The Washington Spirit defeated Racing Louisville 1-0 behind a first-half goal by Trinity Rodman. In a soaking wet Audi Field, the Spirit won their third match in a row, and midfielder Andi Sullivan made her first appearance since Sept 15, 2024.
Trinity Rodman scored in the 15th minute to give the Spirit the lead. Sofia Cantore was flying down the right flank, cut inside, and sent a low cross to Trinity Rodman, who was waiting in the center of the box. The U.S. Women’s National Team star nailed a one-timed effort with power, soaring into the back of the net, beating Louisville’s Jordyn Bloomer.
Racing Louisville defender Ellie Jean had a massive workload in front of her. After winning their last two matches, the Spirit have begun to find their stride, and their attackers are a big part of it. Jean had the massive task of defending Sofia Cantore, Leicy Santos, and Trinity Rodman.
“We have a lot of principles about being disciplined and also being really aggressive, defending-wise,” said Louisville defender Ellie Jean after the match. “But yeah, they’re usually trying to find Cantore or Rodman, so wherever, whoever I can get on. They did a lot of that rollout in the midfield, checking off, so we were trying to figure that out. But we did a lot better in the second half, which was nice.”
Louisville played an extremely high line in the first half. When in possession in the Spirit’s half, they kept Jean and midfielder Taylor Flint at the half-line. If they were defending in the Spirit’s half, they held a hard line of four defenders at the half.
“We try to keep our numbers pretty high and see if we can be direct or hit those pocket players,” Jean began. “Most of the time we’re trying to play pretty high and see what passes we can find and pick out.”
To start the second half, Paige Metayer and Gabby Carle came into the match for Kate Weisner and Lucia Di Guglielmo. The substitutions represented a shift in the defensive scheme for coach Adrián González. Metayer had the speed and stamina to push up in attack but track back into position when on defense.
“As a team, we knew what we had in a back line and having her (MacIver),” said Gabby Carle in response to Sandy MacIver’s importance. “We’re a very strong unit.”
The Spirit nearly doubled their lead in the 67th minute on a counterattack that saw Trinity Rodman unmarked in the center of the box. Without knowing she was in open space, she one-timed the low cross with the shot curving outside the far post.
In stoppage time, Claudia Martínez possessed the ball in a 1 v 1 with the keeper, with a sure-looking second goal incoming. In the end, the Paraguayan international took one too many steps, and Bloomer blocked the late shot with ease.
The Spirit played a match that was deserving of a win, but they could’ve had even more goals. If even a handful of missed chances were converted, they could’ve won by a substantial number of goals. That fact wasn’t lost on Rodman. ” We were a little more rushed; that’s what we talked about at halftime,” Trinity Rodman began after the match. “Some of my shots were forced, Leicy could’ve gone with one foot instead of the other. We have to do better at knowing when to possess and when to push forward.”
The Spirit moved up to third place in the NWSL standings behind league leaders San Diego Wave and Portland Thorns after tonight’s win. They’ll savor the victory and prepare for travel as they face Orlando Pride on Saturday, May 2, at 4:00 PM/ET.
-Jon Jones
Photo: Eyoel Fassil