Tag: washington spirit

soccer

Washington Spirit vs. Seattle: The final whistle

Posted on by Beau Dure

Wednesday’s game against Chicago was, by all practical measures, the Spirit’s first win since May 16. The league rules are clear. Washington was the better side in the 77 minutes played before the first lightning delay. As cruel as it was for the Red Stars to have their playoff hopes officially extinguished without even being on the field, the Spirit won fair and square.

But it was incomplete. Wednesday night/Thursday morning, Mark Parsons talked about not being able to hear the final whistle in front of the dozens of fans who had stuck it out through nearly three hours of stopping and starting.

Perhaps that made the Spirit hungrier. Parsons and Diana Matheson both talked afterwards about wanting to hear that final whistle. And this time, they did — in front of more than 4,000 fans. (Only a handful of the 4,549 got out to beat traffic.)

Several of us have said over the course of the season that the Spirit, beset by bad karma all season, just needed a little luck to get a good result or two. You could say they got it Wednesday, though it’s worth reiterating that the Spirit played well enough to win.

Saturday night, no luck was needed. It wasn’t a dominant performance, of course, but the Spirit created the better chances. Seattle coach Laura Harvey cited the long road trip for her team’s disappointing performance, but she wasn’t making excuses or disputing that Washington deserved the result.

The Spirit did with a lot of heart, certainly, but also with some tactical and technical shrewdness. Parsons’ formation was described several ways — 4-2-1-2-1, 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3. The bottom line was that the Spirit used two holding mids, Lori Lindsey and Julia Roberts, instead of one. Between their efforts and a solid back line, with Marisa Abegg more than justifying her late-season addition, the Spirit held Seattle to very little. Some of the Reign’s shots were from distances that would challenge field-goal kickers. In a bright start to the second half, Jessica Fishlock had a low bending shot graze the post, but Ashlyn Harris otherwise had little trouble.

The formation tweak, Parsons said, helped to free Diana Matheson and Lupita Worbis in the attack. Worbis spent much of the game being roughed up by Fishlock (fans noticed), who came into the game one yellow card shy of a suspension and will play the season finale only through the bottomless benevolence of referee Kari Seitz. But Matheson had a superb game. The Canadian midfielder was a revelation in the early going this season, slowed a bit after the international break, then reasserted her all-league claim in the last couple of games.

Stephanie Ochs and Conny Pohlers weren’t always on the same page, and Pohlers waved her arms so hard to plead for the ball that I thought her arms might pop out. But they combined well in the 32nd minute. A sweet ball from Lori Lindsey hit Pohlers, who played it wide to Ochs. The tall youngster cut toward the center and played the ball back to Pohlers, who had one of the neatest finishes past Hope Solo you’ll ever see. The only problem: She was offside.

“Before I knew it, Lloyd (Yaxley) was jumping all over me,” Parsons said. “I looked for the linesman’s flag. I always do that — everything’s gone against us. Before we scored, I saw the flag going up. Lloyd’s going mental, and I said, ‘Lloyd, no chance. We’ll get it in the second half.’”

Pohlers also was denied by a world-class save from Solo at the left post. Matheson set up that one and another chance late in the half, where Lindsey passed up a shooting opportunity and played ahead in the box to Pohlers, who was wide open but couldn’t control the pass.

Matheson kept making good plays in the second half as the rest of the attacking cast changed. Pohlers departed to a warm ovation, drawing an overhead clap from the German forward in response. Tiffany McCarty played a couple of nice crosses from the right wing. A Robyn Gayle shot was blocked by a probable handball; Seitz kept the whistle quiet there and on a similar scene in the Spirit box.

Maybe Matheson was a little lucky to get the ball for the goal. A loose ball bounced around — as Matheson put it, it took “a few bounces” and went “off a few shins.” But the finish was simply top-quality. From an acute angle, she had only a tiny bit of net at the far post she could hit if she wanted to get the ball past Solo. And that’s what she did.

Solo seemed quite bitter afterwards, but she did talk about a touching moment before the game, when she and Ali Krieger met a young cancer patient whose name, coincidentally, is Hope. Solo said she does a lot of meetings like this, “but this one’s special. Maybe she touched me in a certain way, maybe (because) her name was Hope, maybe it was just a sweet family with three sweet kids. It was very touching.”

