he Washington Spirit lost a brutal home game against Gotham FC in a devastating fashion last weekend. It wasn’t just the scoreline that reflected the game state: the performance was a cause for concern too. A 3-0 loss at home just wasn’t expected to happen.
After a fairly end-to-end start to proceedings, Gotham FC took some control and looked to play through the Spirit’s midfield and press. They took the lead within the first few minutes, leveraging the wide areas and profited through a Sarah Schupansky goal, her first in the National Women’s Soccer League for the New York/New Jersey club. The move was a swift switch of play with a clean cross and a late run into the box to score, while the goal itself represented rhythm and flow after losing 4-1 to Portland in midweek, it was the perfect response.
Washington showed patches of improvement, but overall, they looked out of sorts, and their problems were exacerbated by Gotham’s ease with which it penetrated their midfield. At times, it was too easy for the Gotham midfield trio to play through the combination of Narumi Miura, Leicy Santos and Heather Stainbrook — there seemed to be more space available to them than necessary.
