JULIE FLEETING'S INTERNATIONAL STRIKE RATE might make Mia Hamm envious, and she's been virtually unstoppable at home, scoring nearly 300 goals in Scotland's top tier.
Now she's stepped up to the big league, where her glittering numbers don't mean much. She knows this – she's looking to learn and impress, not to conquer, during her monthlong tryout in the WUSA.
Fleeting, 21, made a quick impression with the San Diego Spirit, with two fine performances during her first week in America rewarded with a goal and an assist.
''I think the whole thing is a huge challenge for me,'' says the 5-foot-9 forward. ''Every single game will be a challenge. I haven't played at this level before. It's a very, very high standard. They play a lot quicker than I am used to. Hopefully, I'll get the hang of it. … Hopefully, I'll be someone useful to the team.''
That's what the Spirit is hoping for. Discovered by chance – player-personnel director Aaron Heifetz heard of her through European contacts, asked for videotape, and watched her score four for Scotland's national team against Wales – Fleeting was a no-risk addition to San Diego's roster, filling a vacant foreign-player slot for the final month of the season. If the Spirit likes what it sees, it will bring her back in 2003.
They've no complaints. Four minutes into her July 10 debut in Boston, Fleeting found Shannon MacMillan to start a failed Spirit comeback from a three-goal deficit. Four days later she fired San Diego ahead of San Jose – a short-lived lead, alas – with a nice bit of work at the top of the box, stepping past CyberRays defender Thori Bryan to take a snaking pass from MacMillan, then ripping a shot off the crossbar and down into the goal.
No big deal. ''I managed to get my big toe on the end of it,'' she says.
She's always had that sort of touch. She was playing first-team soccer for Ayr United in Scotland's top league at 13 and debuted for the national team at 15. In six years, she's scored 78 goals in 58 international matches, 1.34 per game. Hamm, the world's top goalscorer, has 129 tallies in 219 matches, 0.59 per.
The difference: level of competition. Fleeting's numbers have come mostly against lower-level teams, although Scotland will face tougher opponents after qualifying, with Fleeting scoring 10 goals in five matches, for the top tier of European competition.
Fleeting's father, Jim, spent 1978 – one of the NASL's golden years – on the Tampa Bay Rowdies' back line, starting 31 matches to help the club reach the Soccer Bowl final. Now with the Scottish Football Association after stints as a manager with Scottish clubs Sterling Albion and Kilmarnock, Jim Fleeting has warm memories of his season in Florida, where he teamed with Rodney Marsh and Steve Wegerle.
His advice to his daughter: ''Stay away from American guys.'' Her boyfriend, Kilmarnock goalkeeper Colin Stewart, undoubtedly concurs.
''She has a good presence of where to be on the field,'' says Spirit GM/interim coach Kevin Crow. ''She reads the game well, has good toughness, combines with others very well, and she's a good finisher.''
by Soccer America Senior Editor Scott French