It’s not physically possible for Solo and Rapinoe to sign autographs for every single person who asked. But on the whole, I think all the fans went away happy. The low score didn’t do justice to the amount of action in the game. The weather was perfect, which everyone especially appreciated after Wednesday’s annoyances.

And it’s the first crowd this season to see the Spirit celebrate at the final whistle.

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soccer

Washington Spirit vs. Chicago: Clock strikes 12

Posted on by Beau Dure

For 77 minutes, the Washington Spirit and Chicago Red Stars played an entertaining soccer game. Both teams were seriously short-handed, as they had been too often through this season. But they stuck it out and put together some decent chances.

Then the evening took a supernatural turn, like the end of L.A. Story, when the weather suddenly changes so Victoria Tennant can’t fly away from Steve Martin. (You’d never guess from that clip, but it’s actually a funny film.)

It had been a typical first half from the Spirit on the team’s good days. Maybe a little better. Washington outshot Chicago in the first half and had the best couple of chances, including one that was cleared off the line after Diana Matheson, Erin McLeod and a defender awkwardly converged in the box. (I’m told by people who had a better view than the pressbox/broadcast camera that Matheson was not fouled.)

Spirit coach Mark Parsons: “The first half, I feel they got a couple of clear-cut opportunities but we created a lot more. That might be the first half that we got more shots than the opposition for a long time.”

At halftime, the fans were treated to an impromptu juggling and passing exhibition by four tired Spirit national team players who didn’t start — Conny Pohlers, Ashlyn Harris, Lori Lindsey and Ali Krieger.

But Krieger would play a vital role in the second half. The Spirit started on the back foot, with backup keeper Chantel Jones racing out to collect at the feet of Adriana Leon. Krieger came in at midfield and picked up the team’s confidence.

Parsons: “The scariest moment was coming out for the second half for the first 5-10 minutes. I looked at Lloyd (Yaxley, the goalkeeping coach) and thought, ‘There’s only one thing that will help swing momentum, and it’s not a tactical or technical thing. It’s just a psychological thing.’ And that’s when we brought Krieger on. Everyone (on the Spirit) was kind of panicking and shaking a little bit, they see her come on, and everyone settled.”

Then came the first supernatural event. The Spirit scored. From the run of play.

And it was Lupita Worbis, the allocated Mexican player who arrived a few weeks into the season and has bounced in and out of the lineup, who created and finished the play. She won the ball in midfield, spun 360 degrees, knocked the ball left to Diana Matheson and ran on to Matheson’s textbook one-touch return pass. Then she put it through McLeod’s legs and in. All in front of her parents, who are visiting from Mexico.

As if commenting on the improbability of what had just happened, the skies opened up 10 minutes later, with heavy rain sending shrieks through the crowd. That’s Supernatural Event #2. For five minutes and change, the game was played in a downpour. Somewhere in the rain, Chicago substitute Maribel Dominguez somehow found the speed in her 34-year-old legs to race past Kika Toulouse and Tori Huster, but Jones easily collected her cross.

The rain stopped abruptly. But a couple minutes later, the Maryland SoccerPlex’s WeatherBug Lightning Detection System sprang into action. Clear the field. As if to verify the automated sensors, some dazzling lightning lit up the sky while we sat in the pressbox. Supernatural Event #3.

The next 105 minutes have been temporarily erased from my memory. I’ll somehow piece it back together when the time comes to write the book. I know at some point fans were heading back into the SoccerPlex, only for the alarm to go off again.

Then we heard this:

  • When there has been no lightning strike within ten (10) miles for a continuous 15 minute period, the horns will blast three (3) times, each blast is five (5) seconds

But apparently not this:

  • You may return to the field after the three (3) shorter blasts have sounded

Apparently, it had something to do with the likelihood of more lightning in the next couple of minutes. It’s safe to say people were a little confused. A few minutes later, with little fanfare, teams just returned to the field and started warming up.

Sometime during the break, the Spirit apparently had a dance-off, with Toni Pressley taking a narrow victory over Lori Lindsey. The Red Stars, surely aware by then that other results across the NWSL meant they needed a win to maintain their slim playoff hopes, may have been a bit more nervous. Also, the Spirit encouraged me, Kevin Parker and Jennifer Gordon — most of the local media press corps in the absence of a local newspaper recently sold to Jeff Bezos — to get up to the roof and do a media roundtable with Spirit announcer Michael Minnich.

