Spirit Rue Chances as Utah Came to Play

Lineups:

WAS: 1 – Aubrey Kingsbury; 14 – Gabby Carle; 4 – Rebeca Bernal; 9 – Tara McKeown; 35 – Meg Boade (16 – Courtney Brown, 46’); 5 – Narumi Miura ( 25 – Kysha Sylla, 86’); 7 – Croix Bethune (17 – Hal Hershfelt, 78’); 19 – Rosemonde Kouassi; 33 – Ashley Hatch; 21 – Gift Monday (13 – Brittany Ratcliffe 77’); 8 – Makenna Morris (3 – Casey Krueger, 46’)

UTA: 1 – Mandy McGlynn; 8 – Kate Del Fava; 17 – Ana Tejada; 14 – Nuria Rábano; 7 – Janni Thomsen; 5 – Lauren Flynn; 25 – Cece Kizer (30 – Aisha Solórzano, 55’); 10 – Claudia Zornoza (22 – Dana Foederer, 46’); 13 – Brecken Mozingo (53 – Bianca St-Georges, 70’); 9 – Ally Sentnor; 11 – Mina Tanaka (16 – Madison Pogarch, 83’)

The Goalside Gossip team was in the house for the exciting 6-goal thriller when the Washington Spirit played the Utah Royals on Saturday. The term “Rowdy Audi” really lived up to its name during the match, with fans going ballistic for each foul, bad call, and – especially – goal. I want to highlight the bad call aspect of this game; this was one of the more horrific refereeing performances that I have seen at any level of play. Countless no-calls on fouls against (mostly) Spirit players and the giving of goal-kicks that should have definitely been corners plagued an otherwise exciting match. Over 15,000 strong attended, marking the eleventh match at Audi Field since the beginning of last season to reach the 15k mark. A huge presence was missed in the backline, as Esme Morgan was ruled out due to a hip injury. Head Coach, Jonatan Giráldez, commented after the game:

“Being honest, the intention was to be able to play today, but … she didn't feel 100% comfortable, and medical service, they decided [for her] to be out for today and not be available.”

Back in the starting XI for the first time since her ACL injury was Croix Bethune, who was able to complete over an hour for the first time since returning. Hal Hershfelt was named in the subs and was able to play for the first time in two months, a huge relief for the home supporters. 

The game had an exhilarating start, with Washington hoarding the bulk of the chances, but it was surprisingly Utah who broke the deadlock first. The Royals sat in 13th place before this game, having failed to score in their previous three, but after 9 minutes, a shot came through, an easy save for Kingsbury, though she parries it right into the feet of Brecken Mozingo, who found the bottom left corner for her first NWSL goal! Much to the anguish of the home crowd, every shot that the Spirit took seemed to find Mandy McGlynn’s hands for a save, but in minute 17, after a short pinball game in the box, Ashley Hatch found the back of the net with a beautiful curling effort for her fifth goal of the season. It was not long after before the Spirit were in the lead for the first time. Rookie Meg Boade tapped in a fantastic cross from Rosemonde Kouassi, who was causing issues on the left side the entire game. It was Boade’s first NWSL goal in just her second start. She commented on the goal after the game, saying: 

“Obviously, I didn't have to do a lot, just like deflected back to where it came from. But, yeah, it was so cool. I feel like, after I took those bumps and adrenaline, I can barely remember what happened!”

Obviously a great moment for the 22 year-old! The celebrations unfortunately did not last long. In the 22nd minute, a shot attempt was bravely blocked by McKeown, but it fell into the feet of Cecelia Kizer, who placed the ball past Kingsbury for her first of the season. McGlynn kept making her case to be the USWNT’s #1, as she was making save after save in the first half, which easily could have ended with five or more goals for the Spirit. Ultimately, it was Utah who found themselves up at the break. Kizer’s headed attempt led to a diving save from Kingsbury, but she parried it right into Rebecca Bernal, who led the ball directly into her own net; a very unfortunate series of events for the Washington defense. A late first-half free kick attempt was, once again, thwarted by McGlynn, ending the half with Utah up 3-2.

