Washington Spirit fall 3-0 in bottom of the table matchup

Two own goals in two minutes as part of a three goal flurry from the Boston Breakers led the Washington Spirit to a 3-0 loss against the Breakers, who started the game in last place. Kassey Kallman scored two goals in her own net after Natasha Dowie converted an Adriana Leon cross for the game’s opening goal. Washington did put the ball in the Breakers net twice, but it was called offside both times.

Washington set up in a 4-1-4-1 with Cali Farquharson as the lone striker. Due to injuries, the Spirit only had one completely healthy field player on the bench, which only featured 3 total players. Whitney Church was probable and Cheyna Williams was doubtful according to the injury report. Boston couldn’t escape the injury bug either and was missing its number one draft pick, Rose Lavelle.

Washington had two good breakaways in the first seven minutes but both fizzled out at the feet of Breakers goalkeeper Abby Smith. A couple of bad first touches and poor passes derailed potential strong plays out the back and the Spirit started spending more time in their own half.

Neither team could get much rhythm or complete passes, reflecting where the teams are in the standings. At the end of the first half, Boston had the sole shot on goal in the game, while the Spirit didn’t record a single shot.

Boston quickly opened up the game coming out of the locker room. Two minutes into the second half, Adriana Leon sent in a cross for Natasha Dowie, who headed it past Haracic to put Boston - who have lost just one road game to the Spirit all-time - in the lead.

Things went from bad to worse. Leon was in the midst of a winding dribbling run through heavy Spirit traffic in the 54th minute, only for Kassey Kallman to attempt to intervene. The former Boston defender got the ball away from Leon, but it ended up skipping right past Haracic to make it 2-0.

The Spirit’s rotten luck this season continued. Within a minute, a nice exchange from the Breakers saw Rosie White lift a pass into the box for the overlapping Brooke Elby, who rolled a cross into the six yard box. Kallman lunged in to deny Leon a tap-in, but could only direct the ball in for a second own goal in 74 seconds.

Pugh ran through the defense onto a Solaun through ball on the hour mark and fired past Abby Smith, but the offside flag was raised the whole time. Solaun fired a hard shot from distance but it went over. Washington was starting to gain more momentum but it couldn’t make anything of it.

In the 72nd minute, it happened again. Pugh won a turnover before slipping a pass through for Farquharson, who laced a 23 yarder past Smith. However, the flag was up again, keeping the Spirit scoreless.

Washington was starting to have more time in the final third but couldn’t convert anything. With the two offside goals not counting, the Spirit had just one shot on goal in the first 80 minutes of play.

With the loss, the Spirit fall into last place, behind Boston on the head-to-head tiebreaker. If the Spirit pick up at least a point next weekend and the Breakers lose then they can finish in ninth place. Boston will face Sky Blue and Washington hosts Seattle Reign FC, who may need to win to have a shot at a playoff berth.