Scott Makes Herself at Home

Breakers Defender Making Smooth Transition from London to Boston

By Mark Goodman

June 20, 2009

Alex Scott was a teenage striker when she first joined the Arsenal Ladies senior side.

Having joined the club as an 8-year old, Scott quickly worked her way up the youth ranks for England�s most successful women�s team.

When she got there, however, there was a slight problem: she couldn�t get a game.

Alex Scott

Alex Scott has played every minute of every game for the Breakers so far this season. (Photo by CHRIS ADUAMA/aduama.com)

Behind a talented group of forwards - including England and Boston Breakers teammate Kelly Smith - Scott was relegated to a role on the bench.

In order to get some playing time, Scott joined Birmingham City for the 2004-05 season. It was then that coach Marcus Bignot - who currently plays for Millwall in England�s League One (third division) - came up with an idea that Scott initially deemed preposterous.

�I remember one game he came to me and he�s like, �Alex, look, I know you�re going to think I�m crazy, but you�re going to play right back,�� Scott recalls. �And I was like, �Marcus, I�ll play this one game for you at right back, but never again.�

�I remember I had one of the best games and the England manager, Hope Powell, was there watching that game, and that�s when she saw me the first time play right back. I have to thank Marcus Bignot for that.�

And there�s a lot to be thankful for.

In the summer of 2005, Scott was the starting right back for England when it hosted the UEFA Women�s Championship. England finished bottom of its four-team group after defeating Finland and losing to Sweden and Denmark.

That did little to deter Scott�s progress. Back at Arsenal for the 2005-06 season, she helped the Gunners to three straight Women�s Premier League titles (part of the club�s current six-year run, starting in 2003-04). Arsenal also won the FA Cup all three seasons and one League Cup in 2006-07.

In that 2006-07 campaign, Arsenal completed its famed �quadruple� by beating Swedish giants Umea IK - led by three-time FIFA World Player of the Year Marta - 1-0 in a two-leg UEFA Women�s Cup final.

The scorer of the final�s only goal? Scott, on a 30-yard strike in the first leg in Sweden. The North London side became the first (and to this day, only) team outside Germany or Sweden to win Europe�s biggest women�s club competition.

�It was great for the Arsenal team in general because no one expected us to win the UEFA Cup,� Smith said. �We were the first team in Britain to do that, and it was nice for Alex to get that recognition�She stopped Marta in both ties, kept her quiet.�

Scott said she recalls saying to herself as she was taking the shot, �Just get it on target.� Otherwise, she said, legendary Arsenal manager Vic Akers �would�ve gone mad.�

Instead, it became the goal that allowed Arsenal to lift that elusive European cup.

�Every year at Arsenal, that was the trophy that we�ve always gone after,� Scott said. �For me to score that goal as a defender, and for it to mean so much to the club, I�ll always remember that moment.�

Coming to America
Having won everything at Arsenal, it was time for a new challenge, and Scott prepared for the inaugural Women�s Professional Soccer season.

The 24-year old was originally signed by the Chicago Red Stars - coached by Emma Hayes, who had spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach and academy director at Arsenal. But after looking into the setup in Boston, Scott said she wanted to play for the Breakers. The two teams were able to work out a deal, with Boston sending its second and fourth round picks in the WPS Draft to Chicago for Scott and the Red Stars� sixth and 10th round selections.

Scott says the move across the pond has only helped her game. In England, teams train just twice a week, as players have to work other jobs to make ends meet. Scott says being on the ball everyday in Boston - and encountering better competition - has brought her skills to another level.

�I have to defend some of the best attacking players in the world, so that�s going to improve me, no matter what,� Scott said.

WPS is also of a vastly higher standard than the Premier League. Consider that prior to joining the Breakers, Smith scored 25 goals in 12 league matches with Arsenal this season and still led the league in scoring, despite missing nearly half of the 22-game schedule. The team won the league this year with a +75 goal differential.

Scott says Arsenal would win by just showing up, more often than not.

�Over here, every game is like a cup final,� she said. �Every game is just so competitive and hard. And that�s what you play for, so it�s good�I remember some games (in England) we were winning 15-nil, and it was just crazy.�

Kelly Smith, Alex Scott

Alex Scott (right) celebrates her goal against the Washington Freedom May 17 with fellow Englishwoman Kelly Smith. (Photo by CHRIS ADUAMA/aduama.com)

Despite the presence of U.S. international right back Heather Mitts, Scott has made that spot hers with the Breakers, with Mitts playing on the left. Scott is one of just three players, along with midfielder Kristine Lilly and central defender Amy LePeilbet, to play every minute of every game this season.

Breakers head coach Tony DiCicco has consistently commended Scott for her work rate and also points to her speed, saying she�s the second fastest player on the team behind striker Amy Rodriguez.

�She�s got a great engine on the field, one of the best in the league,� DiCicco said. �She�s a great personality off the field. She�s added a lot to our team. Scoring that goal against Washington (a second half equalizer in a 1-1 draw May 17) was huge. That just makes our attacking dimensions a little bit more complicated for teams to zero in on.�

Scott says she has settled into the Boston area nicely. She rooms with Smith in a Cambridge apartment complex, where Mitts also lives and �checks up� on her English teammates every so often. Scott says she and Smith have given enough tours of the city to friends from home by now to feel comfortable on the subway (or the �tube,� as she calls it).

She also says she has taken a liking to �American football,� having attended both of the NFL�s annual games at Wembley Stadium in London the last two years. Scott fully admits she was clueless at the first one, a 13-10 win for the New York Giants over the Miami Dolphins Oct. 28, 2007. She went to the game with Smith and England teammate Rachel Yankey.

�Me and Yankey are sitting the whole game, watching it and we have no clue about the rules or what�s going on, and Kelly decides to get up and go to the toilet,� Scott said. �She comes back and she�s like, �When did the touchdown happen?� And me and Yank were like, �When was there a touchdown?� She (Smith) was so mad that she missed it.

�But the second year I knew all the rules, and now I like it.�

An upcoming dance party
Smith describes Scott as �a bit shy and reserved�and not one to brag about what she does,� but also as a laid-back personality and a �bit of a prankster.�

Scott also fancies herself a bit of a dancer - on the team�s web site, she says if she wasn�t a professional soccer player, she�d be a dancer.

�The next goal I score, watch - it�s going to be a dance celebration,� Scott said.

Mark Goodman can be reached at newsdesk@soccernewengland.com.