After a warmup period and the return of maybe 250 of the 2,000-plus fans in attendance (sadly, all the food vendors packed up and fled early in the storm), play resumed a little at 10:48 p.m. And Chicago resumed a bit better than Washington. Jen Hoy eluded Toulouse and crossed to Dominguez, who was wide open in the box but put her one-touch attempt well over.

(Have allocated Mexican players ever accounted for all the goals in a multi-goal NWSL game? Maybe before Cuellar was traded from KC?)

Then came Supernatural Event #4. The MSPWBLDS (we’ll call it “mospwuhbleds”) sounded again. 10:52 p.m.

Players, coaches and refs froze. No lightning was visible. The Red Stars seemed displeased, and honestly, the Spirit didn’t seem any happier. Everyone wanted to play.

But you do not argue with the MSPWBLDS. The field was cleared again. And, in fairness, lightning did indeed resume a couple of minutes later.

(At this point, feel free to check out the game highlights, which are excellent:

By this time, the stadium’s midnight curfew was looming. Various deals were struck with the referees and the league to let the teams warm up in the SoccerPlex’s big gym, which was fortunately NOT hosting a basketball or volleyball tournament at the time. They did have a couple of hoops down around 7-8 feet for young summer campers, and I’m told Ella Masar dunked.

I’ll go ahead and give the details (at least as I know them) now rather than waiting for the book.

A few fans were in the SoccerPlex building, and it occurred to the media quadrumvirate that we could go in there as well. Mark Parsons actually asked me the Chelsea-Real Madrid score. He was disappointed in that.

I ventured over to the SoccerPlex’s front desk. A couple of Spirit staffers had gathered there along with SoccerPlex staffers who were monitoring the weather system. That’s when I was able to confirm the info in this tweet, and I ran back to the pressbox to hack it out:

By those terms, one lightning strike after 11:30 would end it. But in reality, it dragged on a bit longer.

At 11:40ish, there was a gathering in the SoccerPlex behind the bleachers, next to the locker rooms. The crowd included a ref (on the phone), at least one policeman, various staff from each team, and stadium staff.

At 11:42, a couple of people in CSC event staff shirts nodded and walked away from the meeting. They called out to other people — “(the game) will not resume.”

And still the refs were talking.

So I can’t give you a final moment at which the game officials declared the game — and the Red Stars’ playoff hopes — done. I can only tell you the teams held out hope as long as humanly possible.

Most Spirit players were in the hallway, not in the locker room. But there was no moment of celebration. One by one, they filed out (as did several Red Stars in one of many classy gestures as all this unfolded) to meet fans and sign autographs. I wished I could have rushed out to see that scene, but I stayed in to get various comments, many of which the Spirit posted to the team’s site.

Parsons was the first to dissect the game. He thought the Spirit had the better of play before the delay, and McLeod said pretty much the same thing. He thought Chicago wouldn’t have come back if the game had continued with no delay. We can’t say that with certainty — the Red Stars certainly have a flair for drama — but it’s safe to say the delay helped the Red Stars regroup and reorient.

The end didn’t completely suit anyone. Parsons said his first emotion upon hearing the game was over was “gutted” — he wanted to finish it out and hear the final whistle, no matter how small the crowd had gotten at that point. But then he went back and got his team to celebrate in the locker room.

“After all the things that have gone against us, maybe it was meant to be.”

Chicago may be the only team in the league unluckier than the Spirit. Their U.S. allocations were injured (or, in a move that looks a bit more curious in hindsight, traded for next year). Then injuries rattled the rest of the team, including one of the league’s best midfield engineers in Lori Chalupny. And then they had to sit and watch their playoff hopes, faint as they were, tick away without even being able to fight on the field.

At that point, though, nothing would have been a satisfactory ending. A 10-minute resumption at 11:50 p.m. would practically been a new game, bordering on farce. Imagine if you were a Sky Blue fan and you saw the Red Stars get two goals against a Spirit team that didn’t come back strong after nearly three hours idling in the SoccerPlex.

When I left, the stadium clock was frozen at 80:04, as if the game had been played at Pompeii. Appropriate for a game that entered into the supernatural.

In the end, I don’t think we saw an unjust ending. The better team on the night won. But if the mythical force of soccer karma has repaid part of its debt to Washington, it now owes Chicago — a class organization — that much more.

