The Carolina Courage recorded its first-ever victory, defeating the Washington Freedom, 1-0, in front of an exuberant crowd of approximately 2,000 spectators at the Maryland Soccerplex in South Germantown, Md., on March 17. Canadian striker, Silvana Burtini carved her way through four Washington defenders before drilling a shot past Freedom goalkeeper Erin Fahey in the 65th minute. The Freedom provided plenty of offensive fireworks, courtesy of its Brazilian strike force of Pretinha and Roseli. The Freedom was unlucky not to score on one of its dangerous counterattacks. It helped that the crossbar denied the Freedom on three separate occasions. “It was a good thing we don’t count crossbars as goals,” Courage coach Marcia McDermott said. “Or we would have been on the losing end of the stick tonight.” The game was a mini reunion for the many former Tar Heels on both squads. The Courage roster includes seven North Carolina products, while the Freedom feature three, including Mia Hamm. Tonight’s WUSA exhibition was the signature event of the weekend-long Kicks Against Breast Cancer Tournament. The KABC Tournament honors the memory of Claudia Mayer, a soccer enthusiast who died of breast cancer at the age of 47 in 1996. Since the tournament began in 1997, more than $150,000 has been raised to benefit the Claudia Mayer Cancer Resource and Image Center. Louise Waxler, the tournament’s organizer who is also the Freedom’s director of game day operations and grassroots marketing, estimated that an additional $60,000 was raised this weekend. On Monday, March 19, the Courage welcomes teammates Hege Riise and Bente Nordby at RDU Airport. The Norwegian pair, which won gold in Sydney 2000, helped its country defeat a young U.S. team in the Algarve Cup fifth-place game earlier today (March 17) in Portugal.