She tried to chip Casey Murphy 4 times, shooting 7 times. She hit the bar twice. She nutmegged countless Courage players. Ashley Sanchez played like a woman possessed, leading the Spirit to a 2-0 win against the NC Courage Saturday night at Audi Field in front of 4,929 fans. Ashley Hatch scored twice to get herself back into the Golden Boot conversation, and since her competition is spending the next few weeks in Japan, she may have an opportunity to create a bigger lead at the top of the list. After a disappointing 1-0 loss against Chicago Red Stars at Segra Field, the Spirit appeared to be an entirely different team with confidence oozing out of every player, all night long.
“Throughout the week of training, we recalibrated, we regrouped well…First half performance, I think we might have turned more goals to the better, we were very dominant and we’ll take a look at the footage and realize what stalled us…Not unhappy and very pleased with the performance.”
Coach Richie Burke
The Spirit came out of the gates firing with an opportunity for Dorian Bailey 6 yards from goal. The shot was directly at Casey Murphy and the ball was cleared as far as the 18 yard box, when the resulting shot smashed into Tori Huster and out for a goal kick. The pressure was constant, and aside from a few misplaced passes in the midfield, the Spirit were playing with confidence and taking on Courage players all around the field. While the Spirit were dangerous in attack, the Spirit were also stifling off the ball and keeping the NCC midfield from creating a dangerous opportunity.
The confidence resulted in the first breakthrough for the Spirit, with Tegan McGrady putting in a dangerous cross that dropped in the 6 yard box as Ashley Hatch pounced and one touch slotted into the net for a 1-0 lead in 12th minute.
The Spirit almost doubled the lead minutes later, with 5 linked passes out of the back that culminated in Ashley Sanchez dribbling past a defender with her back to goal and trying to chip Murphy.
The Courage were creating a few chances in the midfield, with Carson Pickett being particularly dangerous on the left wing, taking multiple players on, switching play frequently and putting balls into troublesome spots.
In the 29th minute, Ashley Sanchez was called for a foul she disagreed with and kicked the ball a few feet away, and Referee Matthew Franz was not having any of it and gave her a yellow card. After a foul in the 35th minute by Sanchez, both Richie Burke and Paul Riley were given a yellow card for yelling at the referee, each other and just generally. The biggest chance for the Courage came in the 42nd minute, when Abby Erceg found herself in front of goal and Bledsoe made an excellent reaction save out for a corner. Erceg found herself in a dangerous spot again on the ensuing corner, with her header hitting off the crossbar.
The Spirit were dominant in all phases of the game, with players like Paige Nielsen and Sam Stabb making stiff tackles and limiting the Courage to half chances and rushed opportunities for the entire game. Burke also called out the performance of Anna Heilferty, who played very well against a dangerous NC team. The aforementioned Ashley Sanchez brought an element of cockiness to the match, making one touch, no-look passes to break pressure in the midfield and repeatedly attempting and almost accomplishing the audacious.
I think Challenge Cup, we played against them and it was one of the worst games of my entire life, so I went into this game saying it couldn’t get any worse than that. I had a chip on my shoulder going against them again…
I think I was trying to put my teammates in the best position I could, and with my role on the team, I just need to be more attacking minded. I think I’m the best when I’m running at players or slipping people in, that was my goal today.
Ashley Sanchez
The game was all but finished in the 46th minute, when Andi Sullivan broke forward on the counter attack and patiently waited for the Courage defenders to get into a position where they couldn’t commit to the ball or the attacker and played in Ashley Hatch, who took her chance with calm composure for her second goal of the night.
Andi has been picking off those balls in the midfield quite a bit lately…once she picked that one off and I saw it was a 2v2, I knew all I had to do was run with her and either I would take a defender with me for her to get a shot or she would slot me in, and she made a really good decision, really patient, perfectly waited ball, and all I had to do was tap it in.
Ashley Hatch
“Sullivan was brilliant again tonight. She’s the type of player, she was annoyed with herself, Right before the assist, she played a 45 yard ball a little too flat, she was upset with herself and she was pressing up the field right after…she said “I knew you were gonna be mad at me for playing the flat ball so I went and won it back.”
Richie Burke
Much of the second half was at a slower tempo, with the Spirit having 54% of possession over the match. While the teams exchanged chances, like Jess McDonald missing a header in the 59th minute from a few yards out and Ashley Sanchez hitting the crossbar in the 65th and 70th minute on chip attempts, the game felt resolved very soon after the second goal was scored. The last bit of excitement occured in the 88th minute, when Ashley Sanchez set her sights on goal once more and only a highlight reel save kept her from getting on the score sheet.
After the game, Burke was asked about Ashley Hatch and her performance. He said that many people don’t look at the match data, but she runs as much as a midfielder and is a complete player, in addition to her ability to put away chances. With a dynamic combination of Sanchez and Rodman continuing to create opportunities, a confident and prolific Hatch might be the factor that put the Spirit in the Championship conversation.
The Spirit are back in action on July 18th against Gotham FC at Segra Field.
Match Facts: Washington Spirit vs. North Carolina Courage
Date: July 10, 2021
Venue: Audi Filed
Kickoff: 7:00 p.m. ET
Weather: Sunny, low-80s
Scoring Summary:
Goals
WAS- Ashley Hatch – 12’
WAS- Ashley Hatch – 46’
Lineups:
NC (4-4-2): 1- Casey Murphy; 3- Kaleigh Kurtz; 4- Carson Pickett (15- Schuyler DeBree 78’); 6- Abby Erceg; 11- Merritt Mathias; 8- Denise O’Sullivan; 19- Havana Solaun (25- Meredith Speck 64’); 34- Angharad James; 14- Jess McDonald; 16- Hailie Mace (27- Brittany Ratcliffe 64’); 23- Kristen Hamilton
Unused Substitutes: 0- Katelyn Rowland; 2- Taylor Smith; 7- Diane Caldwell; 13- Ryan Williams; 21- Cari Roccaro; 29- Rylee Baisden
WAS (4-3-3): 1-Aubrey Bledsoe; 9-Tegan McGrady (30- Camryn Biegalski 81’); 3-Samantha Staab; 21- Anna Heilferty; 14-Paige Neilsen (17- Kumi Yokoyama 81’); 23-Tori Huster; 19-Dorian Bailey; 12-Andi Sullivan; 10-Ashley Sanchez (25- Karina Rodriguez 92’); 2-Trinity Rodman (27- Tara McKeown 67’); 33-Ashley Hatch
Unused Substitutes: 31- Sydney Schneider; 20-Mariana Speckmaier; 24- Chinyelu Asher; 26- Taylor Aylmer; 28- Morgan Goff