Time appeared to slow down for Washington Spirit forward Rosemonde Kouassi as she chased down the ball on the sideline 27 minutes into her team’s 2-0 NWSL semifinal victory over the Portland Thorns on Saturday at Audi Field.
Kouassi practically flew to the sideline as she kept the ball in bounds and left Thorns defender Kaitlyn Torpey in her dust. It took exactly 16 seconds for the ball to go from Thorns midfielder Olivia Moultrie‘s foot for a Thorns corner kick to the back of the opposite net, some 120 yards away, where Gift Monday tapped in a pass from Kouassi.
The goal punctuated a suffocating first half of pressure from the Spirit and clinched Washington a second consecutive trip to the NWSL Championship. The goal also perfectly encapsulated the Spirit’s recent success: two unsung heroes carrying the load for a team hellbent on outworking their opponents.
Kouassi and Monday have quietly carried a Spirit team that has labored through injuries this season and operated — very much against their will and to the chagrin of head coach Adrián González during news conferences — in the shadow of forward Trinity Rodman‘s stardom.
The onlooking world had already been watching Rodman’s every move to see if the U.S. women’s national team star would play again in these playoffs after spraining her MCL last month. Then came Saturday morning, when it appeared more than ever that Rodman might be suiting up for the Spirit at home for the final time due to more lucrative offers abroad for the impending free agent.
A few hours later, Rodman made a cameo in the 90th minute and came within inches of scoring in stoppage time in front of a raucous, sold-out stadium of more than 19,000 fans. A goal would have been fitting — Rodman scored a stoppage-time winner in August at Audi Field against the Thorns after another long injury layoff — but it wasn’t necessary. This isn’t a Spirit team built solely around Rodman, but one whose depth has been tested and proven through a mountain of injuries this season.
Kouassi pulled the strings from the opening whistle, as she had a week earlier in the quarterfinal and on countless other occasions this season. It took just four minutes for her to link up with Monday again, but Monday was narrowly called offside. The warning shot was fired, and Washington kept its collective foot on the gas to make Portland, the franchise with more playoff appearances than any other in league history, look like a rattled newcomer too wide-eyed for the occasion.
Monday and Kouassi eventually linked up for a goal that counted, just as they had a week earlier, when Monday was just days removed from returning from her father’s funeral in Nigeria and overcome with emotion.
In Saturday’s semifinal, Spirit midfielder Croix Bethune scored the insurance goal in the 83rd minute when she picked off an ill-advised back pass from Thorns defender Sam Hiatt, tapped the ball around goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold, and nearly walked the ball into the back of the net.
For all the Spirit’s dominance throughout the run of play, it would be easy to argue that the difference in Saturday’s semifinal was a pair of mistakes from the Thorns. And while Portland should be commended for its own resilience to even reach a semifinal amid its own injury problems, the Spirit’s semifinal victory cannot be diluted into luck or fine margins. This is a team that has earned its way back to a second straight championship match in what many consider to be the most competitive league in the world.
González spoke at length last week about the team’s mental and psychological preparations. Those preparations, he argued at one point after his team’s quarterfinal victory over Racing Louisville, are even more important than tactics. The Spirit, who have made a habit of going to extra time in the postseason, had just won a penalty shootout at home in the playoffs for the second straight year. Their perseverance was no coincidence.
Extra time was not necessary on Saturday. The Spirit’s mature mentality and experience shone through from the opening whistle. Kouassi ran rampant on the right flank. Kate Wiesner, filling in for injured full back Gabby Carle, wreaked havoc on the left side. Center back Tara McKeown started after leaving the quarterfinal injured, and she, Rebeca Bernal and Esme Morgan set a high defensive line to regain the ball high and pin the Thorns into their own defensive half.
This is a team whose depth and quality has been tested and proven through multiple injuries to Rodman, three starting-quality players absent on maternity leave and, for the second straight year, a dramatic midseason coaching change. All the while, Washington steadily picked up points and momentum in the shadow of the Kansas City Current‘s record-breaking season.
Washington, however, is the team still alive in these playoffs. The Spirit are riding the streak of less heralded stars. Their experience as a group having gone through last year’s heartache and hard lessons is paying off this postseason.
It feels like eons ago that the Spirit won the NWSL Challenge Cup in a championship rematch against the Orlando Pride. Washington celebrated that penalty shootout victory in Orlando with a distinct taste of revenge, however minor, for last year’s final.
Now, the Spirit will get a shot at true vengeance on Nov. 22 in San Jose, Calif. at the NWSL Championship.
