Hartman’s Mistake Costly but Doesn’t Cheapen Season
A week has passed since Kevin Hartman’s monumental blunder contributed significantly to the Galaxy’s 2-0 loss to Washington D.C. United in Major League Soccer’s championship game.
The pain will linger until next season for MLS’ goalkeeper of the year. It should not, however, spoil what was an exceptional season for the 25-year-old former UCLA keeper whose 0.91 goals-against average set a league record and will earn him a hefty salary boost.
As Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid said, “How can I fault Kevin? He helped us get where we’re at.”
Hartman’s failure to properly clear a poorly considered back pass from teammate Steve Jolley handed Ben Olsen a gift goal, sending D.C. United into the locker room with a two-goal halftime edge.
What exactly happened?
“I didn’t mis-hit [the ball],” Hartman said. “I got about half the field on the side of my shoe and then I tried to kick the ball with about a pound of clay and, I don’t know . . .
“It was a situation where, if I could have gotten the ball where I wanted it, I would have gotten it outside that central dirt patch [where the field was torn up and bare], but I didn’t get it there.
“I should have just taken a step to the right and just hit it long, but I saw somebody open to my left and I was just going to knock it outside there. [The ball] bounced up on me, took a bad first touch, then I was going to hit it with the outside of my right foot [and] I kind of got my foot caught [in the dirt] and just hit it right to Ben and he finished it.
“It’s disappointing. You want to be a consistent goalkeeper. You know you’re going to make mistakes, you just don’t want mistakes to come at that point in the championship run.”
The threadbare field, chewed up by a Patriot-Jet NFL game six days earlier and smaller than either team would have preferred, contributed to the misplay.
“This was worse than a high school football field,” D.C. United defender Jeff Agoos told the Washington Post. “It definitely had an impact on the game.”
Said Hartman, “I don’t think anybody wants to play a championship game on a field of that quality. I think the fans were let down by it. I think the players were let down by it.
“It’s disappointing. I feel like I let the guys on the team down. I feel like I let all the [Galaxy] fans down.”
Among those watching the game was U.S. national team Coach Bruce Arena.
“The mistake Kevin Hartman made is the mistake a young goalkeeper makes,” Arena told the Boston Globe. “But by the time he’s 30, he will be a terrific goalkeeper.”
LIGHTS OUT FOR LASSITER
It will come as small consolation to Galaxy defender Robin Fraser, but the player who knocked him out of MLS Cup ’99 with a shove that resulted in a broken collarbone in the final is no longer with D.C. United.
Washington traded MLS’ all-time leading scorer to the Miami Fusion less than a week after the championship match.
With 73 goals and 25 assists in 114 regular-season games, Roy “Lights Out” Lassiter--the nickname was dreamed up for MLS television commercials--was sent to Miami to complete an earlier trade in which John Maessner and hot prospect Chris Albright were acquired by D.C. United.
The move was intended to help D.C. United with its salary-cap problems and had nothing to do with Lassiter’s non-called foul on Fraser.
WAIVERING
Twenty-two players, or almost 10% of the MLS player roster, were put on waivers last week.
The Galaxy waived midfielder John Jones, who missed the entire season because of injury, defender Gabe Eastman and forward Jose Botello.
Only three players were taken in the waiver draft, with the New York/New Jersey MetroStars picking up Kansas City Wizard forward Nino da Silva, the Columbus Crew taking New England Revolution defender Mario Gori and the San Jose Earthquakes selecting the Galaxy’s Eastman.
SHOWDOWN IN TOKYO
European champion Manchester United of England plays South American champion Palmeiras of Brazil in Tokyo on Tuesday in the annual Toyota/Intercontinental Cup.
The event has been held since 1960, with the exception of 1975 and 1978, and South American teams hold a 20-17 advantage.
Manchester United will be trying to become the first English team to win the trophy, after its own failure in 1968 and those of Nottingham Forest (1980), Liverpool (1981 and 1984) and Aston Villa (1982).
Brazilian teams have a 6-4 record in the Cup, but have lost three times in the last four years. Palmeiras strengthened its hand on Friday by signing 1994 World Cup winner Romario.
WOMEN’S FINAL FOUR
Notre Dame (20-3-0) plays Nebraska (22-1-1) at Lincoln today for the last berth in the semifinals of the NCAA women’s tournament at San Jose.
In quarterfinals played Saturday, North Carolina (22-2-0) shut out Clemson (14-7-2), 3-0, and advanced to the final four for the 18th consecutive season.
Santa Clara (23-0-0) kept its perfect record intact by beating Connecticut (17-8-0), 3-0, on two goals by Aly Wagner and one by Devven Hawkins. Santa Clara will play the Notre-Dame-Nebraska winner in Friday’s semifinals.
The Broncos are coached by Jim Smith, whose assistant is his wife--two-time Women’s World Cup winner and Olympic gold medalist Brandi Chastain. Santa Clara routed UCLA in the third round, 7-0.
North Carolina will play Penn State (21-3-1), which blanked Hartford (18-5-2), 2-0, in the other semifinal. The Nittany Lions are one of only two teams to defeat the Tar Heels.
The final is scheduled for Dec. 5 at San Jose’s Spartan Stadium.
QUICK PASSES
San Jose Earthquake forward Ronald Cerritos of El Salvador agreed to a four-year contract that will increase his salary to the MLS maximum, $255,000. . . . Washington Capital minority owner Jon Ledecky is expected to buy the operating rights to D.C. United this week for a figure that is almost certain to exceed the
$26 million Phil Anschutz paid for the Galaxy last year.
The $2.4-million transfer fee that England’s Nottingham Forest paid the Columbus Crew for forward Stern John could grow to as much as $6.4 million, depending on how John performs in the English league. . . . The Chicago Fire will not renew the contracts of Polish veterans Roman Kosecki and Jerzy Podbrozny, who along with midfielder and fellow Pole Peter Nowak and Czech defender Lubos Kubik formed the Fire’s ‘Eastern Bloc’ and helped lead the team to the 1998 MLS title.
Vitalis “Digital” Takawira was among seven players to either be waived or not have their contracts renewed by the Kansas City Wizards. . . . More than 15,000 tickets have been sold for the U.S.-Iran game at the Rose Bowl on Jan. 16.
