On Saturday night time, June 29, at house towards the North Carolina Braveness, the formidable Washington Spirit misplaced 0-1, ending a six-game undefeated streak. It was a somewhat lackluster efficiency from a Spirit squad that had scored 13 objectives within the earlier six and hadn’t been shut out for the reason that season opener.
It additionally dropped the membership to 4 factors out of first place the place the still-unbeaten Kansas Metropolis Present and Orlando Satisfaction sit atop the desk.
Nonetheless, the loss wasn’t heartbreaking by any means. The Spirit have been persistent of their assault registering 20 pictures and 4 on aim to North Carolina’s eight and 5. Possession was comparatively even too with the Spirit at 48% for the match.
The Spirit additionally acquired phrase this week that 4 gamers would symbolize the membership on the USWNT Olympic Roster: Trinity Rodman and Casey Krueger on the squad of 18, and Croix Bethune and Hal Hershfelt as backups.
So, given the good streak and excellent news, why did the Spirit lose on Saturday? It got here down to a few issues – lack of group, lack of management, and lack of vitality. Once more, these are uncommon phenomena for a group that appears to have answered some massive questions this season, however nobody is immune from a loss.
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Interim coach Adrian Gonzalez, who will quickly hand over the reins to Barcelona’s Jonatan Giraldez, echoed that sentiment within the post-game press convention. He particularly targeted on the shortage of group and evident confusion the squad exhibited on the pitch. “Proper now, the sensation that I’ve is that we knew [the Courage] wished to progress via the center, and I feel we didn’t modify correctly,” he informed reporters.
“Particularly within the center at this time, we couldn’t discover … the forwards,” Gonzalez continued. “We would have liked a whole lot of time to show and we couldn’t progress … we weren’t as correct as different video games.”
Defender Tara McKeown shared related reflections relating to the group’s dysfunction on Saturday night time. Within the post-game press convention, she talked particularly about how the Braveness have been capable of reap the benefits of the Spirit’s vulnerabilities. “They have been capable of finding slip passes within the pockets and behind our backs,” McKeown informed reporters, nodding particularly to the aim scored by former Spirit midfielder Ashley Sanchez within the nineteenth minute.
“They have been a great group,” Hershfelt added. “They have been capable of expose us.”
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Midfielder, captain, and veteran chief Andi Sullivan additionally sat out of Saturday night time’s recreation, and her absence appears to have affected the sport’s end result. No group’s success rides completely on one member, however after the loss, coaches and teammates alike agreed that Sullivan was sorely missed.
“She’s a participant that brings management, brings endurance for the build-up, she helps loads,” Gonzalez stated. Not having her on Saturday night time, resulting from a hip damage, left a “big, big affect.”
“Andi brings a lot to the group,” Hershfelt echoed. “That was one thing we have been lacking on the sector, Andi actually is our central chief. I really feel like we did miss that fairly a bit at this time, particularly when it got here to preserving the rhythm and depth.”
That lack of rhythm and vitality was evident on the sector on Saturday night time as properly. Regardless of the group’s excessive shot depend, they appeared torpid at instances. “[The Courage is] a great group,” Hershfelt stated, “however on the finish of the day, I feel it was as much as us to only actually flip it up, and we didn’t do this.”
“I additionally actually really feel like we might’ve used some calmness,” Hershfelt stated. “It’s all in regards to the steadiness. I really feel like there have been some instances the place we might have taken management of the sport otherwise, however we have been too frantic.”
Transferring ahead after a run-of-the-mill loss must be no massive activity for the Spirit. Groups lose. However members of Spirit themselves did appear somewhat stunned on the means they misplaced – vitality, management, and connectedness haven’t been points the group has struggled with a lot in weeks.
“We have to take this recreation as a studying expertise,” Gonzalez stated. “We all know that we must be extra affected person … We have to even have ambition and management with all of the gamers on the pitch.” The Spirit’s subsequent likelihood to show themselves will come subsequent Saturday, July 6, towards Bay FC in San Jose, Calif.