Two goals in the first half were all that was needed for the Spirit to hold on to a 2-1 win.
On a partly cloudy Easter Sunday, the Spirit (1-1-0) faced the second incarnation of the Utah Royals (1-1-0) for the first time. The game started with a little back and forth before the Spirit started to dominate the possession around the quarter hour mark. Their first dangerous foray came after Ouleye Sarr got the ball to Trinity Rodman, who brought it up almost to the end line and sent in a low cross to Sarr, whose shot from only a few feet out was light and right to Royals goalkeeper Mandy Haught.
Then in the eighteenth minute, midfielder Hal Hershfelt got a turnover and quickly fed the ball upfield to Bethune. Bethune then sent the ball wide to Rodman, who took it to just outside the box before sending it back to Bethune, who was just inside the box. As Bethune turned away from Royals defender Olivia Griffitts, she was fouled. The ref immediately signaled for the penalty kick, but then the first of a few long VAR reviews occurred.
Finally, Andi Sullivan was allowed to take the penalty kick. She sent the ball to the right side of the goal and even though Haught guessed right, she was not able to block the shot. Sullivan has now converted four out of five penalty kicks in her NWSL career.
In the twenty-forth minute, VAR alerted the center referee that there may have been a foul that could potentially result in a red card. Royals midfielder Dana Foederer had slid, studs up into Hershfelt’s leg at midfield. Between the VAR and the referee’s check, the review lasted five and a half minutes and resulted only in a yellow card.
As play resumed, it only took the Spirit another minute to score their second goal. Rodman sent in her now club-leading twelfth assist to Ouleye Sarr, who went up over Royals defender Kate Del Fava and sent the ball into the upper right of the goal. It was Sarr’s first goal of the season and her second with the club since joining midway through the 2023 season.
The remainder of the first half was basically uneventful, other than the fact the two delays due to VAR and a brief injury time out for Gabrielle Carle led to an additional thirteen minutes being added on. When that lengthy time concluded, the Spirit went into the locker rooms up 2-0.
The second half at first saw possession and momentum swing back and forth. The Spirit had a few decent shots and then around the 54′ they received 4 corner kicks in quick succession, the last of which almost resulted in a Casey Krueger, but her short-range shot hit off the right post.
The Royals started to look more dangerous in the final thirty minutes. Kingsbury had to make a quick save on a strong Ally Sentnor shot after a giveaway in the box in the 66′.
Sarr suffered a tough tackle by Kate Del Fava (who was already on a yellow from another challenge on Sarr) in the box which was initially ruled no foul. A few moments later, VAR alerted the referee that they were still looking at it to determine whether it was a foul. However, they ended up not asking for a VAR review from the center referee.
In the 70′, Royals rookie forward Ally Sentnor took the ball along the edge of the box and then sent a strong shot into the bottom left corner of the goal, bringing the Royals to within one of the Spirit. After that goal, the Royals pressed hard for the equalizer for the remainder of the game.
In the 76′ Royals midfielder Dana Foederer had two close range shots but Kingsbury was able to quickly deflect the first and then gather the second, point-blank shot, while on the ground.
A strange thing occurred in the 86th minute. The Spirit subbed two players, including forward Chloe Ricketts for Courtney Brown. Kingsbury restarted play but the referee blew his whistle. After much discussion with the Spirit coaching staff, it was determined that Ricketts had not been on the gameday roster, so she could not sub into the game. Brown returned to the field in her place and played the remainder of the game.
The Royals continued to press for the remainder of the game, including the 8 minutes of stoppage time, but they were unable to equalize the the Spirit took the three points into the international break, putting them into 4th place in the league. The Royals now with 1 win and 2 losses sits in 12th out of the 14 teams.
Post by Kelley Piper
