**Washington, D.C. –** The Washington Spirit needed a stoppage time spot kick from forward Ashley Hatch to do so, but the home side defeated San Diego, 4-3, to pick up their first win in 17 games, all in front of a national audience.
As the visitors began to settle in at Audi Field, they would open the scoring after just seven minutes when 17-year-old Jaedyn Shaw buried a cross from the right side for her second goal of the regular season. The Wave had begun applying pressure on the Spirit goal and found an opening as defender Emily van Egmond was in possession on the right side. Looking ahead, van Egmond swung in a deep cross to the back post where Shaw was waiting and the forward touched the ball home past Spirit goalkeeper Audrey Kingsbury.
However, just four minutes later the Spirit clawed their way back into the match via a close range finish from midfielder Tara McKeown. As the Spirit carried possession into the attacking half, forward Ashley Hatch fed teammate Ashley Sanchez in the center of the field. Sanchez took the ball forward into the box, but instead of shooting pulled a pass to her left where McKeown was entering the area. Shooting at the first time of asking, McKeown then curled an effort just past goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan and as quickly as they were down the Spirit were back level again.
The hosts then dug their heels in and began to threaten the Wave goal, and would end up ahead for the first time all afternoon when defender Amber Brooks poked home from close in in the 30 ^th minute. A ball in from the right side landed in the center of the box, but the Wave would fail to effectively get it away as a scuffed clearance landed at the feet of Brooks just inside the penalty area. Brooks then took a touch and toe poked an effort that rolled low past Sheridan to help the Spirit go in front.
Not done yet, the Spirit would go on to score their third goal of the half when Brooks doubled not only her goal tally on the night but her goal tally on the year with a composed headed finish in the 44 ^th minute. Defender Sam Staab swung in a corner on the right side that fell all the way at the back post near Brooks. Rising above her marker from a narrow angle, Brooks then looped a header over Sheridan to put her side up two on three unanswered goals.
At the break, it was a battle of tempo as the Wave struck first only for the Spirit to find three of their own to respond at Audi Field.
Into the second half, the Wave earned help mounting a comeback when an unbelievable ball from the goalkeeper Sheridan all the way over the defense for Alex Morgan to run onto saw Morgan and Brooks collide just inside the penalty area. After some deliberation and treatment for Morgan, the referee concluded that San Diego had earned a penalty with Brooks shown a yellow card for the collision. Up to the spot to take was Morgan, and she buried her chance to the right as Kingsbury dove the wrong way but had little shot of stopping the effort. The goal was Morgan’s 14 ^th of the season and fifth from the penalty spot.
As the match neared its end, San Diego had one last opportunity go their way in the 82 ^nd minute when Morgan doubled her tally on the night with an equalizer from a corner kick. Defender Emily van Egmond was on corner kick duty and delivered a driven cross that crashed onto the head of Morgan coming forward and burst past Kingsbury to help temporarily complete the visitors’ impressive comeback.
However, into the final minute of seven minutes of stoppage time in the second half, Washington was awarded a penalty kick in the closing moments as the midfielder McKeown was judged to have been fouled inside the box. Taking charge of the penalty kick was forward Ashley Hatch, who scored the goal with 99:04 on the clock as the Spirit earned a last gasp win.
The result harms San Diego’s push for first place in the table, but not incredibly so as the loss prevents a three-game unbeaten run for the visitors. For the hosts, however, it was a dramatic way to win their first game since the opening game of the season but the Spirit got the job done for their first win in 17 games total.

Match Highlights

Match Highlights