The Spirit beat NJ/NY Gotham FC 2-0 in front of 15,004 fans at Audi Field.
The Washington Spirit (3-1-0) hosted NJ/NY Gotham FC at Audi Field on a sunny Saturday afternoon. The Spirit started with the same eleven players they had the previous week in Houston while Gotham fielded an eleven that now had national team players Lynn Williams and Jenna Nighswonger starting.
The game began with Gotham having good bouts of possession with the occasional Spirit counter attack, but neither team could get a shot on goal for the first xx minutes. But after forward Trinity Rodman moved to the left side, the Spirit’s attack began to become dangerous. Rodman’s first attack was an individual run that just went wide of the far post in the seventeenth minute (the play also ended in Gotham defender Tierna Davidson coming out with what looked like a hamstring injury).
In the thirtieth minute, Rodman sent in a perfectly weighted pass to allow forward Ouleymata Sarr to have a one-on-one attack right down the middle of the field, but Gotham keeper Miller was able to kick the ball away from just outside the six yard box. Another attack just a minute later allowed Rodman to kick the ball around goalkeeper Cassie Miller before Gotham defender Bruninha managed to send the ball over the end line for a corner kick. In the fortieth minute, Rodman had yet another breakaway that ended in a low shot which Miller was able to parry away from goal.
Then only a few seconds later, Spirit defender Casey Kreuger found rookie midfielder Croix Bethune outside of the eighteen yard box. Bethune worked her way between two defenders so she was wide open. She then took a powerful left-footed strike that went just inside the left post past the outstretched glove of Cassie Miller. It was Bethune’s third goal in her first five games in the league.
Three minutes later it looked like Bethune would have a brace when she was able to get behind both center backs and put the ball into the net, but the goal was called back with an offside call. After that, Gotham had a little more control but were unable to put any real attack on and the half ended after four minutes of extra time with the Spirit up 1-0.
The second half saw Gotham have far more control than they did in the first, but they still had very few good chances. One shot on goal was directly at Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury and two corner kicks resulted in wildly off-target shots.
Then in the 66th minute, Spirit outside back Gabrielle Carle sent a cross into the box. Bethune gathered and kicked the ball, which was blocked by what appeared to be a handball on Sam Hiatt. At first the call was not given, but then VAR told the center official to have a second look. Unlike many VAR reviews in the league this year, this one was very quick and referee Ekaterina Koroleva pointed to the spot. Forward Ashley Hatch took the penalty kick for the Spirit and sent the ball to the far right of the goal where Gotham goalkeeper Miller could not stop it, even though she had gone the right way.
The remainder of the game went much as the first part of the second half had. Gotham retained a lot of the control but were not able to muster any serious attacks on the Spirit. After eight minutes of extra time, the Spirit came away with a 2-0 win and their first clean sheet of the season.
Post by Kelley Piper
