Trinity Rodman celebrates her return to the field with the game winner, as the Spirit defeat the Portland Thorns at home
- Mario Amaya
- Aug 5
- 7 min read
The Washington Spirit took the field for the first time in more than a month to start the second half of the NWSL season. For the Spirit, it marked the debut of new head coach Adrián González, who took over the role in July after Jonatan Giráldez left to take charge of Olympique Lyonnais.
To start the second half of the season, the Spirit was at home in the friendly confines of Audi Field, or “Rowdy Audi,” as they call it as they played host to the Portland Thorns in a match that had major playoff implications, with the Spirit coming into the game in 5th place with Portland trailing right behind them in 6th place.
This game also signified the return of Spirit star player Trinity Rodman, who had been sidelined for four months due to a back injury, and it would be Rodman who would propel the Spirit to get past the Thorns in front of more than 16,007 fans who came to Audi Field to watch the game. The Spirit beat Portland with a final score of 2-1.
"Holy cow, that was just the hardest thing I've had to go through with injury and everything," Rodman said during her postgame on-field interview. "So, being back with the team, especially at home, with the stadium and the crowd behind me, scoring a goal like that -- you saw I buried it. I was not going to miss it. I'm just really happy to be back. I missed the team. I missed doing what I love."
Rodman’s return and game winner
All week, Spirit fans were waiting in anticipation for the return of Rodman to the field, especially when it was announced by the team that she would be on the roster before kickoff. Around the 76th minute, the wait was over, as Rodman entered the field for the first time in four months to a roar from those present inside the stadium, chanting and screaming Rodman’s name as she set foot onto the field.
“It was a big moment.” Rodman said, “Being back, I know that I'm back for real and that the problems are fixed, and now I can just be back and work on the things I need to and kind of just get my groove back. It may have looked like it was back, but there are still a lot of things I need to work on. a lot of emotions for me. I have such an amazing team, and the way that they came around me during that moment was amazing. The work that they put in while I was gone, like I have so much respect and trust in them, and they trust me. So, I'm just, yeah, very happy. And that's kind of the word. Just happy to be back.”
It would take Trinity all of 15 minutes to make an impact in the game. It was the 92nd minute with the score tied at one goal apiece, and it looked like both Portland and Washington were going to share the spoils. Croix Bethune played a through ball to Nigerian forward Gift Monday, who was wide open on the left side. Monday would carry the ball inside the box; however, the Thorns' defense stifled her scoring opportunity, and Alexa Spaanstra would carry the ball out of Portland’s box, but Courtney Brown would intercept Spaanstra’s clearance at the edge of the box. Brown would send a cross inside the box, and Bethune would flick the ball in the direction of Rodman. Rodman lined up a powerful shot that would go top shelf, whizzing past a standing Mackenzie Arnold, as the ball pierced the back of the net to secure all three points for the Spirit.
“As soon as it was going towards Croix, I knew she was going to have some kind of cheeky touch, and I was not going to miss it,” Rodman said. “I was going to hit it through the net.”
In the post-game press conference, Rodman talked about her recovery and how she has learned from her absence on the field.
“Me being the player I am, I was trying to push through something that I shouldn’t have,” Rodman said. “I think I sometimes treated my injury as a little kid who just wanted to get on the field and play. There were a lot of moments through the journey where I was just feeling very defeated, and I was going through the motions and hiding it from everyone else.”
She also added, “Stepping away, it was a great thing for me and getting my mind and [body] right,” Rodman said. “I’m really happy to be where I am right now and utilize the things I’ve learned and be able to translate into the new player that I am coming back.”
Rodman also talked about the balance of being an athlete and having a life outside of the sport as an athlete.
“I don’t think that you have to become a robot to be the best player that you can be,” she said. “I think it’s very important to be treated like a normal human to have your off-the-field moments.”
She also acknowledged her presence on social media during her recovery period and what people online believed she should be doing during her recovery period and finding that perfect balance.
“I think even me posting (on social media), I caught myself sometimes posting to, like, prove to everybody that I was doing it, and I would take a step back and be like, ‘Why? Like, why do I even need to do that?’ Rodman said, “I think a lot of times there’s a lot of pressure that if you’re doing certain things, it’s kind of like, ‘Oh, why isn’t she with the team? Why isn’t she watching film instead of watching Ben? It’s just all these comments, it’s just kind of like, ‘OK, what are you guys doing? You guys are sitting on the couch hanging out, or you’re with your significant others doing that stuff.’ And I just feel like it needs to be more normalized with athletes because we’re people, too, and we like to enjoy our lives off the field because there’s enough pressure on the field.”
Finally, as she was asked if she envisioned a return like this after being gone for so long, she said.
“I was talking to Ouley {Sarr} yesterday, we were talking about being back, and we rode together to the game today, super excited. And I was like, it would be really cool if I came in 15 minutes and scored,” Rodman said. “She was like, you don't say it's really cool. You say I do, and I do, and I was like, OK, I do, and I did so. Thank you, Ouley Sarr.”
The Game
Washington would have the first big scoring opportunity of the game just five minutes in as Bethune would have a shot from outside the box, her shot would nearly go in as it went past Arnold, but her shot would hit the crossbar and would eventually be cleared out by the Thorns defense.
“[It was a] fantastic first half in terms of provoking what we wanted, especially in possession,” González said. “We knew where the advantages were.”
The Spirit would open up the scoring in the 17th minute. A Gabby Carle through ball to Rosemonde Kouassi. Kouassi raced Isa Obaze to the ball and left the Portland defender behind. The Ivorian International placed a low cross inside the box to Gift Monday, who tapped the ball into the net for her fifth goal of the season.
“Rose is a player who has a lot of skill.” Monday said, talking about her connection with Kouassi, “Every time she has the ball, I just have to get there. If she doesn’t have any support in the box, all of our effort, all of what she is trying to do, would be in vain. She understands that anytime she gets the ball, I will just find my way inside the box.”
“Rose is a player who has a lot of skill.” Monday said, talking about her connection with Kouassi, “Every time she has the ball, I just have to get there. If she doesn’t have any support in the box, all of our effort, all of what she is trying to do, would be in vain. She understands that anytime she gets the ball, I will just find my way inside the box.”
Monday nearly doubled the Spirit’s lead after taking advantage of a shot pass from Narumi Miura, but Arnold got a hand to the ball that ended up hitting the crossbar once more, denying the Nigerian International her second goal of the game.
Monday would have another opportunity to get her brace close to halftime, as Arnold mishandled her shot and was rolling to goal, but the Portland keeper got to the ball just before it crossed the line, swatting the ball away and keeping the game close.
Portland found the equalizer just before the ref blew his whistle for halftime. After Portland won the ball in midfield and strung a few passes together, the ball would find Sam Coffey, who played a short pass to Jessie Fleming in traffic. As Fleming spun away from the Spirit defense, she laid the ball off to Olivia Moultrie, who got a shot from outside the box and went past Aubrey Kingsbury to tie the game as both teams headed to the locker rooms.
Portland would have several opportunities to take the lead throughout the second half, but they were unable to beat Kingsbury’s goal.
With this result, the Spirit move up the NWSL standings and are now tied for 2nd place with the Orlando Pride with 26 points, while the Thorns sit in 6th place with 22 points.
Washington now travels to Harrison, NJ, to face Gotham FC in a game with major playoff implications for both teams. The game will take place Saturday, August 9th, with kickoff scheduled to start at noon.
