The Washington Freedom is now winless in nine-straight games after losing 3-2 to the Atlanta Beat Wednesday in Kennesaw, Ga.  It was also the Freedom's fourth-straight loss.

Johanna Rasmussen opened the scoring for Atlanta in the 20th minute when she beat Washington goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris, who made her WPS debut in place of injured Erin McLeod, who tore her ACL Saturday and is out for the season.

The Nikki Marshall experiment continued to prove effective when she equalized in the 41st minute for her third goal of the season and Washington would go ahead after halftime when Sarah Huffman scored her first goal of the season in the 64th minute.

Things looked promising for the Freedom, but bad luck would strike again when Monica Ocampo scored just three minutes later to level the match at 2-2.  Then, Ocampo struck for the game-winner in the 88th minute to send Atlanta to its third-straight win.  With 16 pts., Atlanta is just one point back of the sixth-place Chicago Red Stars.

The Freedom continue to search for answers and Head Coach Jim Gabarra shuffled the line-up to try to find them, but the result was the same.  Sonia Bompastor slid to right back and captain and center back Cat Whitehill spent the night watching the match from the bench.

Washington (4-7-5, 17 pts.) travels to Harvard Stadium Saturday to take on the Boston Breakers in search of its first win since May 30.  Atlanta (4-7-4, 16 pts.) next plays host to FC Gold Pride Sunday in a match-up of the two hottest teams in WPS.

Atlanta Beat (4-7-4) vs. Washington Freedom (4-7-5)
Wednesday, July 28, 2010 — Atlanta Beat Stadium
FINAL

SCORING SUMMARY:

ATL: Johanna Rasmussen 3 (Unassisted) 20'
WSH: Nikki Marshall 3 (Homare Sawa) 41'
WSH: Sarah Huffman 1 (Unassisted) 64'
ATL: Monica Ocampo 2 (Unassisted) 67'
ATL: Monica Ocampo 3 (Unassisted) 88'

ATLANTA BEAT — Hope Solo, Stacy Bishop, Tina Ellertson (Leigh Ann Robinson, 46'), Kia McNeill, Carolyn Blank, Lori Chalupny (McCall Zerboni, 46'), Angie Kerr, Aya Miyama, Johanna Rasmussen (Amanda Cinalli, 75'), Monica Ocampo, Mami Yamaguchi

Substitutes Not Used: Katie Larkin, Lauren Sesselmann, Ramona Bachmann, Brett Maron, Rebecca Nolin, Malori Lofton-Malachi

WASHINGTON FREEDOM — Ashlyn Harris, Sonia Bompastor, Rebecca Moros (Christie Welsh, 84'), Becky Sauerbrunn, Kristi Eveland, Beverly Goebel (Sarah Huffman, 46'), Allie Long, Homare Sawa, Lene Mykjaland (Brittany Bock, 65'), Nikki Marshall, Abby Wambach

Substitutes Not Used: Cat Whitehill, Alex Singer, Jill Gilbeau, Meagan McCray

TEAM STATS:

MISCONDUCT SUMMARY:
ATL: Tina Ellertson (Caution) 44'

Referee: Michelle Cowman
Referee Assistants: Amy Willing, Amy Mahan
4th Official: Patrick Baker
Attendance: N/A