Hamm Hits Historic Mark Too
The hand-lettered sign draped over a wall at Frontier Field said it all:
“Mark McGwire: 63
“Sammy Sosa: 63
Mia Hamm: 99”
And exactly 34:22 into Friday night’s women’s international soccer match between the United States and Russia, a fan leaned over the wall, crossed out the 99 and replaced it with 100.
No matter that baseball’s home run race had rendered McGwire’s mark incorrect, Mia Hamm had scored again.
And this wasn’t just any goal. It was her 100th for the U.S. team and it made her only the third player in history to do so in international play--and the first American.
The goal was her first of two in front of a sellout crowd of 13,125 and it helped propel the U.S. to a 4-0 victory over Russia in the Nike U.S. Women’s Cup ’98 tournament.
It was a night for centuries. Hamm scored her 100th goal to give the American team its 100th victory since winning the World Championship in 1991, and Tiffeny Milbrett played in her 100th game for the United States.
And Milbrett almost stole the show.
The forward scored the first two goals, in the 25th and 28th minutes, then set up both of Hamm’s goals. But it was Hamm’s first that brought the house down.
Milbrett curled a cross in from the left, Russian defender Marina Dikareva misplayed the ball and it bounced toward Hamm, who lashed out a right-foot volley that crashed into the back of the net from seven yards and set off a wild celebration.
Hamm, who shuns the limelight whenever possible, ran back upfield after her goal, smiling broadly. Afterward, she explained her feelings.
“I was excited,” she said. “Julie [Foudy, the U.S. co-captain] and I were talking about it. She was trying to tell me I should do this funny dance or something. I didn’t know what to do, so I just kind of ran around in circles. There was no real choreography to it. But they [her teammates] made me feel real special.”
Hamm scored a headed goal in the 45th minute, this time sinking to her knees and shaking both fists in the air. It was her 101st goal, leaving her four shy of Carolyn Morace’s 105 for Italy and seven shy of the world record of 108 held by Italy’s Elisabetta Vignotta.
She could move closer Sunday, when the U.S. plays Brazil in the tournament’s championship match in Richmond, Va. The Brazilians, behind six goals by Roseli and four by Pretinha, overran Mexico, 11-0, in the evening’s first game.
