Sometimes the stars just need a proper stage.
Before a national TV audience on CBS and an enthusiastic crowd of 12,232 at Audi Field, U.S. women’s national team attackers Trinity Rodman and Ashley Sanchez put on a show in the Washington Spirit’s 3-1 victory over the San Diego Wave.
Rodman scored the game’s opening goal before teeing Sanchez up for the eventual game-winner, the just desserts for a dominant performance from two players that are fully expected to end up on Vlatko Andonovski’s 23-player roster for this summer’s World Cup.
Last month, Andonovski challenged the Spirit duo to put their obvious connection to more frequent use at club level, and will have to acknowledge that against one of NWSL’s top teams, they looked unstoppable.
To go with her goal and assist, Rodman led all players on the day with four key passes, and threw in five successful dribbles. Her five shots were more than San Diego (four) managed as an entire team, and would have been the most of any player in the match if not for Sanchez having six (along with a key pass and a successful dribble that drew a roar from the crowd on the banks of the Anacostia River).
Rodman opened the scoring on a pass from Sanchez that may not go down as an assist due to Christen Westphal’s glancing intervention. Don’t let that fool you: the play was still the clear product of both the duo’s chemistry and some work the Spirit have put in on the training ground.
Speaking to reporters after the match, head coach Mark Parsons was elated with much of what he saw, but highlighted that goal in particular.
“We wanted to get more of Sanchez between lines,” explained Parsons. “Ash, for Trin’s goal? Yeah, that’s perfect. I grabbed [Morinao Imaizumi], our assistant coach, and gave him the biggest kiss, because we’ve been working so hard on this connection, and they did a good job.”
Much has been made of Andonovski’s comments, but Parsons said he wasn’t concerned about anything beyond unlocking the duo’s obvious potential.
“I don’t give a crap about what national team or anyone else wants. I really don’t,” said Parsons. “What I do care is about players playing in their best position, showing their top qualities.”
Parsons added that the team has been emphasizing that Sanchez is “the first thought and the second thought” when the team is on the ball.
“With their quality, when we have Sanchez, Trin, and [Ashley] Hatch cooking like they were today?” asked Parsons before answering his own question. “Yeah, it’s a problem. It’s a big problem.”
‘We’re doing business today’
Sanchez and Rodman (who made NWSL history on the day as the only player to have 10 career goals and assists before the age of 21) would connect again in the 70th minute, a situation they created numerous times throughout the match: Rodman on the dribble into a dangerous spot, Sanchez with a late-arriving run, and the former cutting the ball back for the latter.
Sanchez sent one such look wide of an open net in the first half, then had another similar look saved by Kailen Sheridan. The third, however, worked out just right.
Sanchez joked after the game that the simple handshake celebration between her and Rodman — known as two of NWSL’s staunchest pro-celebration advocates — was reflecting the job at hand.
“I just think we were like: business. We’re doing business today,” laughed Sanchez before adding a more serious note on how she brushed off the previous missed chances.
“I think obviously, it’s easy to get frustrated in those moments,” noted Sanchez. “I was just trying to keep myself composed, and keep demanding the ball and taking shots regardless of the previous misses. I think she laid off a great ball, and it was a good finish. But I think that’s like a testament of just trying to stay focused and not think about the past.”
Rodman said that she couldn’t parse how much of the pair’s success in the final third on the day was down to the team’s work in training, or just the special understanding she has with Sanchez.
“I just feel like it happens so naturally,” said Rodman, before coming back to explain some of the process that allows them to thrive.
“We’ve worked all week — me, Ash, and Hatch — just on our opposite movements,” observed Rodman. “I feel like the first couple games, it was kind of like, two of us were running forward and there wasn’t that person coming underneath, or vice versa. [Today] I feel like I would come underneath, and I knew Ash would then take the space, and I would flick it to her. Or, she would do a no-look pass for the slip. I just think, ‘it’s there.'”
For Rodman, Sanchez, and the Spirit, business appears to be booming.
“I think everything’s kind of coming together,” said Sanchez. “Every week we’ve gotten better.”
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Ashley Sanchez
