Canada's Women's World Cup Team suffered a tough 2-1 loss to the United States in the final of the Women's Gold Cup, Saturday evening. Mia Hamm volleyed a ball over Canadian goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc in the 4th minute of extra time for a golden goal. The game was played on a rain-soaked field and sometimes very dense fog at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California in front of 6,911 fans.

?We played a very disciplined game,? said Canadian head coach Even Pellerud. ?In order to beat them you must play very well tactically and we did that tonight. Unfortunately it was not enough tonight but we accomplished our No. 1 goal of the tournament and that was to qualify for the World Cup. Our second goal was to win the final. We came close tonight.?

After Tiffeny Milbrett opened the scoring, Charmaine Hooper evened the score at 1-1 just before the stroke of halftime when she was able to hit home a rebound off US goalkeeper Briana Scurry. Andrea Neil headed a Silvana Burtini corner kick forward to Christine Sinclair, whose shot was deflected by Hooper and saved by Scurry. Hooper then pounced on the rebound to score her 10th goal in 24 games against the United States. The goal also put her in a three-way tie with Sinclair and the US's Tiffeny Milbrett as the tournament's top scorer.

Hooper gave Scurry a scare in the 73rd minute when she spotted her off the line and drove a shot from 35 yards out, but the ball flew over the bar. The Americans had a great chance to break the deadlock when Cindy Parlow redirected a Hamm cross in the 87th minute but her shot whistled by the near post.

Canadian head coach Even Pellerud adopted a 5-4-1 formation with Hooper working tirelessly up front and the back five soaking up the American pressure. The Canadian midfield attacked the ball all game long, tackled very aggressively and thwarted the US from playing their normal possession game.

Milbrett scored the opening goal in the 27th minute with a left-footed volley, which tore into the roof of the net. Milbrett received a cross from US veteran Kristine Lilly from the left wing and hit her volley from eight yards out past Canadian goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc.

The Americans brought Hamm on at halftime for Milbrett and the striker immediately became involved. LeBlanc raced off her line in the 48th minute to save bravely at Hamm's feet and keep the score knotted at one. LeBlanc made a similar save in the 64th minute, again diving to take the ball away from US veteran.

Both teams had already qualified for the 2003 Women's World Cup simply by reaching the final but both teams came out eager to claim the CONCACAF championship. Canada was also trying to defend the title they won in 1998 (the US did not because they had already earned a spot in the 1999 Women's World Cup. 

Mexico earned a shot at the World Cup by beating Costa Rica 4-1 in the third-place game. Mexico will now face the third-place finisher from Asia for a spot in China.

Saturday, November 9, 2002 ? Football Confederation Gold Cup Final
Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California
Attendance: 10079
Canada \t\t1 (1)
USA\t\t2 (1)
Goals: USA ? Tiffeny Milbrett (27), Mia Hamm (94); Canada ? Charmaine Hooper (45+)
Cautions: 
Referee: Dianne Ferreira-James (GUY)
Assistant Referees: Isabel Tovar (MEX), Lynda Bramble (TRI)
Fourth Official: Sandra Hunt (USA)
Canada: Karina LeBlanc, Breanna Boyd, Sharolta Nonen, Candace Chapman, Randee Hermus, Silvana Burtini, Christine Sinclair, Andrea Neil (Carmelina Moscato, 79), Kara Lang (Melanie Booth, 91), Brittany Timko, Charmaine Hooper (Captain). Head coach: Even Pellerud
USA: Briana Scurry, Cat Reddick, Tiffany Roberts (Lorrie Fair, 46), Brandi Chastain, Aly Wagner, Julie Foudy, Cindy Parlow, Kristine Lilly, Joy Fawcett, Kate Sobrero, Tiffeny Milbrett (Mia Hamm, 46). Head coach: April Heinrichs