Cup on July 10, 1999.
PASADENA, Calif. -- Kristine Lilly saw it all about to come to an end.
Since Norway captured it in 1995, she and her U.S. teammates had thought of little else but winning back the Women's World Cup title. But in overtime of the Women's World Cup final Saturday afternoon at the Rose Bowl, there was a fleeting moment when it seemed like glory was going to be swept away from the Americans for another four years.
And this time, on their own soil.
|  | | Kristine Lilly celebrates the win with her teammates during the Womens World Cup game against China at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. |
In the 10th minute of sudden-death overtime, Chinese midfielder Liu Ying sent a corner kick screaming across the U.S. goalmouth, where teammate Fan Yunjie got her head on it. Fan, who outjumped Mia Hamm on the play, headed the ball past U.S. goalkeeper Briana Scurry and toward the far post.
But just as the ball was about to cross the goal line, Lilly headed it away, keeping the game scoreless and paving the way for a 5-4 victory on penalty kicks after a 0-0 draw as the U.S. became the first Women's World Cup host to win the championship.
Thirty minutes after Lilly's heroic play, Scurry made another one when she stopped China's third penalty kick. Five shots later, U.S. defender Brandi Chastain netted the game-winner. Both Scurry and Chastain were being called heroes after the game, but neither player would have had the chance had Lilly not made her own game-winning save.
At least that's how U.S. coach Tony DiCicco put it after the match.
"Kristine Lilly finds ways for us to win games," he said of the world's most-capped player. Lilly has played in 186 international matches, more than any man or woman. "Sometimes it's scoring goals, sometimes it's sending crosses in. Today, she saves one off the line for us and we end up winning the game."
Lilly, at 5-foot-4 the third-shortest player on the U.S. roster (behind 5-2 Tiffeny Milbrett and 5-3 Lorrie Fair), isn't used to making heroic plays with her head. That's usually done by teammates Michelle Akers, Tisha Venturini or Chastain. She wasn't quite ready to take credit for anything.
"That's my spot on corner kicks, to be on the post, and you shift with the ball," Lilly explained. "I shifted in, and right where she headed it is right where I was standing. I wasn't thinking anything, I was just heading the ball.
"I just happened to be the one on the line, did my job and shifted at the right time. I don't know if I saved it (the game). A lot of people saved it."
Indeed. In addition to Scurry's heroic save in the shootout and Chastain's winning penalty kick, several other U.S. players made an impact.
Defender Kate Sobrero had several key one-on-one stops in China's offensive third in the first half. Then in the 89th minute, with China's Zhang Ouying preparing to rip a shot from the top of the box, Chastain slide-tackled the Chinese forward, blocking the shot with her stomach before poking the ball out of danger seconds later.
Numerous times, U.S. forwards Milbrett and Hamm were back in their defensive third, winning tackles or doubling up on the ball.
As Hamm put it, "I don't know if we've seen a better team defense performance than what you saw today."
|  | | Surrounded by her teammates, captain Carla Overbeck holds the World Cup trophy up proudly on that historic blistering hot July afternoon at the Rose Bowl. |
But above all else, "Kristine Lilly did her job. Nothing more. Nothing less," Chastain said.
"We all have assignments in those situations, and at that exact moment she was in the exact spot she should have been," Chastain said. "She filled her commitment to this team."
Until Saturday's final, Lilly wasn't pleased with her World Cup performance. But as reserve midfielder Venturini put it, Lilly saved her best for last.
"Before the game, we had talked and she said she hadn't had her greatest tournament," said Venturini, who like Lilly played at North Carolina. "She wasn't feeling confident, her touch was off. But today was her day. She saved the ball off the line for us, and that was the game right there."
Through 90 minutes of regulation, both teams had their chances, but things weren't as even in overtime.
"In the first period of extra time, (China) dominated us, and it looked like we were running out of gas," DiCicco said.
But somehow, after Lilly's heroic save, the U.S. team stepped up. In the second overtime, the U.S. women dominated and seemed to carry that momentum into the shootout, where Chastain, Carla Overbeck, Joy Fawcett, Mia Hamm and -- oh, yes -- Lilly each netted penalty kicks.
After the victory, a humble Lilly continued to pass off the credit, saying the U.S. back line was the key to the game.
"Our defense was amazing today," she said. "They were strong, and every ball that came in there, they won."
And, of course, Lilly took care of the one they didn't.
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