The Washington Spirit earned an important three points over the weekend after a 3-2 win on the road in Houston. With the win, the Spirit inched closer to the brink of clinching its third consecutive playoff berth. Goals for the Spirit came from Tara Rudd, Sofia Cantore, and Clara Luvanga.
Defender Tara Rudd tallied her third goal of the season in the 11th minute, giving Washington an early lead amid a largely dominant first half in the attacking third. Fellow defender Esme Morgan provided service on a corner kick and Rudd connected with a header.
Just before halftime, Houston was able to make the most of a rare attacking chance and level the match at one goal apiece. In the 44th minute, Miljana Ivanović netted her first career NWSL goal on a rebound to bring the Dash level.
Less than six minutes into the second half, the Spirit regained the lead behind Sofia Cantore. The Italian striker made a perfectly timed run in the final third to receive a ball from Trinity Rodman and finished a 1 v 1 in the box. The goal was the tenth of Cantore’s regular season career, making her the third person on the current Spirit roster to reach the mark after Rodman and Ashley Hatch.
Over the following ten minutes, the Dash attack began to put more pressure on the Spirit defensive third. In the 58th minute, Houston’s Sarah Puntigam fired a deep shot on target that was met by a diving Sandy MacIver, who put the ball out for a corner kick. On the ensuing corner, Ivanović found a loose ball in the box and buried it into the back of the net to level the match at two.
In the 80th minute, the Dash nearly found its first lead of the night when Clarissa Larisey put a header off the crossbar. Just four minutes later, however, Luvanga would deliver for the Spirit in just her second match. Martínez found Luvanga entering the box with a through ball, and the NWSL’s first-ever Tanzanian player did the rest to beat Campbell with a strike for a 3-2 lead.
With the win, the Spirit moved to nine points above the playoff line and five points above the quarterfinal hosting line with three matches to play.
Next up, many Spirit players will head off for international duty before the team returns to play at Audi Field against rival Gotham FC on Saturday, October 17, at 12:30 PM/ET.
-Jon Jones
Photo: Courtesy of Spirit Social Media