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I wasn’t in a positive mood about this match this morning, not after seeing the team embarrass themselves against college teams they should have stomped. I worried that we had nothing more than a W-League team with delusions of grandeur. I even compared them with the 2007 Washington Freedom W-League team – admittedly a team stacked with past and future professionals (including Lori Lindsey and Ali Krieger) – and found them lacking.

Well, the deluded W-Leaguers went toe-to-toe for 90 minutes against a team with Sydney Leroux, Heather O’Reilly, Cat Whitehill, Lianne Sanderson, and Kyah Simon and came out even, despite playing on the road and having had to endure a 12.5-hour bus ride the previous day (thanks, apparently, to a bus driver who had never seen a rest stop he didn’t like).

Asked after the game about his players of the match, head coach Mike Jorden just went down the roster. You could start with Tiffany McCarty, whose 15th minute header off a cross from Ingrid Wells gave the Spirit the lead and her a place in Washington soccer history alongside Pretinha (first WUSA Freedom goal) and Becky Sauerbrunn (first WPS Freedom goal).

You could then add in all those who contributed to a swarming defense, which would pretty much include the entire team, even forward-midfielder Stephanie Ochs, who took breaks from attacking down the left flank on several occasions to break up Boston offensive forays. You’d think that Kika Toulouse trying to protect the Spirit’s left flank against Heather O’Reilly’s onslaughts would have been a recipe for disaster, but with backup she managed it. And when all else failed, you had Ali Krieger coming to the rescue, even running down Sydney Leroux from behind more than once.

Leroux finally scored in second-half stoppage time the one time she managed to get away from Krieger, getting a cross from the right, finding some room on the left, and sending the ball in at a very tough angle to just inside the right post. But all in all it was a tremendous accomplishment given that two of the key players – Krieger and Canadian national teamer Robyn Gayle – had only had one exhibition match and a few days of training with the team.

You’d also have to mention Diana Matheson, who was not only a tireless font of energy but extremely poised, most notably in the 41st minute taking a long ball down the left flank, patiently working her way to the middle of the field, and taking a shot that went off the crossbar.

But you’d have to end with goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris, who made two big saves to keep the scoreboard clean, in the 26th minute catching an attempt chip from Heather O’Reilly, then five minutes later leaping to parry a cannon of a shot from Kyah Simon. Finally with four minutes to go she threw her body at Leroux to make a save and was down for several minutes after the resulting collision.

Jorden said several times after the match how proud he was of the team. Breakers captain Cat Whitehill noted that several sources predicted that the Spirit would finish last in the league and said that this was a tough team and that people needed to rethink that.

Washington will get their next test against Abby Wambach’s new team, the Western New York Flash, on Saturday, April 20. The Spirit’s home opener will kick off at 7 pm.

Other coverage:

Equalizer Soccer (Courtney Moores) – Leroux strikes late, Breakers draw Spirit 1-1

SportsMyriad (Beau Dure) – Washington Spirit at Boston Breakers: See, that wasn’t so bad

Black and Red United (BlasianSays) – Washington Spirit open the NWSL season with a draw
Washington Spirit open the NWSL season with a draw

New England Soccer Today (Julian Cardillo) – Leroux’s Late Equalizer Saves Breakers in Opener
Leroux’s Late Equalizer Saves Breakers in Opener

New England Soccer Journal (Eric Beato) – Leroux equalizer hands Breakers a point

The Washington Post (Steven Goff) – Washington Spirit opens NWSL with 1-1 draw

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