'Just me and the ball'

Calm Murray drills penalty kick for CyberRay victory

Julie Murray scored a goal in regulation and the game-winning kick in the shootout. John Freeman Todd

By Tim Nash

BOSTON -- Her team needed one more penalty kick goal. Three of her Bay Area teammates had already successfully converted their shootout attempts, while the Atlanta Beat had missed twice. If Julie Murray could just get the ball past Briana Scurry, Ms. Shootout herself, Murray's team would take home the Founders Cup as the first-ever WUSA champions.

"Strangely enough, I was extremely calm," said Murray, a 31-year-old Aussie. "As I walked up to the penalty spot, I decided to jog a little to get my legs going.

"When I got there, I heard the crowd," she continued. "Then I didn't hear the crowd. I couldn't hear a sound. It was just me and the ball, the way it should be."

A few minutes later, it was just Murray and the game MVP trophy, the way it should be.

In a tense and exciting finale to the inaugural WUSA season, Murray emerged as the hero. She tied the game at 2-2 with a 43rd-minute goal to send her team into the locker room with new hope. The CyberRays took a 1-0 lead in just six minutes, but Atlanta was ahead 2-1 just eight minutes later.

Atlanta went ahead 3-2 on a Sun Wen goal in the 83rd-minute, but Tisha Venturini forced overtime in the 86th. Murray, however, never believed the match would go beyond 90 minutes.

"After Tish scored, I thought we would win it in 90 minutes," Murray said. "Then I thought we'd win it in the first 7:30 overtime period. When that didn't happen, I thought we'd win it in the next 7:30. Obviously, that didn't happen either."

They won it in PKs, though. Murray set off on a sprint to the corner, screaming with her arms pumping. When asked to explain her celebration, she said, "Oh, I have no idea."

Six years ago, Murray had no idea where she was going, and very little to celebrate in soccer. The sport was her life, she admits, and she had little else. Then after the 1995 World Cup, she was dropped from the Australian national team, by the Matildas' new coach. That coach, in a weird twist of irony, was CyberRays assistant Tom Sermanni.

During the post-match, on-field celebration in Foxboro, an elated Murray and a Gatorade-drenched Sermanni engaged in an extended embrace.

There was never any animosity between Murray and Sermanni, who admits that Murray was "hot about the decision at the time, just like you would expect a player to be, but she was a true professional in every way."

Sermanni lit a fire under Murray, saying she responded the way he hoped she would. Murray sees that time of her life as crucial to her development not only as a soccer player, but as a person.

"First of all, it gave me some balance in my life," said Murray. "I was able to get back the real drive for the game that I think I had lost. Put it this way, since my return I've played my best soccer.

"It was certainly beneficial in terms of my mental outlook. My enthusiasm and my love for the game never changed. But it did give me the opportunity to sit back and assess what I wanted out of life."

What she wanted was to become a professional soccer player, to earn a living at the game she decided she loved. That opportunity, obviously, came this year with the WUSA.

After Murray had thanked her teammates, privately and publicly, she was asked what a WUSA title and the game MVP trophy meant to her personally.

"I've been around a long time," she said, obviously exhausted and asking if anyone minded if she sat down while answering questions. "This is extremely satisfying. It's wonderful to be able to contribute to my team in this way. The beauty of it is that I've been able to surround myself with the greatest people I possibly could, very honest, down-to-earth people.

"And I get to go home with the trophy," she added pointing to the Founders Cup."

Two trophies, actually.

(c)womenssoccer.com 2001