The Washington Spirit faced off against the Vancouver Rise FC Academy in their second Concacaf W Champions Cup game. The Spirit used mostly backups with a few notable exceptions in Trinity Rodman and Tara McKeown against a team of largely younger players on the Canadian side. The Canadian team largely hunkered down into a highly defensive shape, while the Spirit spent the game with the majority of the possession (85%) and chances, but the visitors were able to keep the home team to a respectable 4-0 win and even held the Spirit scoreless in the first 30 minutes.
The Spirit did have a rash of goals to end the second half, starting with a long shot from center back McKeown in the 31st minute. Then Heather Stainbrook doubled the lead 10 minutes later followed by Rodman making it 3-0 shortly before the half. The fourth goal was another center back effort from outside the box, when substitute Deb Abiodun, making only her second appearance with the Spirit after return from loan with the Dallas Trinity, sent in a ball that took a slight deflection in the 81st minute. The Spirit had a number of probing shots, but the stout defense along with a wonderful effort from the Rise’s goalkeeper, Jessica Wulf, was enough to neutralize them.
The Spirit’s next W Champions Cup game won’t come until October 1st, when they will meet up in Philadelphia with Gotham FC for what will likely be the game that decides who wins their group (both teams are 2-0 in group play so far, although the Spirit have hefty goal differential lead of +11 versus Gotham’s +3. Their final group stage match will be at home against Monterrey on October 15th.