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soccer

On concussions, Krieger, Wambach, etc.

Posted on by Beau Dure

The soccer community, much to its credit, is taking concussions seriously. Even those of us who are at the low rungs of the coaching ladder have been required to watch videos so frightening that the natural response might be to sit a player for life after he or she first heads the ball. We have high-profile ex-players like Taylor Twellman and Alecko Eskandarian whose careers were cruelly cut short but have stepped forward to talk about concussion safety for the betterment of the next generation of players.

So when Abby Wambach tumbled to the ground at the Maryland SoccerPlex early this season and no one took immediate action, astute observers like Stefan Fatsis (who was there and had a better view than I did) took note. Fatsis questioned the lack of response, followed up after a week of conflicting information, then covered U.S. Soccer’s comments concluding Wambach’s injury was mishandled on the field but then correctly handled afterwards.

Now another national team player, Ali Krieger, has taken a hit on the field. The immediate reaction July 14 in Seattle was drastically different — Krieger sat down right away. The next time I saw the Spirit practice, Krieger wasn’t there. Nor did she play in the Spirit’s games July 20 or July 27. She played 21 minutes as a substitute July 31 against Western New York.

So far, so good. But when Krieger was a late scratch from the August 3 game at Sky Blue, the questions started.

There’s no harm in asking questions. Fatsis was right to question the way the Wambach concussion was handled. The harm comes in assuming answers when the information is incomplete. If you’re not a doctor, don’t play one on Twitter.

What we DO know is that Krieger was taken out immediately and sat out the next two games. That’s plenty of time to keep running tests and then move her back into gradual activity when her symptoms cleared.

Some people view her substitute appearance with suspicion. They shouldn’t. When an elite soccer player takes several days off from training, you can’t expect her to ramp up to 90 minutes in a few days. Whether it’s a concussion, an ankle injury or a trip to Aruba, time off from training is going to limit someone’s ability to play a full game right away. (Note that a couple of the late signees to the NWSL — Sky Blue’s Ashley Nick and Washington’s Marisa Abegg — have been playing this summer, so they were fit and ready to go. Portland’s Tina Ellertson is a fantastic player, but she hasn’t been playing recently, so the Thorns didn’t sign her and toss her out in the starting lineup right away.)

What happened next is indeed curious. Krieger missed the next game. I can’t really explain why. But neither can you. It takes a strange sort of conspiracy theorist to come up with a reason why the Spirit, already mathematically eliminated, felt it vitally important to play Krieger for 21 minutes in one game if she hadn’t been medically cleared to play.

Let’s ask this question: Can concussion symptoms go away and then come back? Yes. Ask Marc Savard.

Now bear in mind — we don’t know the details of what’s going on with Krieger right now. Maybe she felt slightly off. Maybe she has full-blown post-concussion syndrome. (Don’t panic — from what I’m hearing, this is unlikely. Just stating it as within the realm of possibility.) We don’t know.

Perhaps teams and the NWSL in general should be more forthcoming with injury information. But until that happens, be very careful about filling the gaps with stuff we don’t know.

The evidence doesn’t suggest Krieger was recklessly rushed back onto the field. If anyone has any evidence to the contrary, by all means, share it.

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soccer

Washington Spirit vs. Sky Blue: The brief recap

Posted on by Beau Dure

One badly battered team was slightly better than the other badly battered team. A couple of calls — the lone goal looked offside, one likely handball in the box went uncalled — might have skewed the game the other way, but they didn’t.

There. That’s your recap.

More detail? OK, just a little …

– It’s fair to say the Spirit aren’t playing with a lot of confidence right now. This game was better than the last two, but they still only forced Jill Loyden to make one save.

– The 4-4-2 experiment wasn’t bad, but I think the Spirit have already proved they can cancel out Sky Blue in midfield for much of the game.

– I don’t have the official word on why Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger were late scratches.

The Spirit will end the season with three home games. The motivation and confidence should be greater for those games than they were on this road trip. We’ll see if that’s enough to get something out of those games and end on a positive note.

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soccer

Washington Spirit vs. Western New York: Blech

Posted on by Beau Dure

Writing a full-blown recap of last night’s game seems about as pointless as an autopsy on Big Jim from Jim Croce’s You Don’t Mess Around With Jim. He was cut in about 100 places, and he was shot in a couple more. OK, so which of the stab or shooting wounds did it? Um … all of them?

