WASHINGTON — Survival was the operative word for the Washington Spirit in Saturday’s NWSL quarterfinal at Audi Field as they advanced to a second straight semifinal.
With star forward Trinity Rodman watching from the bench and two starting defenders withdrawn from the match due to injury, the Spirit dominated the first half of the quarterfinal against No. 7 seed Racing Louisville FC but conceded an equalizer in second-half stoppage time.
After a scoreless extra time, Washington needed penalty kicks and heroics from goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury to win the shootout 3-1.
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Gift Monday opened the scoring for the Spirit in the 73rd minute, but despite the home team keeping over 70% of possession throughout regulation, Racing Louisville forward Kayla Fischer scored in stoppage time to force extra time.
“I was believing because at the end of the day there was no chance that we could lose this game,” Spirit head coach Adrián González said. “All the credit to the players. They’ve done a great job. It was a matter of just keep insisting. That’s the mentality that we have.”
Washington will host either the Portland Thorns or San Diego Wave in next week’s semifinal at Audi Field.
Rodman was listed as questionable and available as a substitute on Saturday, but she watched the entire match from the bench in a tracksuit and did not warm up with the team before the match, or with the substitutes during the game.
González did not directly answer whether there was ever a plan for Rodman to play on Saturday, saying “it depends on what you feel in that moment.” He expressed a general optimism about Rodman’s progress.
“She’s checking the boxes really good,” González said. “She’s been working so hard, honestly, to try to be where she is right now. She’s doing everything and even more than she can do. All the credit to her. Because of that, now she had the chance to be on the bench, to be honest.”
On Saturday, Rodman played the role of an encouraging teammate and crowd hype woman before the game. She was one of the first players to run onto the field from the bench after Kingsbury’s second save of the shootout clinched a second straight semifinal berth for Washington.
“And as a leader, it was also so important for her and for the team, for the fans, to see her there,” González added. “She can help the team in different ways, and today I think she had a great role as a leader. We are just taking things day by day, but the good thing is that she’s improving a lot.”
Rodman sprained the MCL in her right knee last month, an injury that caused her to miss the final two games of the NWSL regular season and what would have been her first international camp in nearly six months. An ongoing back injury caused Rodman to miss about half of the NWSL season.
The Spirit’s shootout victory buys her another week to get healthy — but Washington’s ongoing injury concerns only worsened on Saturday.
Starting fullback Gabby Carle left the match in the first half with a hamstring injury, and center-back Tara McKeown left the match in extra time with a right ankle injury. McKeown was on crutches in the tunnel under Audi Field after the game.
Monday’s goal for the Spirit came just weeks after her father died. She returned to Nigeria to be with her family and rejoined the Spirit earlier this week.
“Football is a source of joy for me, irrespective of what I’m going through … I just have to keep going, we have to keep living,” Monday said. She dedicated her goal to the Spirit fans and her late father.
“He was my first coach. He made me who I am today,” she added. “He trained me on how to keep believing and keep moving on, and if I didn’t come back and this goal didn’t happen, I might never forgive myself because I might feel like I’m still grieving. But with this, I know my dad is with me and is giving me the strength to keep going. This goal is the proof.”
Monday’s goal did not hold up as the winner, but the Spirit prevailed in a penalty shootout in front of a raucous announced sellout crowd of 19,215 fans.
Kingsbury was the star of that setting for the second straight year. Last year, Kingsbury saved all three shots she faced in the shootout against NJ/NY Gotham FC in the semifinal.
On Saturday she denied Marisa DiGrande and Ary Borges, while Ellie Jean struck her effort off the top of the crossbar, as her teammates converted all three kicks attempted. She now has nine career shootout saves, the most in NWSL history.
“I imagine that’s in their minds,” Kingsbury said about opponents being intimidated by her success in shootouts. “But I give a lot of credit to our fans. They’re so loud. I have to imagine that’s quite intimidating to try to score in front of that.”
Information from ESPN Research was used in this report.
