The Washington Post - USA (2022-05-02)

D10 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.MONDAY, MAY 2 , 2022

because of injuries and man-

agement of playing time, sev-

eral did not start or weren’t in

uniform Sunday. That included

OL Reign’s Megan Rapinoe and

Washington’s Andi Sullivan,

Kelley O’Hara and Emily Son-

nett.

Few in the NWSL are as promi-

nent as Lavelle, the U.S. national

team star. She stepped to the

penalty spot in the ninth minute

after Washington’s Camryn Bie-

galski took down Ally Watt in the

box. Lavelle’s bid, though, was

meek. Spirit keeper Aubrey

Kingsbury, a U.S. teammate,

dived to her right to smother the

low attempt.

Last weekend, with the Spirit

needing at least a point in the

Challenge Cup group finale at

North Carolina, Kingsbury

thwarted a late penalty kick. It

allowed her team to remain with-

in a goal and ultimately score the

equalizer.

After Sunday’s save, “the mo-

mentum just started to pick up

and go our way,” Ward said.

The Spirit needed just five

minutes to punish the visitors for

their squandered opportunity.

High pressure led to a long ball

that Biegalski won with such

heading authority that the ball

flew untouched to Heilferty at

the top of the box. Heilferty used

a backheel pass to Sanchez,

whose 20-yarder took flight and

beat leaping goalkeeper Phallon

Tullis-Joyce to the inner side

netting.

“My first touch wasn’t that

great, so I was like, ‘Crap, we’ll

see how this goes,’ ” Sanchez said.

“As soon as I hit it, I thought,

‘Yeah, this is probably going in.’ ”

Sanchez has scored in five of

her past six appearances — three

goals in four games with the

Spirit and two in two national

team appearances last month.

Tullis-Joyce (10 saves) re-

pelled Washington’s growing

threats, and in the 53rd minute,

Kingsbury spilled Watt’s cross

and Lavelle pumped in the re-

bound.

Washington regained the lead

in the 66th. Sam Staab launched

a terrific long ball down the right

flank to Trinity Rodman. With

Hatch making a near-post run,

Rodman surveyed her options

before serving a high cross with

perfect placement to Hatch. Be-

tween two defenders, she sent a

glancing header to the far side of

the net.

Kingsbury was not seriously

threatened down the stretch.

And when three minutes of stop-

page time gave way to the final

whistle, the Spirit rejoiced over a

bright start to the 2022 cam-

paign before pivoting back to the

glory of 2021.

“It’s a funny feeling because

the final was so long ago,” Ward

said. “But now being able to be

here and revisit it... it was just a

really great day all the way

around.”

Stars — as Washington Spirit
Day.
“It was excitement, everyone
feeling like they finally get to
celebrate this — and celebrate
this with the fans,” Coach Kris
Ward said. “Going down and
talking to the fans afterward, I
told them, ‘Look, we’re here for
you guys.’... That’s a bond we’re
continuing to build and grow
with our community of wanting
to be the very best representa-
tives we can.”
The festivities took place be-
fore an announced crowd of
10,177, the Spirit’s largest since

2019. Washington, which is en-
      tering its 10th season, is sched-
      uled to play six regular season
      home games at Audi Field and
      five at Segra Field in Leesburg.
      The party capped a jolly day
      for the Spirit, which ran its
      unbeaten streak in competitive
      matches to 19 (12-0-7). The only
      defeats since August — when a
      coaching change, accusations
      against team officials and in-

SPIRIT FROM D1

Spirit begins

title defense

with a victory

over OL Reign

house turbulence threatened to

derail not just the season but the

organization — were two forfeits

for violating the NWSL’s pan-

demic protocols.

Ashley Hatch, the 2021 scoring

champion, broke a 1-1 tie midway

through the second half. Ashley

Sanchez and OL Reign’s Rose

Lavelle, a former Spirit standout,

also scored.

Sunday brought the Spirit’s

first regular season game under

Y. Michele Kang, who became

the primary owner in the offsea-

son following a long power

struggle with team partner Steve

Baldwin. Kang presented the

championship rings after the

game.