Stats and scores can be deceiving sometimes. I think back to the Spirit’s first two games with Boston, both 1-1 draws. In the first game, they were outplayed, but it took one play in the dying minutes for the Breakers to snag a goal. (I still think Sydney Leroux may have fouled Ali Krieger on the way to getting that goal, but that kind of foul is rarely seen, and the call is rarely made. So anyway.) In the second game, the Spirit outplayed Boston, and the Breakers walked away wiping their brows in relief.

Last night, there was nothing deceiving about the numbers. The Spirit was outshot 20something to 1. Ashlyn Harris wasn’t at her best last week, but she was back in form on this occasion, keeping the score from getting totally out of hand.

Looking back, it would be pretty difficult to imagine the Spirit getting a result in Rochester. The Flash had no injuries; the Spirit started the game without a single player from its preferred back four, though Ali Krieger came back on later. That left a bunch of worn-out midfielders in front of a second-string defense, all against a “physical” Flash team. Lesser mortals wouldn’t have even left the bus and walked onto the field. The Spirit went out there and played, albeit poorly.

I do need to pay respect to one group in Western New York. While everyone on Twitter except Devo complains about the canned music during games, one group is trying to create a legit atmosphere.

I have a soft spot in my heart for fans who try to make a difference. The Spirit fans have been tremendous — not only do they come to the SoccerPlex for the great atmosphere and social benefits, but they sit at home and watch their team through impossible situations on the road. And this group of Flash fans deserves a lot of credit. Maybe, like Kansas City Wizards fans who endured years of artificial atmosphere, they’ll be rewarded down the road.

Back to the Spirit — the debate now is whether they can get a result at all in their last four games. It’s possible, for the following reasons:

– They’re getting healthier. Krieger played a bit in the second half. Robyn Gayle warmed up over the weekend. With Marisa Abegg signed, they can at least field another player who lists “defense” as her job description.

– Sky Blue is also battered and reeling, and the Spirit have two games remaining against them. They played well enough to get a result at Yurcak Field four weeks, and it just didn’t happen.

(Let me offer a quick aside here: Look at the NWSL injury report. Now look at which teams are in form. This is a league with small rosters and a smaller salary cap. On any team, the replacement for an injured national team player is going to be an inexperienced player making a pittance. Good teams don’t make excuses, but good pundits and fans look at the situation for what it is.)

– The Spinal Tap drummer theory. No, the “law of averages” didn’t save poor old Mick Shrimpton. But basic probability suggests that over the course of a season, something good should happen every once in a while. Even atrocious Premier League teams that pay players 20% of the league leaders’ salary budgets manage a few wins somewhere along the way.

– The fans. The last three Spirit games are at home. That’ll provide more motivation that being fed to the lions at Sahlen’s Stadium last night.

I can’t blame the Spirit for not getting up for last night’s game. At home against Chicago, Seattle and Sky Blue? That will be a better test of this team’s pride and professionalism.

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soccer

Washington Spirit vs. Boston: Defenders down

Posted on by Beau Dure

Hard to imagine a game more emblematic of the Spirit’s season:

– A defender was injured.

– The officials were atrocious, though they probably didn’t affect the outcome too terribly.

– The result was worse than the Spirit deserved.

– The fans stuck with the team. Take away the storms that magically cleared just before game time but killed their walk-up crowd, and the team would’ve drawn a respectable 3,000 or 3,500. The Spirit has one more midweek game, then two weekend games with a lot of drawing power — Seattle (Solo, Rapinoe) and Sky Blue (season finale). With decent weather, I’d expect 4,000 for each of those.

We had some debate last night about how much of a role luck has played in the Spirit’s season. I’d look at it this way: Let’s say the Spirit’s luck was even in the first six games (debatable, but let’s say it for sake of argument). They were 1-2-3 for six points. Extrapolate that over 18 games, and they would have 18 points — tied with Seattle for seventh place.

Instead, they’re 0-5-1 since Mark Parsons took over. He warned that getting the team on track would take a couple of games. Then his entire starting defense was injured.

This team could be starting Harris, Gayle, Chapman, Pressley, Krieger, Huster, Lindsey, Matheson, Pohlers, Ochs and Miller. Maybe even Jordan Angeli. An injury or two? Bring in Toulouse or Roberts.

