2001: LaKeysia Beene's improvement was critical in turning a 1-4-1 start to the CyberRays' season into the inaugural WUSA championship. Beginning with a goal by Atlanta Beat F Charmaine Hooper in the 13th minute of a 1-0 loss 5/27, Beene went 624 minutes (10 hours, 24 minutes) without surrendering another score, a WUSA record. That stretch also included six consecutive shutout matches, also a WUSA record. The streak ended 7/12 when Washington Freedom F Mia Hamm scored on a free kick in the eighth minute of a 3-2 CyberRays' victory. Beene was the WUSA shutout leader with eight. The loss to Atlanta in which Beene's shutout streak began was the last CyberRays loss until 7/25, when the San Diego Spirit won 2-0 at Spartan Stadium. Between the two losses the CyberRays' record was 7-0-3, and the team went from a last-place tie to second place in the standings. Beene's goals-against average going into the Atlanta game in which her shutout streak started was 2.00, eighth best in an eight-team league. When it ended, her GAA was third at 1.10 and she finished the regular season at 0.97, second in the WUSA. She finished with a WUSA-high save percentage of 83.3 percent and the most victories with 11. Beene's distinctions during the season include surrendering the first WUSA goal 4/14 to Washington Freedom F Pretinha (ironically, a CyberRays teammate for 2002) in the league's inaugural game. That goal was also the first penalty kick in league history. She also saved the first penalty kick in league history 6/10 against New York Power F Tiffeny Milbrett. She saved Atlanta Beat F Sun Wen's PK 8/25 in overtime of the WUSA championship game, which proved to be the game-winning difference. For the season, Beene faced four penalty kicks, most in the league, and was credited with two saves, also a league high. She was called up to the U.S. national team following the season for the NIKE U.S. Women's Cup and earned a 4-1 victory over Germany 9/9. The remainder of the tournament was cancelled two days later by the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. In the Four Nations Cup earlier this year in China, she was named Best Goalkeeper of the tournament, which also included China, Germany and Norway.
Previous experience: Beene is one of four college players not on the U.S. national team to be a WUSA founding player. Beene wrapped up her four-year career at Notre Dame in 1999 by leading her team to the NCAA championship game at Spartan Stadium. On the way to the runner-up finish by the Fighting Irish, Beene faced the two highest-scoring teams in the country, Nebraska in a four-overtime NCAA quarterfinal match and Santa Clara in the semis, and allowed just one goal in 240 minutes of play. She was a two-time all-American and played for the U.S. under-20 team. Beene was 2-0-1 in the 2000 Australia Cup, a pre-Olympic tournament, on a national team of replacement players filling in for the national team veterans who sat out the event because of a contract dispute.
Personal: LaKeysia R. Beene. Born at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C. Father Edman is retired from the U.S. Air Force; mother Linda is an aerospace engineer. Majored in environmental geoscience at Notre Dame.
2001 Regular Season Statistics
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