Thanks to three second-half goals — including two in a two-minute span — the visiting Washington Spirit defeated the Houston Dash 3-1 and spoiled the host’s 10th anniversary celebrations Friday night.
Brittany Ratcliffe and Croix Bethune scored in the 82nd and 84th minutes for the Spirit (3-1-0, 9 points) to break a tie and complete the comeback. Hal Hershfelt also scored for Washington and Aubrey Kingsbury made one save.
Defender Natalie Jacobs scored in the opening minute of the match for Houston (1-2-1, 4 points). Jane Campbell finished with four saves.
The Dash earned a corner to open the game, took it short and found Diana Ordonez about 30 yards from goal. A Spirit defender failed to clear Ordonez’s ensuing entry pass into the box, and the ball rolled innocently toward the penalty spot before Jacobs stuck it in the bottom left corner of the net.
Despite racking up several chances throughout the first half, the Spirit were unable to find the back of the net for the first time until the 52nd minute. Washington took advantage of a dangerous pass from Campbell to tie the match at 1-1.
After receiving the ball blanketed by two defenders, Dash midfielder Sophie Schmidt had the ball stolen inside her own penalty area by Washington forward Ouleymata Sarr, who laid the ball off to Hershfelt for the easy finish from eight yards out.
After receiving a pass from Casey Krueger on the right wing, Ratcliffe — who subbed into the match just nine minutes earlier — cut the ball inside onto her left foot and fired the ball into the top right corner to give her team the lead.
Just a few minutes later, Spirit defender Gabrielle Carle received the ball on the right wing and fired a beautiful cross toward the back post for Bethune, who calmly converted the chance to extend the advantage to 3-1.
Bethune and Hershfelt now lead the Spirit with two goals apiece so far in 2024.
–Field Level Media
