At Audi Field, OL Reign played the first game of the NWSL regular season against Washington Spirit and went away with a 2-1 loss.
At the beginning of the first half, the game was very balanced. The Reign tried to set the pace and had the first opportunities to score. In the 8th minute, Fishlock found Watt on the right, who the defender brought her down in the area, and the referee called a penalty. Rose Lavelle was the one to take it, but she wasn’t so lucky – the keeper Kingsbury denied it without problems.
A few minutes later, Washington kept the Reign’s defensive system under pressure and thus could open the score and take the lead to the break when Sanchez right-footed a great shot from the edge of the area, 1-0.
As soon as the whistle announced the start of the second half, the players tried to find the best moves to score and had two good opportunities, including a through ball by Bethany Balcer, but Lavelle was caught offside.
Later on, Balcer protected the ball in a good move and passed it to Watt on the right, who ran and crossed. Kingsbury tried to save it, but Lavelle took the rebound and redeemed herself for the missed penalty, tying the game, 1-1.
After the equalizer, the Spirit coach didn’t seem happy with the team’s performance in the second half and made a triple substitution to regain the lead once again, and it didn’t take so long to happen.
At 66 minutes, from the right side, Trinity Rodman crossed to Hatch to score the winning goal with a beautiful header between two defenders, leaving Tullis any chances, 2-1.
The goal gave them the confidence they needed, and the hosts started to attack more. On the other side, Laura Harvey made changes in the 70th minute, trying to get the equalizer again. The visitors created some opportunities, but the wrong decisions of the players ended up not affecting the score in their favor, and the game ended 2-1 for Washington Spirit.
Both teams will face each other again at the Challenge Cup semifinal on Wednesday, May 4, at 8 pm ET.