The Washington Spirit ended the night’s match on the wrong end of the 4-3 scoreline. Trinity Rodman, Rebeca Bernal, and Sofia Cantore were the goal scorers for the Spirit, with Rodman increasing her stake in the Golden Boot race. To that end, so were Ashley Sanchez (10) and Evelyn Ijeh (9).
In the first 90 seconds, Courage’s Ashley Sanchez broke the deadlock. With a perfect chip from outside the 18, Sanchez timed her run perfectly to beat the last defender and put an athletic, one-timed volley past Sandy MacIver for her side’s first goal.
Evelyn Ijeh lurked inside the box with her back to Tara Rudd and beat MacIver near post. Within 10 minutes, the visitors put up two goals and proved to be a headache for Spirit defenders early on. On an errant back pass, Sanchez tackled Tara Rudd in a way that forced the ball back towards the keeper. As MacIver sprinted toward the ball, Ijeh simply beat her to the ball and finished it cleanly. Ijeh, who made her move to the NWSL this season from Italian giants AC Milan, now has 9 goals to her name.
The Spirit started the second half inspired and scored their first goal in less than two minutes of play. In the attacking third, Trinity Rodman received a pass, took on two defenders, and curled a right-footed effort to the far post, beating Kailen Sheridan. The goal marked a season high for Rodman with 9 goals, as she remains in the top five of the Golden Boot race.
Before North Carolina could get over Rodman’s goal, the Spirit pressured them high and strong-armed a second goal three minutes later. From the same angle in the same area, Rodman once again took on two defenders, but this time, curled a low cross into the keeper’s area. A sprinting Sofia Cantore missed the ball by a step, but thanks to Tamara Bolt, the ball was kept in play. Bolt quickly passed the ball to Cantore, who was still sitting in front of the goal, and the Italian international forced the ball into the back of the net via deflection.
The Courage almost pulled one back when Laura Thompson sprinted to the touchline and passed the ball back to Chioma Okafor. Okafor took a shot from about 5 yards away from the keeper, but it was saved and cleared away. Moments later, Thompson returned to the Spirit’s 18, spun a defender, and fired a close-range shot on MacIver, who made a spectacular split-second save.
From a corner kick, Rebeca Bernal single-handedly brought her side level with an incredible goal in the 91st minute. As the ball came in from the corner, Bernal leaped above her defenders to put a header on frame. As the Mexican international came down from her header, the ball was deflected to her feet, where she immediately toe-poked the ball past Sheridan to make the match 3-3. Hal Hershfelt almost gave them the lead from about 25 yards out, but the shot hit the post.
Courage captain Natalie Jacobs would be the one to save the visitors as she coasted through the midfield, unmarked, and received a pass in the attacking third. Through on goal with ease, MacIver left her line to put pressure on Jacobs to no avail. The stoppage time goal would put an end to the seven-goal thriller.
The Spirit will travel to Los Angeles next Sunday, August 16, to take on Angel City FC.
-Jon Jones
Photo: Courtesy of Spirit Social Media