A Busy Sports Season Winds Up

Pre-season warm ups at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria last week.

ALEXANDRIA, VA-  Sports in the new academic year took off in earnest last week, as varsity golf commenced and varsity football and the other fall sports will make their debut over the next few days and weeks.

Regarding the schools in Greater Alexandria, the initial varsity football schedules are as follows:
 
The T.C. Williams Titans will host Robinson Sept. 2nd and will also host Mount Vernon Sept. 11th; the Ireton Cardinals will visit O'Connell Sept. 4th and will host Benedictine (City of Richmond) Sept. 11th; St. Stephens/St. Agnes will commence their season one week later when the Saints visit St. Christophers (City of Richmond) Sept. 11th and then visit St. Annes Belfield (Charlottesville) Sept. 16th; Episcopal will commence their season two weeks later (given the fact that Episcopal is a boarding school and its student body is not on campus in mid/late August*) when the Maroon hosts Flint Hill Sept. 17th and visits Fork Union (Orange County) Sept. 25th.
 
In greater Alexandria and Fairfax County, the Annandale Atoms will visit Centreville Sept. 3rd and will host Falls Church Sept. 10th; the Edison Eagles will host West Springfield Sept. 2nd and will visit Centreville Sept. 10th; the Hayfield Hawks will visit G.C. Marshall Sept. 2nd and will host R.E. Lee Sept. 10th; the Jefferson Colonials will visit Herndon Sept. 2nd and will visit South Lakes Sept. 10th; the Mount Vernon Majors will host West Potomac Sept. 2nd and will visit T.C. Williams Sept. 11th; and finally the West Potomac Wolverines will visit Mount Vernon Sept. 2nd and will host Westfield Sept. 10th.

Nationals Lose to Cubs
The Washington Nationals now  weigh-in at 53-72 overall after 125 games and are 19 games below .500 for the first time this season - following a 9-1 home loss to the Chicago Cubs on Aug. 23rd.

With merely 37 games remaining, Washington is mired in fifth-place in the competitive National League East standings.

Currently, Atlanta leads the NL East with a record of 73-52 (.584), followed by Philadelphia 70-54 (.565), followed by Florida 62-61 (.504) - with the New York Mets in fourth place at 62-62 (.500).

In other words, the .424 Nats trail New York by 9 1/2 games for the fourth spot and trail Atlanta by 20 games for the top spot.

Perhaps next season is when the Nats will break out of their all-too familiar position of looking "up" to the other four East Coast teams.

In the short-term future, Washington will host the Cubs Aug. 24th and 25th (both 7:05 pm) and then will host the St. Louis Cardinals Aug. 26th and 27th and 28th (all 7:05 pm) as well as Aug. 29th (1:35 pm) - before travelling to Florida Aug. 30th and Aug. 31st and Sept. 1st (all 7:10 pm).

United Improves against Philadelophia
D.C. United has improved to four wins/14 losses/three ties following their Aug. 22nd 2-0 home win versus Philadelphia.

In a disappointing season, D.C. United has merely scored 15 total goals and has given up 35 goals (the former is the worst in the 16-team league and the latter is the second worst in the league).

It will take a dramatic effort as the season winds down for eighth-place in the Eastern Conference D.C. United to inch their way into the eight-team Major League Soccer quarterfinals in the weeks ahead.

Freedom inches to 4th Place
Regarding professional soccer on the womens side, the Washington Freedom has inched their way up from fifth place to currently fourth place in the seven team Womens Professional Soccer League.

The Freedom weighs-in at six wins/eight losses/seven ties and has scored 29 goals on the season (fourth best in the league), but has given up 30 goals (tied for worst in the league).

Four of the seven teams will advance to the upcoming playoffs and Washington hopes to be in the mix.

Skins Drop 23-3 Against Ravens
The Washington Redskins dropped a 23-3 exhibition game at FED-EX Field to the visiting Baltimore Ravens on Aug. 21st to currently weigh-in at 1-1 in the preseason.

The Skins third exhibition game will take place at Giants Stadium (Meadowlands, N.J.) versus the New York Jets on Aug. 27th and their final exhibition game will take place in the desert versus the Arizona Cardinals on Sept. 2nd.

In the first regular season game of the Mike Shanahan era the Skins will host NFC East rival Dallas on Sept. 12th.

The Mystics Surge
The Washington Mystics surged to the Eastern Conference Regular Season Title by defeating Atlanta 90-81 in the final regular season game for both teams.

Consequently, first-place Washington and fourth-place (in the East) Atlanta will commence a best-of-three quarterfinal playoff round with the winner advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals (WNBA Semi-Finals).

Washington will host Atlanta Aug. 25th (7 pm); Atlanta will host Washington Aug. 27th (7:30 pm); should a third game be necessary - Washington will host Atlanta Aug. 29th (4 pm).

Eastern second-place New York and third-place Indiana will also meet in a best of three quarterfinal series.

Western first-place Seattle and fourth-place Los Angeles as well as second-place Phoenix and third-place San Antonio will also meet in the other two quarterfinal series.