The Washington Spirit suffered a heartbreaker Sunday afternoon, falling 0-3 to Boston Legacy FC at Audi Field. After a scoreless match up until the 81st minute, Boston found the back of the net three times in the final minutes to lock up the result. Aïssata Traoré opened the scoring, followed by back-to-back stoppage-time goals from Amanda Gutierres.
The Spirit have gone 2-2-1 (wins-losses-draws) in their last five matches, failing to mirror their winning form from August. Many things have changed since then, including injuries and roster additions that will take time to gel. Only time will tell if these signings from across the world will pay dividends in the playoffs, but questions will lurk as to why their hasn’t been scouting in their own backyard and why not have a look at the neighboring GaineBridge Super League.
The Spirit are now five points behind Gotham FC for the NWSL Shield with six games left to play.
After battling through multiple tackles, Boston Legacy’s Aïssata Traoré scored in the 81st minute from the top of the box. Legacy FC continued to press up the field and kept majority possession. Spirit goalkeeper Sandy MacIver came up with another big save in the 84th minute after Amanda Gutierres got a good look at goal.
Heading into the final minutes of the match, Madison Haugen came in for Paige Metayer and Tamara Bolt for Sofia Cantore in hopes of sparking an offensive surge. Trinity Rodman had a great look in the 88th minute, but Casey Murphy denied it.
In the fourth minute of stoppage time, MacIver was caught off her line, and Gutierres scored from distance. Following the goal, Legacy FC forced another breakdown from the Spirit, and Gutierres scored again off a cross from Boston defender Lilly Reale to bring the match to a 3-0 scoreline.
“At the end, we changed our formation to be in more of an attacking mindset,” said Spirit defender Gabby Carle after the match. “In the end, we suffered from it. I think part of it is we could’ve been more patient in their half. But yeah, very frustrating.”
“Trying to find the 2 v 1s wasn’t working as well as it normally does for us,” said Tara Rudd about today’s disconnect in attack. “The relationship between all of us and playing off each other is something we can work on.”
The Spirit will hit the road next week to face Chicago Stars FC on Sunday, September 20. Kicking off at 5 p.m. EDT, the match will air on ESPN.
-Jon Jones
Photo: Courtesy of Spirit Social Media