The Atlanta Classics women's soccer team, Atlanta's

only women's sport franchise, opened its season recently.

The Classics have fielded one of the top teams in the nation

for the past two seasons and were knocked out of the playoffs

last year by the eventual national champions.

Playing their games at DeKalb County Adams Stadium, which

is on North Druid Hills Road, the team also has many players

from this area, including Nancy and Julie Augustyniak and

Jennifer Rawlings, all of whom played their high school ball at

McIntosh High School. The Augustyniaks both played for Clemson in

college, while Rawling played for Virginia. Twelve of the

15 menbers of the team are from Georgia.

In their opening game against the Jackson Calypso

Saturday night, the Classics were on fire, winning 9-0. From the onset,

Jackson was outmatched by the speed of the Classics. Forward

Jenny Crawford recorded four goals for her team, while Jennifer

Rawlings added two goals, one of which was a converted penalty kick.

The Classics led 7-0 at the half and had more goals from

Kerry Gragg, Alison McCurry and Mandy Aiken. The team

was swarmed by young fans seeking autographs after the victory

and each player obliged until the last one was signed.

The Classics play two games this weekend in Florida. They

face the Tampa Bay Extreme Friday and the Miami Gliders

Saturday. They will return home Saturday, May 29 to face the Long

Island Lady Riders. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.

In other local soccer action, the Atlanta Silverbacks lost their

second straight home match. The loss came at the hands, or rather

feet, of the Staten Island Vipers. They had a number of opportunities

to score but fell 2-0 anyway. One goal was called back due to

an offsides infringement, one shot hit the cross bar and one

penalty kick completely missed the net.

The Silverbacks outshot the Vipers 14-7, and even had a

two-man advantage when two Viper players were ejected for the

final seven minutes, but it did no good. Atlanta dropped to 2-3 on

the season.

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