Jonatan Giráldez made two changes at the break, with, notably, goalscorer Meg Boade coming off and Casey Krueger coming on. Monday saw another shot saved, proving to be a frustrating night for the Nigerian attacker. Shot after shot after shot came for the Spirit, and save after save came from McGlynn, trying to keep the three points for her team. The 71st minute saw a few different shot attempts which resulted in a lengthy VAR check, one that the fans thought surely would bring about a penalty, but much to their surprise, only a corner was given after about three minutes of checks. Hal Hershfelt came on minutes later for her long-awaited return to the big stage, receiving an ovation from the very happy Spirit Squadron. 

In the dying moments of regulation, Casey Krueger drove into the box from the left hand side, smartly getting by her defender, who pulled her down, rightly resulting in a penalty. Fans rejoice as the ref makes a correct call for what seems like the first time all game. Ashley Hatch steps up, hoping to double her tally and equalize the game … saved. Mandy “Brick Wall” McGlynn dives the right way to deny one of the league’s most consistent penalty takers. She had 11 in a row before. As a member of the crowd, there was almost this bad gut feeling that I had that knew she would miss. She had had an incredible night thus far, but that miss will surely haunt her. 

Thirteen minutes were added onto the end of regulation, a breath of fresh air for the Spirit who were looking for just a bit more time to get a goal. They had been choking the life out of the Utah offense, but were getting denied on the other end time after time. The moment of the match came with seconds to spare in the 90 +12’. McKeown plays a give and go with Gabrielle Carle and takes it to the byline, crosses it into the box, and finds the head of Casey Krueger! The Spirit are level with seconds to spare, and the fans rejoice! A win would have seen them go second in the table, but the supporters are sure glad with one point after that first-half. McKeown put her name in the hat for a second consecutive assist of the week, and Krueger showed that age is not an issue with her, as the 34 year-old completely changed the game since coming on. They had this to say about it post-game:

“Yeah, I mean, we were losing, so it's like anything to help the team get a goal and get forward. And, I mean, we talk about it all the time, like, pass and run. So as I was passing it to Gabby, in my head, I was like, ‘pass and run’. So I just started running and then, yeah, put it in the box and Casey was there. Great header.” - Tara McKeown

“[You] Put it on a platter sis!” - Casey Krueger

This game marks four without a clean sheet for the Spirit. Goalscoring has not been a problem for them, as they have three each in their last three, but goal prevention is an issue. The Spirit have a really good backline, but lapses in judgement and concentration are proving to be detrimental to them. Additionally, they have not won at Audi Field since the 2-0 win against Bay FC, nearly two months ago. We were able to catch up with Aubrey Kingsbury after the game, who shared her thoughts on the problems.

“We kept three clean sheets in a row. It wasn't like I wasn't making saves in those, still had to work pretty hard, but I think we've conceded some easy ones, just poor marks on crosses, poor marks on corner kicks, just like again, small details, and maybe now it's got us doubting our abilities. I just see a little bit of hesitancy, of ‘Do I stick to that player? Is this my player?’ And we're all just kind of in the right spaces, but, like, not there, like we've had numbers in the box, and then someone's open and has an easy finish again. Like I'm making the save, but we're not there to the rebound.”

“Like, honestly, it's kind of [the] reverse of how we were last year. ​​We were a fortress here we were almost undefeated at Audi, and then kind of didn't do as well on the road, and now it's like we're doing well on the road, and then somehow, in front of an incredible crowd who gives us energy and cheers us on like we can't figure it out at home.”

The Spirit hope to figure out their backline woes in Seattle next week against the Reign before going on a short international break. They return to D.C. June 8 for an exciting matchup against the NC Courage. They currently sit fifth in the table, just one point off of second place and five off of first.