June 24, 1972 – Boston Astros 5:1 Delaware Wings, ASL game at Everett Memorial Stadium (Att.: 800)
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Gambian Charlie Thomas, a former Harvard star, scored the first goal off a Clair De Boer rebound for the Boston Astros. Itamar Alves broke a 1-1 halftime deadlock in 49th minute. Myles “Dusty” Richard (who went on to coach at The Brooks School, guiding players such as Charlie Davies and Mike Fucito), was the Astros’ only U.S.-born player, according to Bob Monahan in The Boston Globe.
June 24, 1927 – U.S. Football Association determines 1928 Olympic team “will be … decided by competition of elevens, instead of selection of an all-star outfit.” Meeting in St. Louis.
June 24, 1928 – Fore River Shamrocks 2:2 (3:2 aggregate) Woburn Independents, James M. Curley Soccer Cup semifinal at Fore River Field, Quincy, Mass.
Freddy Greer scored twice as Fore River rallied from a 2-0 halftime deficit.
June 24, 1934 – Lusitania Recreation 2:2 (2:3 aggregate) Bunker Hill Celtics, Thomas Grieve Cup final at East Cambridge Commercial Field
James “Dobbler” Lyons “deftly outwitted Bragga from a penalty kick and broke a deadlock.” Referee Bob Ritchie briefly downed after “a zooming drive” from Packy Devir of Lucy Recs “smacked the official on the head.”
June 24, 2000 – China 14:0 Guatemala, WGC, highest-scoring game in Foxborough (Att.: 6,223)
The Chinese, who had reached the 1999 Women’s World Cup final against the U.S., were held scoreless for the first 20 minutes. Zhang Ouying scored four goals, the stadium individual record for a woman (Mike Flanagan set the men’s record with five goals as the New England Tea Men took a 5-2 win over the California Surf on July 9, 1978). Zhang, who went on to play for the San Diego Spirit and coach the San Diego Soccer Club, totaled six goals as China reached the semifinals of the tournament.
China did not seem to miss star forward Sun Wen (injured), who had scored twice in a 5-0 win over Norway in a 1999 WWC game at Foxboro and would convert the last goal for the Atlanta Beat in a 3-3 draw (Sun missed in penalty kicks) with the Bay Area Cyber Rays in the 2001 WUSA final at Foxboro. Guatemala lost all three group stage games and was outscored, 33-0.
NEW ENGLAND SOCCER HISTORY