The match was the first of two

over four days between the

teams. They will meet again

Wednesday at Audi Field in the

semifinals of the Challenge Cup,

a preseason tournament with

playoffs that spill into the regu-

lar season.

The teams’ rosters feature

many of the NWSL’s best, but

KATHERINE FREY/THE WASHINGTON POST

Aubrey Kingsbury, a U.S. national team goalie, made key saves in consecutive weekends for the Spirit.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Arsenal remained in fourth
place in the English Premier
League on Sunday after Gabriel’s
header secured a 2-1 win at West
Ham to keep it two points ahead of
Tottenham. Its north London rival
beat Leicester, 3-1, on Son Heung-
min’s double.
Arsenal found it hard going be-
fore Bukayo Saka’s corner was
headed in by Rob Holding in the
38th minute for his first Premier
League goal since he made his
debut in 2016.

Chelsea looks well placed to

qualify for the Champions League

despite being only three points

ahead of Arsenal with four games

remaining after losing, 1-0, at

Everton.

It’s a result — secured by Richar-

lison — that gives Everton renewed

hope of avoiding relegation after a

68-year stay in the top division.

Everton moved two points from

safety with five matches to go and

a game in hand over both Leeds

and Burnley, which are just above

the drop zone.

Richarlison’s four goals in his

past five league matches are as

many as he scored in his first

21 games of the season.

“We’re still in a massive scrap,”

Everton captain Seamus Coleman

said. “We’ve got to keep going and

keep battling.”

Third-place Chelsea has only

four points from its past four

games.

l SPAIN: While Real Madrid’s

players went back to training after

celebrating the club’s latest La

Liga title, Barcelona had a peace

offering for its fans by ending an

embarrassing losing streak at

Camp Nou.

Goals from Memphis Depay

and Sergio Busquets in each half

were enough to beat Mallorca, 2-1,

and move Barcelona back ahead of

Sevilla into second place. More

importantly, it opened up a nine-

point gap over fifth-place Real Be-

tis in the fight for a top-four finish

and a lucrative Champions

League berth.

But the win was otherwise

made meaningless after Madrid’s

4-0 victory over Espanyol the day

before had clinched its record-ex-

tending 35th league title.

l ITALY: Goalkeeping blun-

ders continue to make a major

impact on the Serie A title race.

Following inexcusable errors by

Inter Milan’s and Napoli’s goal-

keepers in recent matches, AC Mi-

lan was the beneficiary of a mas-

sive mistake by Fiorentina’s keep-

er in the final 10 minutes of a 1-0

win that kept the Rossoneri on

track for their first Italian league

title in more than a decade.

Roma’s 0-0 draw at home with

Bologna removed the Giallorossi

from contention for the Champi-

ons League places — which will go

to Milan, Inter, Napoli and Juven-

tus.

l FRANCE: A wasteful Mar-

seille saw its lead in the race for

second place shrink to three

points after it lost to Lyon, 3-0, in

Ligue 1.

The top two French clubs enter

the group stage of the Champions

League while the third-place team

goes to the third qualifying round

of the lucrative European compe-

tition.

l MLS: Randall Leal scored on

a penalty kick in the 85th minute,

and Nashville SC opened Geodis

Park and earned a 1-1 draw with

the Philadelphia Union (5-1-3).

The tie extended Nashville’s

home unbeaten streak to 20 — the

seventh-longest run in league his-

tory. Nashville (3-3-3) was unbeat-

en in its previous 19 matches at

Nissan Stadium. The new park —

with a capacity of 30,000 — is the

largest soccer-only venue in the

United States and Canada....

New York City FC (4-3-1) broke a

scoreless tie with a three-goal out-

burst late in the second half, and

Sean Johnson had three saves in a

3-0 victory over the visiting San

Jose Earthquakes (1-5-3).

l NWSL: McCall Zerboni, Mar-

garet Purce and Kristie Mewis

scored to lead NJ/NY Gotham FC

past the visiting Orlando Pride,

3-0....

Jodie Taylor scored as the San

Diego Wave defeated the visiting

Houston Dash, 1-0.

SOCCER ROUNDUP

Arsenal stays in fourth place as the English Premier League race heats up

ARSENAL 2,

WEST HAM 1

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