The Los Angeles Sol's Shannon Boxx (right) attempts a header shot over the Washington Freedom's Sonia Bompastor (left) and Becky Sauerbrunn during the first half of a Women's Professional Soccer match Sunday in Carson, Calif.
CARSON, Calif. – Allison Falk isn’t used to playing in front of large crowds. The nearly 15,000 at the Home Depot Center didn’t bother her, though.
Falk and Camille Abily each scored and the Los Angeles Sol blanked the Washington Freedom 2-0 on a blustery Sunday in the inaugural game of the Women’s Professional Soccer league.
The Sol (1-0) and Freedom (0-1) were the first to play their games in the seven-team WPS, a league in the works for nearly three years before being finalized in late 2008.
“The whole game was surreal. It was an amazing experience,” said Falk, who graduated from Stanford in 2008. “I think this is probably one of the bigger crowds I have played for, but you just have to get out there and just play.”
Girls held up flags from every country before the game and soccer great Mia Hamm was part of the pregame hoopla. Hamm, who has twin daughters, was excited about the new league.
“As a mother of twins, who one day might be out on the field themselves, the opportunity for young girls and women to play world class professional soccer in their country is something very special,” she said.
“What was the attendance?” Sol coach Abner Rogers asked.
It was 14,832 at the Home Depot Center – which has a capacity of 27,000. The Sol were initially expecting somewhere around 10,000.
“That’s great. Everyone’s been waiting a long time for this. Hopefully they enjoyed it,” Rogers said.
Armstrong riding again
Lance Armstrong is back on the bike.
Three days after surgery to fix his broken right collarbone, Armstrong posted a photo of himself training on his Twitter feed Saturday afternoon.
“Got on the spin bike for half an hour today,” the seven-time Tour de France champion wrote.
The 37-year-old American cyclist was expected to resume training almost immediately to meet his goal of racing in the Giro d’Italia, which begins May 9.
He also plans to ride in the Tour this July, his first since 2005.
Surgeon Doug Elenz inserted a stainless steel plate and 12 screws to stabilize the broken collarbone Wednesday, two days after Armstrong crashed in the first stage of the Vuelta of Castilla and Leon race in northern Spain.