Washington Spirit rolled to a an easy 1-0 win over Utah Royals in Utah last night, despite a slower pace of play and the return of some finishing problems.
Struggling with some minor injuries and fatigue after two weeks of international duty, the Spirit played a slightly altered Starting XI from their usual, with Ashley Hatch taking the central attacking midfield role. Interim head coach Adrián González also made earlier substitutions, replacing Hatch and Kate Wiesner at the half and Trinity Rodman just after the 60th minute.
The Spirit’s only goal came in the 25th minute off the first of many corner kicks taken by Andi Sullivan. After the kick, Washington retained possession in the box, seeking a shot. It was headed down near the top to Wiesner. Her first shot was blocked, but she recovered and moved the ball to her right to find an opening and try again. This time, Wiesner’s strike flew through traffic and hit the far back corner of the goal, netting the rookie her first professional goal.
Whether it was the Utah heat or tired legs, both teams slowed down in the second half, not registering a shot for the first eight minutes. Washington rallied and made four shots on target but were unable to add to their goal total.
One of their best chances came in the 67th minute, when newly-entered Brittany Ratcliffe dribbled toward goal, making a slanting pass to Croix Bethune just outside the goal area. Bethune quickly passed back to Ratcliffe, who’d continued her run into the box, but Royals goalkeeper Mandy Haught rushed in to block a shot.
Haught got the chance to be a hero for her team many times over. She made six saves after Washington’s goal, successfully preventing the Spirit from increasing their lead to keep the Royals competitive. Utah’s attackers were not able to capitalize on her performance, though. A few players showed individual flashes of brilliance, forcing Aubrey Kingsbury to three saves of her own (with the woodwork aiding a fourth), but generally the Royals were easily managed by Washington’s defense.
Ultimately, Wiesner’s goal proved the game-winner, and the Spirit leave Utah on a four-game winning streak — their second this season. Very nearly at the midpoint of the regular season, last night’s win puts them just one point behind first place.
Three takeaways
- A clean sheet. This was only the Spirit’s second clean sheet of the season, and increasing that number was something González said his team has been working on. Their defensive work paid off in this match, showing in both the final score and the 33 minutes they prevented a single shot in the second half.
- Set piece work. Washington took 10 corner kicks but only scored on the first of them. They also ran similar plays, with early kicks directed to the far post and later ones being short passes to Bethune. Improving both the versatility and placement of the kicks would go a long way toward increasing the Spirit’s goal totals.
- Player depth. The Spirit were clearly still in recovery mode, after eight of their players spent the past two weeks traveling and playing for national teams. Their ability to control the game and stay dangerous on attack despite resting stars like Bethune and Rodman — something that would have seemed impossible earlier this season — showed a strong improvement in the depth of the team’s bench. González said that he’s happy to have so many different options to rotate and rest players. “We need 22 players if we want to keep competing.”
Box Score
NWSL Regular Season – Game 12
Utah Royals 0
Washington Spirit 1 (Wiesner 25′)
Lineups
Utah Royals (433): Mandy Haught; Lauren Flynn, Ana Tejana, Kate del Fava, Zoe Burns (Tucker 88′) ; Amandine Henry, Dana Foederer (Macey Fraser 57′), Frankie Tagliaferri (Hannah Betfort 57′); Paige Monaghan (C) (Madison Pogarch 88′), Brecken Mozingo (Michelle Vasconcelos 77′), Ally Sentnor
Washington Spirit (4231): Aubrey Kingsbury (C); Casey Krueger, Annaïg Butel, Tara McKeown, Gabby Carle; Andi Sullivan, Hal Hershfelt, Ashley Hatch (Croix Bethune 46′); Kate Wiesner (Courtney Brown 46′), Trinity Rodman (Brittany Ratcliffe 66′), Ouleye Sarr
Misconduct Summary
Utah Royals: Flynn 9′
Washington Spirit: Carle 85′
Lead image courtesy of the Washington Spirit
Thanks, Annie. Once again I couldn’t make NWSL+ work so I followed the match as best I could (goal, yellow cards, substitutions).
Many thoughts:
First, I’ve been very impressed by Radcliffe all season–very predatory, great late game sub to run at tired legs or exploit space. I thought this was a poor match by her capabilities. Yes, Haught came up big on that exchange with Bethune. But she also tried to lob Haught when a square ball to Sarr was in order and would have given Sarr an empty net first-timer. Radcliffe seemed eager to go for goal regardless of what the situation dictated.
Second, to me, the team looked to have tired legs. Combined with the dry heat in Utah, it’s draining. And they put in a professional effort. By that I mean: enough to win, but not with a lot of energy.
Third, I get you play Brown because she’s local and you’re rotating players. That said, boy did she look raw to my eye. Lots of poor first touches, not good movement off the ball. Her square ball leading to the breakaway was almost a very costly error.
Fourth, boy Hershfelt covers a lot of ground and does a lot of stuff well. One thing that really impressed me about her game this match is she’ll get stuck in, or fouled, or stop play and instantly she’s re-focused to “ok, who’ve moving behind me, how do I need to adjust, what is going to happen next, what’s the next threat?” She doesn’t get caught up in the heat of the moment or take a mental break or take 5-10 seconds off mentally. Always got her head in the game.
Finally, why is Gonzalez on crutches?
Gonzalez has been a bit evasive about what exactly happened, but he injured his foot a few weeks back and had surgery over the international break.
I’d seen him on crutches previously and had meant to ask. He could just follow the hockey/NHL example and list it as “lower body injury.”
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