Spirit v Angel City Recap 5/2

A highly anticipated game from two top teams occurred this past weekend, with both teams coming off a disappointing loss in the previous matchweek. The Washington Spirit (3rd, 4-0-2) took on Angel City FC (9th, 2-2-2) at Audi Field in a title race that has been shaping up nicely. A 7 goal thriller, VAR drama, and family ties; I was at the game, here’s what went down. 

The game started on a beautiful night in the District, during dogs night for the Spirit, where fans brought their dogs, of all shapes and sizes, to experience an exciting matchup. Rosemonde Kouassi made her way back into the starting lineup for the first time this season, after being integrated back into the squad after a preseason knee injury kept her out for the beginning of the season. The Spirit also had Adrián González on the touchline for the 90 minutes, as head coach Jonatan Giráldez was watching from the stands after a red card in the previous game against Gotham FC. 

In front of 13,738 fans, Sandy MacIver made her debut in goal for the Spirit, hoping to put an end to rookie Riley Tiernan’s reign of goalscoring prowess. Unfortunately, that dream was ended 8 minutes into the match, when Tiernan capped off a great buildup play from Angel City. Washington almost got themselves level ten minutes later when Ashley Hatch, who started in the midfield, put in a great cross to Kouassi, who needed to tap it in, but just missed wide, a huge relief for the visitors. Moments later, bad got worse for the Spirit. With five players back defending, Alyssa Thompson was able to chip a beautiful ball into the box where her sister, Gisele met it with a fancy side-foot volley. This goal made history, as the pair became the first sisters to connect for a goal, and it was also Gisele’s first professional goal. 

It was only eight minutes later when the Spirit were able to get on the board. Esme Morgan charged up from her spot in the defense to latch onto a headed pass from Hatch and slot it perfectly in the left corner for her first NWSL goal ever. Washington had life in the 40th minute, equalizing just before the half. An intercepted through ball led to a poor clearance from Angel City keeper, Angelina Anderson, who kicked it directly to Kouassi. From there she was able to throw a one-touch cross into the box, where Gift Monday tapped it into an empty net with a side-foot volley. 2-2 game! 

VAR drama came into play in stoppage time of the first half when Kouassi skillfully got by a few Angel City defenders, but was tripped up and fell to the ground. The referee immediately blew for a penalty, but after a lengthy VAR check, it was called off. Fans around the stadium stared in disbelief, as the video review clearly showed a trip, with many of them showing yellow cards to the ref and booing.

The 66th minute brought a triple substitution, and the Spirit got to see more minutes from Croix Bethune, the reigning Rookie of the Year, and new signing Kysha Sylla. Fans’ happiness was not long received, though, when Katie Zelem put ACFC 3-2 with less than twenty minutes to spare in the match. Her shot was bent beautifully into the left corner of the net, leaving Sandy MacIver helpless. MacIver showed her quality in the 85th minute, denying Claire Emslie of a sure goal, and Esme Morgan was there to block the follow-up attempt.

Building on that momentum, with less than a minute to spare in regulation, a jumble in the opposing box led to Esme Morgan grabbing her second goal of the game and for the Spirit, with the crowd erupting in applause. Those celebrations were stalled for a minute, as the ref disallowed the goal initially, but after a long VAR check, the on field decision was overturned, and the Spirit had found their equalizer! Due to the long check, a lot of time was added on, which, unfortunately, led to the demise of the Spirit. A corner in the dying seconds of the game was put in and headed on by veteran Christen Press. She directed the ball near Riley Tiernan, who smashed it into the net from close range, capping off an exciting 7-goal thriller. In the aftermath of the goal, Angel City coach, Sam Laity, was sent off, meaning he will not be allowed on the sideline for their next game. 

Our team got the chance to speak with a few players after the match to see what went wrong for the Spirit. Esme Morgan, the brace scorer, talked on how the momentum of the match went and the disappointment at the end.

“To be honest, we just looked at each other after the final whistle went and went: ‘How did that happen?’ So frustrating. We defended poorly in the first 15-20 minutes, and then I thought we did really well to sort of fight the momentum back to our side, and obviously close it to level at half time. And then I felt like we didn't necessarily take that momentum with us into the start of the second half and allowed them to regain a bit more of a foothold. And I feel like in games, when you fight back, that's such a high of working hard to get back that you've kind of just got to keep your foot on the throttle and keep pushing and pushing to go for goal. But then maybe that's what cost us at the end, because after getting that equalizer, we kept going because we wanted a fourth and we wanted to win the game, but then left us a bit exposed at the back, which allowed them to win the set piece that they eventually scored from.”

Injuries have hampered the Spirit quite a bit this season, but it is positive to see players like Kouassi and Bethune getting back onto the pitch to get some minutes, in which it is going to be important in a long and exciting title race. Assistant Coach, Adrián González, was able to touch on those points in the post-match press conference, saying:

“[It is] so positive that Croix is getting minutes. She's training good. She's getting more confident, and that's positive. We are working to bring players [back] from injuries, and now we can have more options, for sure. She needs to keep working, because it's been a while for sure, out of the team. And again, we don't like to have as a starting 11 always the same starting so players need to be aware. They need to be ready to help the team in different positions. We are going to continue changing the shape, changing the formation according to what we feel, what we see, during the training sessions, and all of them, they need to be ready.”

The Washington Spirit are back in action to face Chicago Stars FC on Saturday, May 10, a matchup in which they can hopefully bounce back from this two game skid. They currently sit sixth in the table, just three points off league-leaders Kansas City Current, while the Stars sit dead-last, in fourteenth position.

Written by Brian Rapuano