Last night’s starters? Harris, Toulouse, Huster, Chapman, Taylor, Roberts, Lindsey, Matheson, Pohlers, Ochs, Spencer.

The youngsters and the misplaced players weren’t bad. The Spirit’s first goal — the first in the run of play since D.C. was covered in spring pollen — came through a superb, composed pass from Jasmyne Spencer, who had her best game.

Then within five minutes, Chapman was out. Boston scored the equalizer before the Spirit could replace her with Holly King.

Lindsay Taylor, a top scorer in college, had never played defense in a game before last night. King is at least a defensive midfielder. Each of them had a few strong plays at the back. But Heather O’Reilly is a handful for any defender. In the first Spirit-Breakers game, she ran at the relatively inexperienced Kika Toulouse on the Spirit’s left. In this game, she left Toulouse alone and ran on the other side of the field. That’s almost unfair.

At halftime, the Spirit had every reason to feel they were in the game. And they did indeed get that second goal, again from the run of play and finally getting that well-deserved opener from Conny Pohlers. But the third goal early in the second half was the dagger, with Ashlyn Harris bobbling a save and failing to collect it before Rhian Wilkinson ran in to pop it into the net.

Make no mistake — the Breakers deserved this win. They’re inconsistent but not bad. They outhustled the Spirit for the second and third goals. O’Reilly is still a fantastic winger. While the Spirit set up as many chances as the Breakers in the first half, Parsons lamented that the Breakers were making his team chase the ball. He doesn’t like that. Lisa Cole had to be thrilled. But as the Spirit’s record doesn’t reflect the talent and effort on display, 5-2 doesn’t reflect this game.

I asked Cat Whitehill what happened on her goal, the Breakers’ fifth. “It was luck,” she said.

Maybe the Spirit will know what that feels like one day.

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soccer

Notes from a beautiful Spirit practice

Posted on by Beau Dure

The MVP of the Washington Spirit’s open practice was clearly the weather. That’s not a knock on any player or coach. The weather was that nice. After weeks of oppressive heat and humidity, we were suddenly enjoying the outdoors. Mother Nature was no longer assaulting us as soon as we walked out the door.

I think people were so stunned by the breathable air and lack of dripping sweat that they forgot what they were watching. On the hillside overlooking Field 12, it was more of a social hour than a viewing audience for an open practice.

And yet, the Spirit players seemed a bit nervous at first. Their touches and passes were not sharp. When they broke out of warmups into a small-sided modified scrimmage, sloppiness abounded. Between that and the fact that Ashlyn Harris was in the trainers’ hands rather than the nets, I’m surprised Twitter didn’t explode in panic in between news updates on the D.C. United stadium and the Gold Cup.

But I can pass along two bits of encouraging news for Spirit fans:

1. The level of play bounced upwards. Toward the end, we were treated to some outstanding moments. The best: Conny Pohlers slipping the ball backwards with the sole of her foot to Julia Roberts, who blasted the ball past Lloyd Yaxley in goal.

2. I don’t have details, but Harris should be fine. Of course, Chantel Jones looked sharp as well.

One new face was in practice: Jordan Angeli, the versatile Santa Clara and Boston Breakers alum picked in the third round of the supplemental draft. Dan Lauletta caught up with Angeli in February to see how she was progressing after knee surgery. Now we’re seeing if she is ready to be added to the roster before the freeze deadline July 31. One practice isn’t enough to tell — she had a few wayward touches, but so did a lot of people, and she was fully involved in each phase of training.

Ali Krieger was not. All she can do is wait and see.

For coaches, this practice was a dream. In a question-and-answer session with about 25 inquisitive folks, Mark Parsons and Lloyd Yaxley patiently went through their practice planning in detail that the casual fan would find excruciating. Those who have clearly gone through some USSF licensing courses, though, were enthralled.

Meanwhile, scores of kids lined the barrier after practice to autographs and pictures. Angeli and Ochs’ similar ponytails may have confused some kids who asked for Angeli’s autograph not realizing they had already received it. Krieger, though she didn’t participate in practice, was one of the last players off the field.

So the practice offered something for everyone. Friendly interaction with the players. A chance to cheer for actual Spirit goals. (Kika Toulouse had a nice one as well.) Some chalk talk and philosophical discussion with the coaches. More bonding for the Spirit’s tight-knit loyalists.

