DC Power FC scored the largest win in club history on Wednesday night at Audi Field, destroying Fort Lauderdale United FC 4-0 to gain three crucial points at the right time. Goals by Alyssa Walker and Jaydah Bedoya were bookends to a Loza Abera brace.

DC entered the match needing a win to stay within reach of the playoff line, and they wanted to get some revenge against Fort Lauderdale United, who beat them 16 days ago. Alexis Theoret, who had battled injury the past few weeks, was cleared for play and began the match on the bench. Allie Long, who signed with Fort Lauderdale United late last week, also began the match on the bench. But DC Power was on the front foot all evening in securing the points.

“It’s a good win,” head coach Omid Namazi said after the match. “[Fort Lauderdale] were a little unlucky getting a red card very early in the game and that kind of put us in the driver’s seat, so to say. But our play in the first half I wasn’t happy with, to be honest with you. And we made some adjustments in the second half in our formation and that gave us a little bit more of the ball and not turning it over so much. And we dictated from there and then their chances were just very limited, if any. So, I gotta congratulate the girls. Just gotta be a little bit sharper, you know, down the stretch.”

It was Fort Lauderdale who had the first opportunity of the match in the third minute. Sh’nia Gordon got behind the defense on the break, and initially got past DC Power goalkeeper Morgan Aquino with the ball. Having to pull back from the endline, Gordon tried to get a cross into the box, but Aquino recovered to knock the ball out of play and stifle the effort.

In the eighth minute, Hannah Richardson-Harney, on the attack for DC Power, was able to send a cross in from the right side to Dasia Torbert. However, Torbert’s contested flick in front of goal went over the bar. A couple of minutes later, DC Power got an advantage. Alyssa Walker did a great job of intercepting a pass deep in Fort Lauderdale territory, and to stop a break on goal, Laveni Vaka deliberately pulled Walker down from behind. The referee immediately blew for a whistle before a moment later showing Vaka a red card for denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity, reducing Fort Lauderdale United to 10 players.

Play was stopped for a lengthy delay in the 12th minute due to an injury to Fort Lauderdale’s Julia Grosso player, who had to be stretchered off the field. She was replaced by Kate Colvin. Once play resumed, it was back and forth for a while. DC Power was not able to seize control of the match despite the player advantage. In the 29th minute, DC Power continued to push forward, and Harney got a shot off a Justina Gaynor pass. The ball went just high of the net. Just a few seconds later, the team had another opportunity off the corner kick, but they couldn’t put the ball on frame.

DC Power continued their push, but they weren’t able to get anything going. Finally, in the 39th minute, DC Power found paydirt. Dasia Torbert, playing a high press, stole the ball very deep inside the box. She took a lateral dribble toward goal and fired a shot that Craig saved, but the rebound fell right to Alyssa Walker. Walker guided the rebound into the net, giving DC Power the 1-0 lead, and then celebrated by donning a Spiderman mask that was behind the goal.

“Honestly, the movement coming from our midfielders and the movement paired up with the strikers, it opened up those gaps,” Alyssa Walker said after the match. “We’ve been working on how to move with each other during training the past couple weeks, and that just really translated into the game today.  

DC Power made a few attempts to get a second before the halftime whistle, with Walker getting a couple more headers off corner kicks at goal. There was a moment where Dasia Torbert was able to corral a long ball inside the box and pass it off to Loza Abera for what would have been teh second goal, but the play was ruled to be offside, and they took the 1-0 lead into the locker room.

The second half started, and DC Power tried to get active early. Some smart play in the 48th minute led to Emily Colton firing a shot from just outside of the box. The ball went just over the crossbar, but it was clear DC wanted to put even more pressure on Fort Lauderdale’s defense. They had a couple more great opportunities in the 52nd minute, but each shot was blocked or saved.

In the 54th minute, DC gets a goal of beauty. Loza Abera received the ball about 30 yards from goal off a turnover, and quickly turned to see Craig off her line. Loza fired a beautiful ball over Craig’s head into the net before anyone could react, and just like that, DC Power had a 2-0 DC lead.

“[It was a] transition ball,” Abera said. “So at that time, as soon as I got that ball, I turned and I saw the goalkeeper’s eyes and then chipped and then scored. So, yeah, it was a good goal.” Alexis Theoret subbed on in the 57th minute, and DC was clicking on all cylinders. However, they had a scare a couple minutes later when Fort Lauderdale thought they got a goal back. However, they were ruled offside, keeping the DC up by two.

DC Power maintained its aggressive play, and it almost yielded a third goal. In the 64th minute, off a corner kick, Paige Almendariz found Alyssa Walker, who again put a header towards goal. The ball took a ricochet off the left post and then the keeper but stayed out of the net.

In the 66th minute, Paige Almendariz went down with an injury and was replaced by Katrina Guillou. Still, with the two goal lead, DC Power never settled. In the 70th minute, both Alyssa Walker and Loza Abera got free on the break towards a through ball. Walker got there first and unleashed a low shot that just went wide left of the next.

In the 72nd minute, DC made it 3-0. On the break, Emily Colton sent the ball ahead to Alyssa Walker on the flank, who sent a cross from the right side into the box. Dasia Torbert got a foot on it, but the ball squeaked under her foot. Loza Abera was on the other side waiting and was all alone to calmly put the ball into the net. It was the first time DC Power had scored three goals in a match since a 3-1 home win over Fort Lauderdale United back on November 12th.

Just a couple minutes later, DC almost got a fourth. Emily Colton got the ball on the wing and took it into the box to unleash a shot shot. Craig made the save, but Justina Gaynor was on the rebound about 6 yards from goal. Her shot banged off the right post but stayed out of the net.

DC Power’s main goal was to stay aggressive but close out the match with the clean sheet. In the 83rd minute, they added a fourth goal. On the break playing the goal kick well, Emily Colton was first to the ball and sent a cross in to Jaydah Bedoya, who subbed on just two minutes earlier. Bedoya scored with a wonderful finish.

DC Power’s push continued through the final whistle, with Fort Lauderdale on their back heels all match long. DC was also able to close out the clean sheet, with the referee blowing her whistle for full time after five minutes of stoppage time. The four goals by DC Power were the most in one match in club history.

“I mean, it’s always cool to be a part of history!” Alyssa Walker said. “Yeah, that’s awesome,” Justina Gaynor concurred. “I think it was good for us. I think we finally put some of our chances away, which we’ve been struggling to do. So it just felt good that we were finally able to hit the back of the net a couple times and take a little bit of a deep breath and kind of find our rhythm.”

With the win, DC Power moved above Dallas Trinity into fourth place in the Gainbridge Super League standings. While the two teams are tied on points, DC Power is above the playoff line due to goal differential. While Dallas Trinity has a match this weekend, it sets up a pivotal match next Friday at Audi Field when the two teams meet. “That’s a playoff game,” Namazi said. “They’re tied with us. They play a game before they play us. But at the same time, that game, if we can put ourselves ahead with a win against our head to head rival, I think it puts us in the driver’s seat going into the last two games of the season.”