Keeping an Eye on the Goal

If you're a fan of women's soccer, you don't have to wait for the pros to come back next year. A great group of female athletes are around and kicking in the Washington area this summer.

The Washington Freedom is playing 15 games in the W-League, the highest level of women's soccer in the country. The Freedom won its first two games, and the team opens its home schedule this weekend with games in Germantown. The games are fun, fast-paced and let kids get close to the players as well as the action on the pitch.

The team is loaded with top stars including forward Christie Welsh, the high scorer on the 2005 U.S. women's national team. Lots of the Freedom players are local stars who also coach area teams.

Forward Ali Andrzejewski, 22, began playing in Lutherville, Maryland, when she was 4 years old.

"First I was on the white team," she said, remembering the color of her first soccer shirt. "Then I moved on to the yellow bumblebees." Andrzejewski went on to play at the University of Maryland and Loyola College, where she set a season scoring record of 18 goals in 2004. When she is not scoring goals for the Freedom, Andrzejewski is busy coaching and training about 80 athletes in the Baltimore-Washington area.

Anabel Jimenez, 25, played for the Bullis School in Potomac and several area classic teams. She starred at American University and played professional soccer in Germany.

"Playing in another country helped me learn another culture and a different style of play," forward Jimenez said. She uses that international experience coaching the Renegades in the Washington Area Girls Soccer (WAGS) League and a classic league.

Because the players in the W-League are not paid, local college stars can play on the Freedom without losing their college eligibility.

Melissa Whitley, 21, is a defender and rising senior at Princeton University who grew up in Silver Spring. She first wanted to play basketball in the WNBA, but Whitley chose soccer over hoops. She starred for Good Counsel High School and the Bethesda Strikers. Whitley says the Freedom is a great place to stay in top soccer shape. "It's a very competitive environment," she said. "Everyone is totally serious about playing."

Jimenez agrees. "It's great because we have good coaches and good players and you are always getting better with every practice." Everyone on the Freedom, Jimenez says, "has a passion for soccer."

Fred Bowen writes KidsPost's sports opinion column and is an author of sports novels for kids.