After a shockingly poor first 15 minutes that saw them go down 3-0, Washington Spirit battled back to a 90th-minute equalizer before a final goal gave North Carolina Courage the win.

Kate Wiesner credited the Courage for starting the match “on the front foot” and making smart, dangerous attacking moves but had plenty of criticism for her own tam in the opening minutes.

“Honestly, I’m not sure we can blame the first 15 minutes on anything tactical, right? Like, I think that’s just us not coming out as sharp or as locked in as we need to be, and that’s a huge, huge learning experience for us, right? To compete for a championship, to compete for a shield, that can’t happen going forward,” she said.

Ashley Sanchez scored in just the third minute of the match. Some good passing among Courage players helped them find an unmarked Sanchez in the box. Jumping into the air, she took a touch with her left foot to launch the ball over Sandy MacIver and into the goal.

Minutes later, the Courage struck again. Intersecting a pass, they launched a counterattack that found Ally Schlegel in the box with the ball. Although her defender got behind her, Schlegel was able to pass to Evelyn Ijeh, just off Tara Rudd’s shoulder. Ijeh’s quick poke into the box was initially called offside, but a VAR review overturned that call, and the goal stood.

In the 15th minute, Sanchez tackled the ball away from Rudd, getting the ball to Ijeh at the top of the box. Ijeh shot from there, scooping it over MacIver for her second of the night.

After a hydration break allowed them to regroup and regain some confidence, the Spirit were able to string together some attacks, frequently finding Trinity Rodman to create chances and winning set pieces on both sides of the box. Shots still remained few, though, and they were unable to penetrate the goal area.

The Spirit made four changes at the half and immediately launched what they hoped would be their comeback.

“Obviously once you go down three goals, then the conservative mindset goes out the window, and we talked at halftime about, just, like, throwing everything we had at the game,” Wiesner said.

Just two minutes in, Wiesner received the ball at half field and got it to Rodman just inside the box. Rodman took on North Carolina’s Ryan Williams one-on-one, found some space, and shot toward the back post.

After a driving run by Gabby Carle, Wiesner passed to Sofia Cantore in the center of the box. Cantore’s first shot was deflected, but Tamara Bolt collected the rebound and passed it back centrally, where Cantore was finally able to push it over the goal line.

Washington kept the pressure up throughout the half, with North Carolina not able to muster much of an attack until the 65th minute. In the second half, the Spirit took 15 shots to North Carolina’s four.

As regulation time drew to a close, Bolt drew a foul at the very corner of the box. Wiesner’s kick was headed out for a corner, and with a second chance, she found the head of Rebeca Bernal. Her header was blocked, but she moved into position to win the rebound and tie things up for the Spirit.

With the momentum on their side, the Spirit kept pushing. Four minutes after Bernal’s goal a blistering shot by Hal Hershfelt hit the woodwork. But Rodman had gone down on the play and, with her briefly sidelined and everyone else forward on the attack, the Courage were able to take advantage. Centerback Natalie Jacobs received the ball at the top of the box and slipped it past MacIver into the goal.

“We were taking risks, obviously,” Adrián González said. “I do take responsibility also on that, on the last goal, because you have two options: you can just try to slow down the game, just end the game, or you want to go to score the fourth.”

Despite the loss, players did take some positives from the game.

“I think it’s kind of an example of, like, what this team can do and is capable of when, you know, our backs are against the wall, and so [I’m] really proud of that resilience that we showed, you know, in that second half and the mentality to come out at halftime swinging,” Wiesner said.

Up next: The Spirit are in LA to play Angel City on Sunday, Aug. 16.

Three takeaways 

• Lots to learn. González said everyone, players, staff, and himself, need to learn from this game. He attributed all three goals (accurately) to mistakes but also recognized additional changes are needed. Wiesner suggested the team might need to adjust their approach to warm-ups and pre-match discussions to get started quicker.
• More time for Tamara Bolt. In the most minutes she’s played for the club yet, Tamara Bolt was perhaps the most impactful of the Spirit’s halftime subs. Her speed helped her win loose balls, recovering six and creating two chances, including Cantore’s goal. She also won all six of her ground duels. Especially with Rose Kouassi still away for a few more weeks, Bolt deserves more minutes and, hopefully, her first start.
• Wiesner’s goal contribution. Kate Wiesner also deserves a shout-out. She was involved in all three of Washington’s goals, earning her second assist of the season on Bernal’s. (The first also came against North Carolina.) Wiesner contributed her impact to the freedom she got in the second half to focus on attacking: “I got the thumbs-up, green light, go-ahead to just get forward as much as possible and get as many services in the box as I could.”

Box Score

NWSL Regular Season –  Game 19

Washington Spirit 3 (Rodman 47′, Cantore 50′, Bernal 90′)
North Carolina Courage 4 (Sanchez 3′, Ijeh 9′, 15′, Jacobs 90+5′)

Lineups

Washington Spirit (433): Sandy MacIver; Kate Wiesner, Tara Rudd, Gabby Carle (Madison Haugen 80′), Esme Morgan (Élisabeth Tsé 46′); Andi Sullivan (C) (Rebeca Bernal 46′), Leicy Santos, Hal Hershfelt; Trinity Rodman, Paige Metayer (Tamara Bolt 46′), Claudia Martínez (Sofia Cantore 46′)

North Carolina Courage (4231): Kailen Sheridan; Feli Rauch, Maycee Bell, Natalie Jacobs (C), Ryan Williams; Shinomi Koyama, Erica Meg Parkinson (Carly Wickenheiser 60′), Riley Jackson (Vilde Bøe Risa 60′); Ashley Sanchez (Hannah Betfort 46′), Ally Schlegel (Lauryn Thompson 60′), Evelyn Ijeh (Chioma Okafor 82′)

Misconduct Summary

Washington Spirit:  Morgan 34′
North Carolina Courage:  Rauch 37′, Bøe Risa 75′, Bell 90+7′

Lead image by Jason Taylor. See the full gallery from the game here: https://gallery.inmotionphotoandvideo.com/washingtonspiritvsnorthcarolinacourage/