With Sunday’s soccer game of San Diego WFC in the Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL) in the books, Ouying Zhang was surrounded by a group of teenage girls.
“Good luck, Ouying,” said one of the girls. “I will always remember your workouts. You made us work hard.”
Zhang, 31, of Ocean Beach, posed for pictures with the team she once coached, gave autographs and smiled.
The season for San Diego WFC, which Zhang played for the last two years, continues. For Zhang, however, the 1-2 loss to AJAX America Women represented her final game on the American continent for awhile.
“She’s the major force on the team. Not only as a player, but also with her kind personality,” said Sean Bowers, coach of San Diego WFC. “We still have a small chance to make it to the final four, although it will be hard now without her. We wish her the best of luck.”
Zhang showed class several times during the game, especially 60 minutes into the game, when she made a pass from the right outside corner to Lizzy Coghill, who tied the score 1-1.
As the other players mobbed Coghill, Zhang walked by herself, appearing almost shy when her teammates cheered for her, too.
“I try to take on responsibility, so that is what I have to do,” Zhang said.
Zhang left Tuesday for her home country China, where she will play in the FIFA Women’s Soccer World Cup, which begins in September.
“I am flying into Beijing, I’ll meet my parents at the airport for maybe a half-hour and then take a train for five hours and join the squad for our training camp,” Zhang said.
Zhang is married to Edde Iott, a fourth-generation OB resident. The couple lives on Saratoga Avenue.
A former roommate of Zhang introduced Zhang and Iott.
“Her roommate was my co-worker, and she told me that Ouying likes tall foreigners,” Iott said.
Zhang and Iott just celebrated their first anniversary.
“San Diego is so beautiful. It is my home now and I would love to play for a professional team here in San Diego,” Zhang said.
Zhang once played for San Diego Spirit in the professional Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA). “It would be great if the new WUSA league next year got a San Diego team,” Zhang said. After the WUSA suspended operations in 2003, the league will return in 2008.
Zhang’s next career step, however, will be her third appearance in a World Cup tournament. In 1999, she was a member of the Chinese national team, the Steel Roses, when they were runners-up in the tournament and only lost to the U.S. team. The final was scoreless after overtime and won by the USA in a penalty shootout, where Zhang actually scored for the Chinese team.
That Zhang was nominated for China’s 2007 World Cup team came as a surprise. “It was all over the Chinese media,” Iott said. Zhang was the former captain of the Chinese national team, but retired in 2005.
“She had hopeful wishes,” said Iott. “Her best friend is the team captain and she told her to talk to the team manager. They told her to get a visa and come up to Cleveland and practice with the team.”
Two weeks ago, the Chinese team was in Cleveland for a training camp. Zhang flew there to meet with them. Coach Marika Domanski-Lyfors put Zhang’s name in the starting lineup right away.
“I was like, ‘No’,” Zhang said. Domanski-Lyfors was impressed by how well Zhang had kept herself in shape.
Domanski-Lyfors was the former coach of the Swedish team, taking her home country to the semifinals in the 2003 World Cup held in the United States. As the host of this year’s World Cup, the goal for the Chinese team is to make it at least to the semifinals.
Iott is in the process of trying to get credentials to be a photographer at the tournament. He will be in China anyway, he said.
“My parents want us to have a big Chinese wedding,” Zhang said. “We don’t really need that, but my parents want to invite all the family and friends.”
Where Zhang is going to play next season isn’t yet known.
“If I get the chance to play pro after the World Cup, I can play in the Olympics 2008 in Beijing,” said Zhang. That would be another home game for her and also her third appearance in an Olympic tournament.
“That is my goal,” said Zhang.