Croix Bethune scored late in the first half and Ashley Hatch connected midway through the second to lead the Washington Spirit past visiting NJ/NY Gotham FC 2-0 on Saturday.
Casey Krueger notched an assist, while Aubrey Kingsbury made three saves for Washington (4-1-0, 12 points), which won its fourth straight match. The Spirit outshot Gotham FC 12-11, were 5-3 in shots and goal and won despite having two goals disallowed by offsides calls.
Cassie Miller tallied three saves for Gotham (1-2-1, 4 points), which opened the second half with more intensity but generated few high-quality shots en route to their second shutout loss this season.
The Spirit created multiple scoring opportunities in the first half but failed to capitalize until the 41st minute when Bethune tucked a knuckling left-footed strike from beyond the box inside the left post.
Hatch doubled Washington’s lead in the 69th minute on a penalty kick after a replay review charged Gotham with a handball inside the box.
Racing Louisville 5, Utah Royals 1
Louisville scored four times in the second half to set a franchise record for most goals in a game in routing visiting Utah.
Savannah DeMelo broke a 1-1 tie in the 68th minute, and her penalty kick 10 minutes later doubled Louisville’s lead. Carson Pickett fed Reilyn Turner for her first career NWSL goal in the 87th minute, before Emma Sears tallied in the first minute of stoppage time to cap Louisville’s win.
Marisa DiGrande and Lauren Milliet each tallied one assist for Louisville (1-0-4, 7 points), which struck first in the 26th minute when Uchenna Kanu headed Milliet’s right-footed cross into the top left corner of the net.
Olivia Smith Griffitts delivered the equalizer for Utah (1-4-0, 3 points) when she slithered into the box and buried her first-career NWSL goal in the third minute of first-half stoppage time.
Kansas City Current 5, Bay FC 2
The Current used two early goals and a trio of second-half scores to coast past visiting Bay FC.
Kansas City (4-0-1, 13 points) struck first in the second minute. Bia Zaneratto intercepted an errant Bay FC pass in the Current’s half and slotted a left-footed breakaway strike into the bottom right corner. Alexa Spaanstra connected with Bayley Feist for a header four minutes later to double Kansas City’s lead.
Vanessa DiBernardo fed Temwa Chawinga for a pair of goals six minutes apart in the second half to push the Current ahead 4-1. Zaneratto muscled past a defender in the box and netted her second goal to make it 5-1 in the 73rd minute.
Bay FC (2-3-0, 6 points) pulled within 2-1 in the 17th minute on Kayla Sharples’ header. Tess Boade’s finish for Bay FC in the 78th minute closed the scoring.
Portland Thorns FC 4, Houston Dash 1
Early goals by Christine Sinclair and Sophia Smith helped the Thorns dispatch the visiting Dash to secure their first win of the season in Rob Gale’s first match as Portland’s interim head coach.
Sinclair tapped in a rebound in the sixth minute to propel the Thorns ahead 1-0 before Smith doubled Portland’s advantage in the 27th minute. Smith found Olivia Moultrie in the box to pad the Thorns’ lead to 3-1 in the 87th minute, and Meghan Klingenberg fed Janine Beckie nine minutes later to close the scoring.
Portland (1-3-1, 4 points) moved former head coach Mike Norris to technical director on Tuesday amid the club’s worst four-game start in franchise history.
Houston (1-3-1, 4 points) got its lone goal when Diana Ordonez knocked in a loose ball four minutes into the second half to pull the Dash within 2-1.
–Field Level Media
