| Freedom's Timely Arrival Golebiowski Makes Immediate Impact By Brian Straus Special to The Washington Post Friday, May 9, 2003; Page D03 Sixty-eight minutes into the April 26 game that marked her first professional start and her RFK Stadium debut, Washington Freedom midfielder Kelly Golebiowski confirmed once again she is a player who can make an indelible first impression. The 21-year-old Australian scored a goal that became an instant classic -- a high, left-footed volley from the left side of the penalty area that beat Atlanta goalkeeper Briana Scurry into the far netting. Freedom Coach Jim Gabarra said he could not recall a more artistic Women's United Soccer Association goal. "The family I live with taped it for me. I got home that day and they brought the tape out and showed me the goal again. I watched it a few times with them," Golebiowski said. "I don't think I played so well during the game. It was my first home game, first start. I couldn't ask for anything more than to score a goal in that fashion." It was the latest in a long list of quick starts. The youngest player in Australian national team history, Golebiowski earned a spot on the Matildas at 14 following a camp that merely was meant to get her acquainted with the program. She came to the United States at 19 as a Women's World Cup and Olympic veteran, hoping to spend the two years before she became WUSA-eligible showcasing her skills in the minor leagues. She was the W-League rookie of the year in 2001 while playing for Hampton Roads. Her abilities impressed Gabarra, who brought Golebiowski to Houston last October for an exhibition against Atlanta. She quickly blended in and set up all three goals in a 3-2 win. "She was with the team for a week, and it was like she'd been with them for a year," Gabarra said. Unwilling to risk losing Golebiowski in the WUSA draft, Gabarra signed her as an international discovery player in February. After missing the Freedom's first two matches while on national team duty, Golebiowski wasted no time becoming a fixture in the Washington midfield. She will make her second start when the first-place Freedom (3-0-1) hosts the Philadelphia Charge on Saturday. "We recognized right away that she was very talented. Once there's more of a consistency there, I think she can be a really big impact player in the league," Gabarra said. "She was very good at creating space with the ball, which was something we really didn't have. To have a left-footed player who can do that, you can't really teach those things. I don't think we have anyone else who plays the way she does." Golebiowski's natural ability allowed her to compete against boys as a child growing up outside Sydney and to play with women more than twice her age on the state team in New South Wales. New York Power Coach Tom Sermanni, then the manager of the Australian women's national team, named her to a team that made a July 1996 tour of the United States. She played twice for Australia that summer against the U.S. national team and since has appeared in more than 50 international matches, scoring seven goals. "Before that I'd never experienced more than 40 people in a crowd," Golebiowski said. "I'd never had little girls running up asking for an autograph or a photo. I think experiencing that at such a young age and going like that for seven or eight years, you just learn to concentrate on soccer." If healthy, Golebiowski is a lock to play for the Matildas in this fall's Women's World Cup, which Australian soccer officials are hoping to host now that the event has been moved from China. Her country did not win a game in either of its two previous World Cup appearances, but Golebiowski said she is keeping her focus on fulfilling her professional ambitions with the Freedom. "For me to come here and be a part of this is everything I ever dreamed soccer-wise," Golebiowski said. "My goal now is to keep myself here for as long a time as I can." © 2003 The Washington Post Company |
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| Photo credit: Nick Wass - AP |