Now can we get the same weather for Saturday’s game?

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Washington Spirit vs. Chicago: No recap for now

Posted on by Beau Dure

I’m not doing a recap of the Spirit-Red Stars game for the following reasons:

1. I had family things this weekend.

2. Though the Red Stars have just posted the archived video, I’d really like to keep an eye on the Euros right now.

3. The facts of the game are well-established. Three starting defenders were injured. Tiffany McCarty was forced into service at the back. Ashlyn Harris made a terrific series of saves, just as she did in the early part of the season before the defense improved. Then, because soccer karma still hates McCarty for some odd reason, an own goal went in off her head.

4. It’s clearly more important for me to get the deeper story at this point than it is for me to analyze this particular game in excruciating detail.

That said, I don’t want to oversell the book with promises of behind-the-scenes explosions. This isn’t magicJack. It’s an injured, inexperienced team that has nowhere to go but up. We just don’t know when “up” will happen, and it may be in the trainers’ hands as much as the coaches’ at this point.

That said, sure, you’ll learn more in the book about this streak than you will now. I’d better get back to work.

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Washington Spirit vs. Seattle: The vigil continues

Posted on by Beau Dure

That’s what it is now, isn’t it? A vigil?

A vigil for the first win since May or even the first run-of-play goal since May. A vigil for Conny Pohlers to convert one of the opportunities she’s getting in increasing numbers. A vigil for Stephanie Ochs, lauded by every broadcaster as a fantastic talent, to turn one of her near-misses into a goal. A vigil for Diana Matheson to be as influential as she was in the Spirit’s promising start.

It’s no longer a vigil for personnel. Pohlers and Toni Pressley have arrived, and Mark Parsons has taken over as coach. For all the knocks on the Spirit’s reliance on young, local players, the only such players in the lineup yesterday were Julia Roberts and Kika Toulouse. The other second-year players in the lineup — Pressley, Ochs and Tori Huster — didn’t go to high school or college anywhere near the SoccerPlex, and they were key players for the WPSL Elite champion Western New York Flash last season.

It may be a vigil for health. Caroline Miller and Colleen Williams are already gone for the season. We don’t know when Robyn Gayle will return. Yesterday, Ali Krieger went off after a clash of heads, and Candace Chapman was down for a while after twisting awkwardly on the turf. Wouldn’t it be just the Spirit’s luck to see their offense come together at last, only to see the defense run out of healthy players?

Going back to preseason, I thought the Spirit would have the season the Reign is having — a dreadful start, then a promising streak. The Spirit surprised a lot of people early. Now all those same people are clucking, “I told you so.” I hate cynicism.

The slump’s timing was bad. Had the team hit the reset button going into its three-week break, everyone would have had time to work together on a new direction. Instead, the Spirit came out of that break playing terribly, and the reboot started after one game of a murderous stretch of five games in 17 days. As the sharp Fox Soccer broadcast team of Steve Cangialosi, Lori Walker and Heather Mitts pointed out, this team has had no time to practice.

But in some respects, the Spirit’s path forward is clearer. It’s about next year now. Chicago and Seattle now believe they can make the playoffs. After seeing both of those teams and the Holy Cow Did You See The Thorns-Flash Game in the past week, I’m not sure the Red Stars or Reign can rise to the level of the top four. Maybe another team will drop — FC Kansas City could implode in the wake of Chicago’s comeback yesterday, or Portland could become as bad as its critics think — but I’m still of the mindset that Boston’s the most likely team to sneak into the playoffs if someone collapses.

Building for next year, though, could further tax the patience of the Spirit’s terrific fanbase. Despite all the losses, the team has terrific chemistry now, and if the lineup stayed intact, it should get a couple of wins by the end of the season. But are those couple of wins the goal? Or is it a thorough evaluation of the players on hand, throwing out a couple of unusual lineups to let players audition to keep their places for next season?

One irony here: There’s an Internet meme that Spirit management doesn’t care about winning as long as the seats are full. Let me see if I can put this nicely: That’s ridiculous. You don’t bring in Conny Pohlers and Toni Pressley, then fire the coach, if you don’t care. If it’s all about the fans instead of the record, you don’t cut Domenica Hodak. They expected some early struggles, and perhaps they were too confident they could weather the storm until reinforcements arrived. They may have overpaid on particular players. But they care about winning. (And we have to repeat — the allocation process was not kind to them. They were playing catch-up from Day 1.)

