The Washington Spirit dropped points at home as the visiting Orlando Pride snuck away with a 1-0 win. Haley McCutcheon scored the lone goal for the Pride in the third minute. This is the Spirit’s third straight loss at home.
The visitors looked out of sorts and for good reason. Their main attacking presence, Barbra Banda, was there, but there were two big omissions from the Pride roster: Marta and Solai Washington. The Brazilian international (Marta) had an excused absence from the squad, while Washington missed the trip due to a head injury. For the home side, Gabby Carle and Rebeca Bernal were on the bench, while there was no sign of Leicy Santos.
For everything the Spirit accomplished in July, a portion of it was erased in August. After winning five of their six matches in July, the Spirit have suffered three losses and a draw. With things trending in the wrong direction, they’ll be looking to turn things around next week against a Bay FC team that sits near the bottom of the NWSL standings.
The fans at Audi Field had a nerve-wracking déjà vu moment after Orlando Pride’s Haley McCutcheon scored in the third minute. Just two weeks ago, the visiting North Carolina Courage scored two goals in 10 minutes, with Ashley Sanchez’s goal coming in the second minute. McCutcheon’s right-footed shot from the center of the box sailed to the bottom left corner. No Marta, no problem.
Orlando goalkeeper Cosette Morché was kept busy in the first half, but was also blessed by the posts throughout the match. In the 12th minute, a frenzy happened in front of goal, and Morché was fortunate enough to be saved by the posts. Sofia Cantore received the ball from a free kick that landed inside the 18-yard box and took a shot on goal. Her effort bounced off the right post. Tamara Bolt gathered position and took a chance on goal herself. Her shot hit the left post. With opportunities coming left and right, a Spirit goal looked almost inevitable, but the inevitable never happened.
The two sides combined for 33 shots but only five on target. With just three shots on goal, the Spirit will have to improve if they want to stay in the hunt for the NWSL Playoffs. Just a month ago, they were leading the charge for the NWSL Shield. Now, they sit seven points behind Gotham FC.
“Looking at the game, we created so many chances, regardless of them dropping low,” said Spirit midfielder Deb Abiodun. “I think we’re just very unlucky tonight, which is sad because we did create chances.”
“You can have the possession, you can have the chances, but you need to be able to break the opponent,” said Spirit head coach Adrián González. “We needed to provoke Orlando into leaving their shape. They were a little deep.”
Next up, the Spirit will continue a short home stand, hosting Bay FC for the second and final meeting of the regular season between the sides. Kicking off at 12:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, August 30, the match will air on ESPN2.
-Jon Jones
Photo: Spirit social media