The Washington Spirit hosted the Portland Thorns in a sold-out home opener to start the season. 19,215 tickets were distributed, making this year’s opener the second-straight season Audi Field has been sold out for the first home match. Claudia Martínez took the pitch in the 70th minute, making her the first-ever Paraguayan player to play in the NWSL. Olivia Moultrie’s second half goal and Portland’s defensive strategy sealed the road win for the Thorns.
The Spirit starting XI: Sandy MacIver, Tara Rudd (c), Lucia Di Guglielmo, Gabby Carle, Esme Morgan, Rebeca Bernal, Leicy Santos, Hal Hershfelt, Trinity Rodman, Rose Kouassi, Gift Monday
The Thorns starting XI: Morgan Messner, Reyna Reyes, Sam Hiatt (c), Isabella Obaze, M.A Vignola, Jessie Fleming, Cassandra Bogere, Reilyn Turner, Olivia Moultrie, Mimi Alidou, Pietra Tordin
Just before half, the Thorns built up a promising counterattack. A cross came into the box to Pietra Tordin, who was two steps behind the ball. She came in sliding to get a touch on it and instead collided with Sandy MacIver.
Olivia Moultrie put the visitors ahead after recovering the ball in the 18. Tara Rudd tried to stab the ball instead of sweeping it, and Moultrie recovered the ball and sent it past MacIver to break the deadlock.
The win was the first for Danish international Isabella Obaze, who was delighted to start the season with three points. “It’s an amazing feeling, I’ve never won on this field,” she began. “It feels so good getting that first win. It’s so important.”
The Spirit tried to mount a response in the 53rd minute. Gabby Carle sent in a beautiful ball to the far corner post to Hal Hershfelt. The midfielder tried to tap the ball with her weak foot and missed, with the ball going out of bounds.
In the closing minutes of the match, Paige Metayer sent a long ball across the box, hoping for a header from Rodman. With very little space, Rodman went up for the ball, but her header had too much power, sending the ball out of bounds.
The Spirit looked off all match long, with weak corner kicks, off-target crosses, and no answer for Portland’s defensive scheme.
“We all have our zones, and if someone’s in your zone, you take that person,” said Thorns defender Isabella Obaze. “I knew that with certain players on the Spirit, you have to be physical with them. So that was my strategy without anyone specifically to mark.” It just turned out her strategy shut down Spirit forward Gift Monday, who was subbed out halfway through the second half.
“Coming out of halftime, they made a little bit of changes, and we didn’t see what was happening yet,” said Spirit defender and captain Tara Rudd. “Maybe we were a little bit too predictable in our build-up, and we knew that they wanted to play into transition and they did… and scored.”
With just three training sessions as a full squad before their opener, there shouldn’t have been too much to expect in their opening match. With players like Rebeca Bernal shifting up into the midfield and Lucia Di Guglielmo joining the backline, it’ll take some time to gel. Not to mention finding a new rhythm in the midfield without Croix Bethune.
The Spirit will learn from tonight’s loss and prepare for their road trip next Friday, March 20, to face Racing Louisville.
-Jon Jones
Photo: Eyoel Fassil