Women’s professional soccer—the concept—returned to America on Sunday with the smashing debut of Women’s Professional Soccer—the league.  A crowd of 14,832, more than double the league’s high-end goal for average attendance, helped make for a festive atmosphere at The Home Depot Center where the host Los Angeles Sol posted a 2-0 victory over the Washington Freedom.  Allison Falk’s name was etched in eternal history as the scorer of the very first WPS goal.

“I feel like today just caps the undertaking of so many people,” said Abby Wambach, who played 90 minutes for the Freedom in her first match since breaking her leg last summer.  “(WPS Commissioner) Tonya Antonucci first and foremost.  She’s the one who started it.  Finally we have a day.  This is the day.”

Wambach was especially joyous considering her side was on the short end of the score.  It was indicative of the festive mood surrounding the game.

“Obviously the result wasn’t what I had hoped for, but I don’t care,” she continued.  “At this point, that is so far from my mind.  More importantly, we have a league.”

That laissez-faire attitude is not likely to last for long, but at the outset even the losers will walk away smiling.

“Not winning is hard for me,” Freedom defender Cat Whitehill said.  “At the same time, this is amazing.  This is a dream come true for me.  I have to make the most of this moment.  I’ve been dreaming of this day since I was little.  Even with the loss, I’m pretty excited to be a part of it.”

Sol players were predictably more focused on the result. Captain Shannon Boxx said it was good for the home team to win because, “that means hopefully everybody comes back.”

“I’m very happy first and foremost for the result,” Marta said through a translator.  “It was an even game with two teams that played very, very hard and it was good for female football.”

To that end, the quality of the soccer exceeded expectations just as the size of the crowd did.  Jim Gabarra, whose first game as Freedom coach was the WUSA inaugural game eight years ago, said, “From my experience, the level of play was better than that of the WUSA inaugural game.”

Both teams enjoyed significant spurts of quality possession, and there were numerous close calls on both ends.  The Freedom had one golden opportunity to score in each half.  Late in the first Whitehill started a lightning-fast buildup with a long ball to Sonia Bompastor, who quickly redirected it to Wambach.  Sol keeper Karina LeBlanc raced off her line and made one of her three saves.  A second half flurry ended with Lori Lindsey beating LeBlanc only to find the woodwork.

The Sol scored twice, but also forced Freedom ‘keeper Briana Scurry into six saves.

“The game deserved more goals,” Gabarra said.

And then there is the story of the first goal.  History will remember that rookie defender Allison Falk, two days shy of her 22nd birthday, had the header that beat Scurry.  But did she really touch it?

“It was a great ball from Aya (Miyama, who sent in a free kick),” Falk said.  “I just went for it.  I didn’t think I was going to get it, but I did and it went in.  It was a very surreal experience.”

“Nope,” retorted Scurry.  “I actually had the ball in my hands and then she hit me so when I went (backwards) and that’s where the ball went.”

Whether or not Falk got a head to the ball is open to debate.  That WPS made a successful debut is not.

Dan Lauletta is a freelance writer and can be reached at thirtymtp@aol.com. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author's, and not necessarily those of Women’s Professional Soccer or womensprosoccer.com.