And yet they’re in a place now in which winning now may be less important than preparing for next season.

So which do you emphasize? (I don’t know — that’s why I have comments here.)

I do have one bit of advice for Spirit fans. You’re underdogs. Embrace it. Keep up the constructive criticism, but don’t just look for easy ways to place blame within the organization. The allocations were unfair. The refs are unfair. The injuries are unfair. And people from elsewhere sneer about this team, griping all week that the Spirit game shouldn’t have been on TV. Everyone’s written this team off (except the Fox Soccer commentary team). Blame them. Certain WNT players thrive on striking back against mysterious “haters” — maybe it’ll work for the Spirit as well.

You’ve already built a terrific fan experience. It’s the best party in western Montgomery County.

So call it the Beer Garden Vigil. Down but not out. Patient but defiant.

In the meantime, here’s yesterday’s recap: Good 25 minutes for the Spirit, with Matheson converting a deserved penalty kick. Two defensive lapses in three minutes. A lot of chasing the game after that, with a couple of good opportunities squandered. 2-1 Reign. Game over. Time for rest, recovery and rebuilding.

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soccer

Washington Spirit vs. Chicago: Spirit willing, flesh weak

Posted on by Beau Dure

It’s getting difficult to write about the Washington Spirit. The options are:

(A) Piling on to a team that’s obviously in an epic slump.

(B) Appearing to be in denial.

Not that it really matters what we the punditocracy think. What matters is what the team thinks. And if you’re a Spirit fan looking for a ray of hope that the team can at least finish strong, it’s this: I sense that the team buys into the notion of a “fresh start” and believes in the direction Mark Parsons is leading it. Ashlyn Harris spoke with the media tonight and buried nothing but this game, saying she’s done with it and ready to move on to the televised game in Seattle.

Tonight isn’t a night to make excuses. In New Jersey over the weekend, the Spirit deserved a result. Not tonight. Yes, the Red Stars’ second goal was a fluke that may have been offside, and yes, the Spirit could’ve earned a PK late. But the ref was erratic, not biased — I couldn’t believe some of the grappling holds the ref allowed Spirit midfielders to use. The Spirit may not have deserved to lose 2-0, but 1-0 would’ve been more than fair. The only team that could feel robbed tonight was the Spirit Reserves, which had 30-plus shots to Fredericksburg’s three but still tied 1-1, which means they’ll have to play their conference playoff in Virginia Beach against the ultraphysical Piranhas.

(Not that “soccer karma” exists. Ashlyn Harris making a tremendous save on a dubious PK call may have been poetic justice, but not soccer karma. That’s a rant for another day, though.)

This wasn’t the Spirit’s night. The positives were Candace Chapman’s steady climb back to her 2010-11 form and a few good stretches of possession. They were often one good pass or one good shot away from a goal or really good chance. But those final touches weren’t there. Diana Matheson hasn’t regained her early-season explosiveness. Conny Pohlers is still slightly off.  As Parsons put it, the last two teams the Spirit played never had them on their heels, but Chicago did.

So what was this “ray of hope” I mentioned? Why is Harris so willing to forget this game so quickly? Why do I get the sense the team is buying into its new direction?

Back up to the Spirit’s draw with Kansas City. Parsons said everyone understood it would take a couple of games to get going with the team’s fresh start, and points in that stretch would be “a bonus.”

It’s not just going to take a couple of games. It’s going to take a few practices. And with five games in 2 1/2 weeks, they’re not getting any practices.

I have to admit it didn’t hit me until I spoke with Parsons after the game. I asked if through balls and finishing were next on the training agenda. He ran through the schedule for the rest of the week: Recovery, flight to Seattle, etc.

The schedule isn’t just exhausting the team. It’s giving them no time to adapt to their new system and their new players. Stephanie Ochs talked a bit after the game about how the attackers still aren’t quite in sync. Fix that, and you fix a lot of problems.

In the last few games, the Spirit has played pretty well for 60 minutes but can’t convert, and the defense eventually gives way. If they can take a lead, the game will look a lot different.

Might help if they could catch a break or two. But again, soccer karma doesn’t exist.

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