With a brace by Makenna Morris and goals from Ashley Hatch and Lena Silano, Washington Spirit easily defeated Racing Louisville FC last night in their first match at home since mid-September. Though still starting a rotated lineup, Washington dominated the match with a high press and effective pass rate, lowering the odds the away side will be able to snag one of the remaining playoff spots.

Two of Washington’s four goals were a direct result of their high press causing turnovers. The first was in the 36th minute when Morris closed in on a Louisville defender in the box. Under pressure by Hatch herself, goalkeeper Katie Lund made a risky pass. Morris intercepted the ball and slammed it home.

Post-match, Morris attributed her goal to “following the game plan” and credited coaches for preparing the team for each match. “In that moment, I knew where I had to be and I was able to just win the ball,” she said.

“And smash it in,” teammate Hatch added. Morris laughed, later describing the shot as “a rocket” that she shot as hard as she could to try to beat Lund.

The second turnover goal came in the dying moments of the match. Lena Silano, who’d come into the game about ten minutes before, made an interception near the box and cut between two Louisville defenders to give herself a better chance at the goal. Her quick shot from the edge of the box caught Lund off guard and put Washington’s goal differential back up to three for the match.

Rosemunde Kouassi created the Spirit’s second goal of the night, seemingly fueled by a yellow card in the 43rd minute for slamming a ball in anger after a foul call. A minute later, Kouassi ran up the left side of the pitch, receiving the ball from Hatch, and sliding it perfectly across the front of the goal line for an easy tap-in by Morris.

Washington’s third goal in the game was a penalty kick by the always-reliable Ashley Hatch. After a corner kick in the second half, Kouassi was pulled down inside the box, earning the penalty. The successful penalty conversion was Hatch’s 11th out of 11 attempts over the course of the last three seasons, solidifying her status as the league’s best.

Outmatched for most of the game, Racing’s only goal took a bit of luck to achieve. The strike by Emma Sears was initially called offside because her teammate Kayla Fischer was ahead of play and inches away from the ball’s path near Aubrey Kingsbury. A VAR check reversed that decision and kept the Spirit from a clean sheet for the night.

The Spirit’s victory keeps them in second place in the league. They are tied with NJ/NY Gotham FC on points but lead in goal differential. They play at home against next week, facing the Chicago Red Stars on Sunday, October 20, before traveling to North Carolina for the final match of the season.

Three takeaways 

• Playing for Andi. After the match, several Spirit players said their performance was motivated by the recently-injured Andi Sullivan, with Kingsbury analogizing the injury of such an integral player late in the season to Tori Huster’s 2021 playoff injury. Hatch agreed that the team was thinking of her: “We wouldn’t be where we are now without Andi, so I think it’s only right to continue to play for her and to work hard for her because we all know that she would die to be able to play in these playoff games.”
• Midfield shape. This match gave some idea of what the Spirit midfield could look like heading into the playoffs, with several first-choice players injured. To start the match head coach Jonatan Giráldez put Hal Hershfelt in a lone 6 role, with Heather Stainbrook as the 8 and Courtney Brown the 10. Louisville didn’t pose the biggest challenge for the new group, but their connections were good, and Giráldez praised all three for their judgement of where they needed to be in space to adjust to Louisville’s changing shape.
• Left side connection. One exciting development for Washington’s attack was the growing connection between Kouassi and Gabby Carle. Playing on the left side of the pitch, the two showed a lot of trust in each other’s ability to anticipate passes, whether coming ahead of or behind a run. Kouassi has yet to score her first NWSL goal, but this connection helped her create chances tonight and is sure to more of her own in the future.

Box Score

NWSL Regular Season –  Game 24

Washington Spirit 4 (Morris 36′, 44′, Hatch 56′(P), Silano 90+7′)

Racing Louisville FC 1 (Sears 72′)

Lineups

Washington Spirit (433): Aubrey Kingsbury (C); Gabby Carle, Esme Morgan (Annaïg Butel 67′), Tara McKeown, Paige Metayer (Kate Wiesner 75′); Heather Stainbrook, Hal Hershfelt, Courtney Brown (Trinity Rodman 67′); Makenna Morris (Lena Silano 86′), Rosemunde Kouassi (Brittany Ratcliffe 75′), Ashley Hatch

Racing Louisville FC (433): Katie Lund; Lauren Milliet, Arin Wright, Abby Erceg, Ellie Jean; Ary Borges (Parker Goins 90+1′), Taylor Flint, Marisa DiGrande (Savannah DeMelo 46′), Janine Beckie (Maddie Pokorny 87′); Kayla Fischer, Bethany Balcer (Emma Sears 60′)

Misconduct Summary

Washington Spirit:  Kouassi 43′

Racing Louisville FC:  None