(May 12, 2008) - In the last match of the previous U.S. women’s professional soccer league, the Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA), Nancy Augustyniak suffered the cruelest of fates: she saw red and then never had a chance for redemption.

Augustyniak’s Atlanta Beat were tied 1-1 in overtime with the Washington Freedom in the WUSA’s 2003 championship game when Freedom forward Abby Wambach snuck behind Augustyniak and her central defense partner Sharolta Nonen.  In a moment of desperation, Augustyniak cut down Wambach.  The referee pulled out the red card.   Moments later Washington won the title.

“That was a tough game for me to end on because it was such an emotional game,” she recalled.  “That we didn’t win just devastated me even more.”

Less than a month later, the WUSA suspended operations as well as Augustyniak’s hopes to erase the memories of her last outing on the playing field.

Now 30, living in Arizona and going by her married name of Augustyniak Goffi, she is still fit and wants to play soccer professionally again.  She and her husband, Josh Goffi, also want children.  These factors are at the heart of her decision about whether she will pursue Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) when the league launches next spring.

“Right now, yes, I want to play soccer,” Augustyniak Goffi said recently.

For the last five years, Augusyniak Goffi has traveled the world, relocated across the country, married, found an exciting new job, and waited for word that a new league was on its way.

“I learned to take it with a grain of salt,” she said about the myriad announcements a new league was coming.  “At one point I heard 2008, and I thought at that time 2008 was too soon.  It’s not all about me, I want to make sure it comes back and is able to be sustained for a long time.”

When the WUSA closed up shop, an event Augustyniak Goffi describes as devastating, she was 24 and single, and so she made two trips to play in Germany and another to play in Sweden.  By the end of 2005 she was married, and on New Year’s Day 2006 Nancy made the daunting journey from Georgia to Arizona where her new husband moved to start a tennis academy.

Josh Goffi is now a tennis coach at Arizona State University where Nancy will be entering her third season as a women’s soccer assistant this fall.  It is a role Augustyniak Goffi has come to cherish, and she finds herself constantly drawing from her own playing career in her dealings with the current Sun Devils.

“I love it,” she said.  “I get to work with individuals and help them improve their game.  I enjoy the recruiting as well.  I think because I know what it’s like to go through that process.  Like if I go to watch a player, and that player has a bad game, I’m not just going to rule them out.  I can tell if they’re a hard worker or not.”

Augustyniak Goffi was in a situation like the one she described during her brief look with the National Team.  But playing outside the comfort zone of her WUSA team—which included her twin sister Julie— Nancy did not perform up to her lofty standards and has not received a call-in from the team since.

“I was mostly just thinking, ‘oh my god, don’t mess up,’” she said.

Augustyniak Goffi did make it through the WUSA combine and hopes that experience will pay off when it comes time for the players she coaches to go through a similar process.  She believes a few current Arizona State players are capable of playing in WPS, but preferred to keep those names to herself for the moment.

Besides, Augustyniak Goffi is still pondering joining them in pursuit of what will be coveted roster spots on the WPS clubs.  And she still remembers her role in how the final WUSA match ended, and how her Atlanta Beat never quite made it over the hump to win the championship.

“I knew the next year we could do it,” she said.

On the red card she said, “Do I regret it? No.  What happened was what had to happen at the time.  Would I love another chance? Yeah, I’d love it.”

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.