TRAINING TO MAKE BREAKAWAY SAVES

The Monitor asked Tony DiCicco, the United States women's soccer team coach, to set up and explain a ''full challenge'' goalkeeping drill at the US women's team training site outside Orlando. Briana Scurry played goal, while Mia Hamm went on the attack, trying to reach the ball before Scurry could pounce on it. ''We tell young goalkeepers that to make a breakaway save, they have to be like jets landing on an aircraft carrier,'' DiCicco says. ''They have to come in low, and slide through the ball low. Your hands are going to get to the ball first. That's a protection, because the hands and ball are out in front of the head, and the striker is going for the ball.'' This technique requires many repetitions to master, he says.