The Washington Spirit fought their way out of their losing slump to earn a 1-0 win over Bay FC at Audi Field. After snapping that four-match winless streak, the Spirit keep their second place standing in the league as we head into September. Paige Metayer scored the winning goal, but two players, Ashley Hatch and Kate Weisner left with injuries.
After the opening minute, the Spirit gave the ball away during an errant back pass in their defensive third. Bay FC’s Alex Pfeiffer pounced on the ball and challenged Sandy MacIver with a shot on goal. The keeper not only saved it but deflected the ball away to stop play. This is where the Adrián González’s ladies will be tested. They’ve made a habit in the past three matches of giving up easy goals in the opening minutes of the match. As the NWSL Playoffs inch closer by the day, they’re going to have to get a handle on this and quick.
Around 20 minutes later, the Spirit were on the attack and pressuring Bay FC’s backline. Trinity Rodman was pacing down the right side before she sent a perfectly timed ball to a streaking Sofia Cantore. The Italian international couldn’t get clean contact with the ball as she was being marked closely and her one-timed effort from outside the box went wide.
Just before halftime, Bay FC came inches away from breaking the deadlock. Taylor Huff had acres of space down the left side in the attacking third. After looking up towards the center of the box, she sent a low cross to Karlie Lema. The second-year striker had her one-timed attempt bounce over MacIver and off the crossbar. This was the closest Bay FC came to scoring in the first half.
The winning goal would finally come for the Spirit through Paige Metayer. Sofia Cantore found Trinity Rodman on the left wing with a through ball. Rodman took advantage of the space, beat her defender into the box and sent the ball top shelf, ricocheting off the crossbar and over the goal line. Paige Metayer followed the shot and bumped the ball into the back of the net with her body for the 1-0 Spirit lead.
“I just wanted to make sure it was over the line,” Metayer said about Trinity’s shot after the match. “I wasn’t sure if it was in or not, but you can’t be too sure in those situations.”
“The lead into this week was ‘play freely’. We kinda got away from who we are,” said Metayer about today’s win. “Maybe we weren’t super dangerous, we’re still working on that, but I do think we got into those spaces a lot.”
The Spirit will hit the road for its last west coast match of the regular season, taking on Portland Thorns FC on Sunday, September 6. Kicking off at 4 p.m. EDT, the match will air on CBS.
-Jon Jones