New York powers past Beijing New York kept Beijing FC winless in the United States with a 3-1 victory over the Chinese club on March 14 in Mission Viejo, Calif. On March 11, Beijing lost, 3-0, to the Bay Area CyberRays. The Power improved its preseason record to 2-1-0 with the win. After an erratic first 15 minutes, the Power fell behind 1-0 in the 10th minute off some miscommunication in front of its goal. But New York evened the score when captain Tiffeny Milbrett scored her first goal of the preseason, off a nice feed from Norway’s Ann Kristen Aarones in the 35th minute. The two teams went into the half tied, 1-1. In the second half, Jen Lalor scored a goal from about 15 yards out with a great second effort, after being robbed of a goal just moments before. The goal came in the second halfÆs 16th minute and the Power never looked back. Jessica Reifer, gave the Power the insurance goal they needed to put the icing on the cake. Off a perfect corner kick from Sara Whalen, Reifer headed the ball into the top left corner of the net at the 25th minute mark. New York out-shot Beijing, 21-7. The Chinese club only had two shots in the second half. Milbrett, who was named the Power’s captain before the match, led the Power with six shots. Busy Beijing faces Philly Up next for Beijing is the Philadelphia Charge. Mark Krikorian’s club takes on Beijing on Friday, March 16, at 7 p.m. PT at Rancho Capistrano, the Charge’s training camp site in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. “We expect this team (Beijing) to be very good. They have been in California for several days, so the jet lag should be worn off,” Krikorian said. “This will be another evaluating tool to analyze the players in camp and see how they fit into our system.” Beijing, which reached the championship game of the Chinese Elite League in 1999 thanks to Liu, has already played exhibitions against the Bay Area CyberRays and New York Power. The four remaining exhibition games will take place at the ARCO U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif., and are as follows: March 23 vs. the San Diego Spirit at noon PT; March 25 vs. the U.S. U-21 Team at 10:00 a.m.; March 27 vs. the Washington Freedom at noon; and March 31 vs. the Carolina Courage at 2:00 p.m. Baron takes Charge post The Charge added Steven H. Baron, Ph.D., to its staff as the team psychologist. Baron currently serves as a professor of social sciences at Montgomery County Community College, as well as an educational sport psychology consultant for select, college, high school and travel teams in the Philadelphia area. He is also involved with the Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer Association and United States Olympic Committee and has worked in the past for the University of Delaware. Reading suffers season-ending injury Atlanta’ Sara Reading blew out her right knee during the Beat’s preseason training on March 8. “We assume that she’ll miss the season,” Atlanta coach Tom Stone said. “We want the long-term recovery of Sara Reading and wouldn’t force her back unless she was 100 percent healthy.” Atlanta didn’t draft Reading, who made the training camp roster as a tryout player. But the former BYU midfielder had a good shot to make the 20-player roster before her injury. “Sara reading was on pace to make the team,” Stone said. “She was in our top 14 players. She was having a great camp. We have very great hopes she will be a good Atlanta Beat next season.” Kicks Against Breast Cancer The Washington Freedom plays the Carolina Courage at the fifth annual Kicks Against Breast Cancer tournament in Germantown, Md., at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 17. KABC honors the memory of Claudia Mayer, who died of breast cancer at the age of 47 in 1996. Proceeds from KABC will be donated to the Claudia Mayer Cancer Resource and Image Center, an affiliate of Johns’ Hopkins Medicine. Sitters… Notable tryout players include Cindi Harkes (Washington) and Emily Stauffer (New York). Harkes, of course, is the wife of New England Revolution midfielder John Harkes. She played under her maiden name of Cindi Kunihiro for Lauren Gregg at Virginia in the early 1990s. Stauffer, a midfielder, is arguably the best player Harvard has ever produced. She starred for the Crimson from 1994-96, red-shirted in 1997 and played her senior season in 1998.