KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As a starter for club and country, both of which are quite successful, dynamic forward Trinity Rodman has not had the luxury of time off. It is an unfortunate side effect of the grueling schedule especially for a player already battling injury.
The Olympic gold medal winner was quick to shoulder the blame for the Washington Spirit’s 1-0 loss in the National Women’s Soccer League Championship.
“I’m not hiding the fact that my back is not feeling great but I decided to stay in the game,” Rodman said in a post-match media scrum. “I could have pulled myself out so that’s not an excuse. I wasn’t the Trin that I wanted to be today so that’s a bummer.”
Rodman not only represented the U.S. women’s national team at the 2024 Olympics, but played in back-to-back 120-minute matches in the quarterfinals and semifinals, then a full 90 in the gold medal match. She returned home after a brief break and went back into the NWSL season where her Spirit had moved into second place in the table.
Although Rodman pointed to the Olympics, she has had recurring issues with her back since her rookie season in 2021. More recently, she notably experienced back spasms and left the team’s match against Kansas City on the same CPKC Stadium pitch back in September. She returned to the team Oct. 13.
Despite playing through pain, Rodman did stay in for the full 90 minutes and recorded five shots. Teammate Casey Krueger revealed that Rodman had addressed her lingering discomfort at halftime, but elected to finish the championship match in pursuit of the team’s second NWSL title.
“At halftime, she came in and she was hurting pretty bad, but we made it this far and she wanted to give the little bit left that she had.”
Spirit head coach Jonatan Giráldez echoed his confidence in the team during his press conference saying the roster he had on the pitch against Orlando gave them the best chance to win.
The Spirit only utilized two subs in the match, Gabrielle Carle in the 61st for Paige Metayer and Lena Silano in the 73rd for Makenna Morris. The Pride used four, by comparison.
