In another match where their chances far outstripped their goals, Washington Spirit seemed to have earned their first win of the season before a late-game giveaway allowed Utah Royals to tie things up.

A goal by Rebeca Bernal put the Spirit ahead, but Tara Rudd, wearing the captain’s armband for the third time this season, attributed much of the result to not finishing additional chances to put the match out of the Royals’ reach.

“I think we created a lot of chances, and as we keep getting more comfortable and more reps, those chances will go in, and we’ll then we’ll be more comfortable into the second half,” she said. “I think we’re kind of keeping teams in the game right now, so they feel like they have momentum when they really shouldn’t feel like that.”

The Spirit had a strong start and were rewarded early. Off a corner in the 18th minute, the ball was deflected away from goal. Trinity Rodman collected the rebound and made a tricky pass to Sofia Cantore. Cantore created some space for herself, dribbling to the inside top of the box and took a shot. The ball was almost immediately blocked but bounced off a Royal toward the goal. Bernal followed its path, beating her defender and heading the ball upward into the goal, ensuring goalkeeper Mia Justus couldn’t reach it. The resulting goal was Bernal’s first in the NWSL.

“I’m happy for my first goal, but I just wanted to make sure the ball is in so, in that moment I didn’t know if it was a goal of Sofie or mine,” Bernal said. Speaking after the match, her joy for the goal was tempered by the result: “Obviously the most important is the team, and we wanted to win.”

After the goal, the Royals had a few chances of their own, as their high press paid off. They had a number of headed chances but managed only one on target in the first half. That one was pushed into the crossbar by a leaping Sandy MacIver.

Meanwhile, Deborah Abiodun and Rodman linked up for a pair of chances, the first involving a slick, centerback-splitting pass into the box by Abiodun for an onrushing Rodman. The shot went just over the goal, though. Rodman’s next was on target but just saved with a kick by Justus.

Justus continued to play a big role in the second half, coming off her line to stop big chances by Cantore and Rodman in the first 10 minutes. She ended the match with five saves, having faced 1.66 expected goals on target.

Play was fairly even in the second half, with four shots on target from the Spirit and three from the Royals. Still, as the game drew to a close, it seemed that Washington would be getting their first win of the year. It would not have been undeserved. They’d taken 16 shots, with six on target, and had 3.18 expected goals. Rodman led the way six shots, but Cantore and Claudia Martínez also had strong looks on goal.

That all changed in the 84th minute. Trying to launch a counterattack after a set piece, MacIver threw the ball between Lucia Di Guglielmo and Tara Rudd, neither of whom was prepared to receive it. Utah’s Cece Delzer pounced on it instead. MacIver came out to block Delzer’s run, but she quickly slid the ball across to Mina Tanaka. Tanaka, who’d already had a big impact since coming into the game in the second half, tapped it in to even the scoreline.

Minutes later, Tanaka again put the ball into the back of the net, but the attack was called offside. Still, the swing from a potential win to a near-loss was deflating to both players and fans.

“I think we’ve had a great game, and to be honest, I’m very calm, positive, because the team is performing well. The team is training good,” Adrián González said after the match. “I’d be worried if we weren’t creating chances, and the reality is, like, we are creating clear chances. Now it’s just about: to finish. Soccer is about both boxes, you need to finish, to create.”

Up next: The Spirit will travel to Colorado to play in Denver Summit’s first ever home match on Saturday.

Three takeaways 

• Goalkeeping concerns. After allowing two saveable goals last week, Sandy MacIver’s tenure as starting keeper was off to a rough start. Tonight, she made three saves and looked more confident both in and out of possession… until she passed the ball directly to Delzer, effectively creating Utah’s goal. With Aubrey Kingsbury on maternity leave, Sara Wojdelko on loan (and reportedly injured), and Kaylie Collins even more out of practice than MacIver, the Spirit will likely need to treat this as a learning experience, rather than a prompt to bring in a new starter. That approach was clear post-match, when González stressed not placing too much importance on a single moment while the team as a whole had failed to finish chances that could have put them ahead. He also talked about the importance of managing emotions to avoid mistakes like this one.
• Abiodun makes her case. Deborah Abiodun received her first start of the season and made the most of the opportunity. Strong on both sides of the ball, Abiodun created four chances and covered huge amounts of space for nine recoveries, and Utah’s chances improved greatly after she was subbed off around the 60th minute. (Though to be fair, they brought on three substitutes of their own at the same time.) González summed up her performance as, “Great, super positive.” He attributed Abiodun’s substitution to a minutes restriction but was impressed with her performance. “She’s doing an amazing job, especially recovering balls, pressing, winning those second balls.”
• The big picture. González is staying positive, stressing calm and patience for his team. For now, he is sticking with the plan, saying, “I don’t think we are going to change anything. Obviously we want to change the result, but that’s something that we cannot control.” Fans may not be satisfied with these answers. Coming off two second-place seasons, expectations remain high. González did offer something of a benchmark: “The most important thing is that we are improving in the quantity of chances and also the quality.” But until the results start reflecting that improvement, the success of the season remains in doubt.

Box Score

NWSL Regular Season –  Game 3

Washington Spirit 1 (Bernal 18′)
Utah Royals FC 1 (Tanaka 84′)

Lineups

Washington Spirit (433): Sandy MacIver; Kate Wiesner (Paige Metayer 46′), Tara Rudd (C), Lucia Di Guglielmo, Esme Morgan; Rebeca Bernal, Hal Hershfelt, Deborah Abiodun (Claudia Martínez 62′); Trinity Rodman, Rose Kouassi (Élisabeth Tsé 82′), Sofia Cantore (Leicy Santos 82′)

Utah Royals FC (4231): Mia Justus; Janni Thomsen (Miyabi Moriya 61′), Kaleigh Riehl, Kate Del Fava (C), Kameron Simmonds (Alexa Spaanstra 72′); Ana Tejada, Dayana Pierre-Louis (Courtney Brown 61′), Cece Delzer; Brecken Mozingo, Kiana Palacios (Mina Tanaka 61′), Cloé Lacasse (Lara Prasnikar 72′)

Misconduct Summary

Washington Spirit:  none
Utah Royals FC:  Simmonds 21′