Over the first four weeks of the Women's Professional Soccer season, Atlanta Beat have made a sacrifice for the league.
Where no other team has had more than two consecutive road games, Atlanta has yet to play at home match. Instead, the Beat have traveled from Philadelphia to the Bay Area and back, amassing a 0-3-1 record along the way. While Gareth O'Sullivan's women have played willing soccer, they currently carry a three match losing streak, sitting at the bottom of the league while their expansion partners Philadelphia enjoy an undefeated start.
This weekend comes the pay-off - a reward for the sacrifice of spending their franchise's dawn living out of a duffel bag. Not only will Atlanta's Women Professional Soccer entrant raise the curtain on their time in Georgia, they will do so on a precedent-setting stage when the Beat host defending champion Sky Blue FC on Sunday.
The Beat's home, Kennesaw State University Soccer Stadium, is the first of its size built specifically for women's play. In the colloquial parlance of "SSS" (soccer-specific stadium), the KSU facility is the first WSSS, a product of a partnership between club and university that will see the 8,300-seat, $16.5 million facility (completed last week) attempt to usher in a new era of women's soccer.
"This is the only women’s soccer-specific stadium of this size in the world," explains Atlanta Beat owner T. Fitz Johnson. "Through our partnership with Kennesaw State that provides us access to this state-of-the art facility, we are the envy of every other team in the league. The stadium is setting a new standard in women’s pro soccer."
It's a standard that could intensify the spotlight on venues like Harvard Stadium, where thin yellow lines outlining a soccer pitch amidst the artificial field's sprayed-on football grid frame the limited consideration afforded the women's game. There, the Boston Breakers play their home games in an environment that's similar to Farrell Stadium in West Chester, where Philadelphia play their games.
For Boston and Philadelphia, their venues represent the best of limited options, a decision-making process that has traditionally led teams to serve as tenants of their male counterparts or inadequate college facilities. To this point, no WPS team has played in a place that was their own, one of many symptoms of a sporting culture that is reticent to look at the women's game through a distinct lens.
On Sunday, that starts to changes. While the KSU stadium is not "their own," it was completed with the Beat in mind. It was crafted for women's soccer, implicitly serving at the first test case in an experiment that seeks to show the viability of the women's professional game. If KSU stadium can be the Beat's Red Bull Arena or Home Depot Center, assumptions underscoring the game's commercial viability will need to be redressed.
A women's professional league just needs a fair chance, we often hear, but without the type of infrastructure we see surrounding Major League Soccer, United Soccer Leagues, and North American Soccer League, has a league ever gotten a reasonable chance?
This Sunday, the Atlanta Beat start to answer the question, and possiblly bring the need for a new acronym into a parlance: MSSS.
The match will be on Fox Soccer Channel at 7 p.m., Eastern.
Boston was shocked last week at Harvard, losing 2-0 to the previously winless Chicago Red Stars. The Breakers attempt to right themselves in a return trip to Maryland, where they opened the season with a 2-1 win over the Freedom.
Since, Washington has been the most inconsistent team in the league, with their surprise 3-1 win last week over Saint Louis coming on the heals of a 3-1 loss to Philadelphia.
Boston needs to snap a three match winless streak, but the return of Sonia Bompastor to Washington's midfield may be the difference in the teams' Week 1 results and what will happen Saturday. Last month, the French playmakerwas playing out-of-postion (in defense), but in her first week back in midfield (last week), Bompastor had a goal and assist en route to winning Player of the Week honors.
With Washington having the league's best attack and worst defense, matching-up with Kelley Smith and Lauren Cheney, this game looks to be the Freedom's third successive high-scoring affair.
Saint Louis may be reeling, stunned last week by Washington after being drawn at home by Boston. Athletica are now winless since their opening week victory over Gold Pride, and against an Independence team which - along with Chicago - is the hardest working team in the league, they will need to gain a here-to unseen measure of intensity in order to give Paul Riley's team their first ever loss.
Athletica in Saint Louis is a daunting task, which Riley's knows. He could be happy with a point from last season's runners-up, and with a defense that's only allowed two goals in four matches, they are set-up to get it.
To do so, they will have to overcome the loss of midfielder Caroline Seger (calf injury), but with the return of Karina LeBlanc to goal, they could see a slight boost to the defense.
Gold Pride will be riding the season's first three match winning streak at Castro Valley on Saturday, though Chicago's 2-0 win at Boston announced the previously winless Red Stars as a team that can do more than wear you down.
Emma Hayes has done a great job preparing her team, even if goals failed to materialize in the club's first three games. With Casey Nogueira emerging and Cristiane finally getting on the scoresheet, the Red Stars may have turned a corner.
Even if they have, getting three points at Gold Pride coudl be asking too much. Coming off their first shutout of the season, the Bay Area club may have found some defending to complement the league's most high-powered attack. What's more, Marta's familiarity with her teammates appears to be growing, allowing her to gain more confidence in her surroundings with each match.
To this point, the FIFA World Player of the Year has only scored once while teammate Christine Sinclair has three. If Marta (and midfielder Camile Abily) start finding nylon, Gold Pride could pull-away from the league.
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