Denver Summit FC First Home Win: Recap & Utah Preview

Katie: honestly it's really cool to see these expansion teams come up against teams like the Orlando Pride who have been champions in this league. But as we know, every game is interesting so it's one of the few leagues, if the only league, where an expansion team could truly win the league in their first go at it. that's what I'm excited about and I'm excited about football. I think the Boston game and the San Diego game, I was in this situation in my last role right like The thought of it happening is really painful, but when it happens, it sort of is weirdly like a little bit of freedom because it's happened already, right? So you almost go, well, if we go through it again, this is the path. This is what we have to go through to become a winning team. And, you know, I'm fully invested in the journey. So what I am really proud about is we lost two leads and now we've There was no idea in young people's minds that women could do this as their job. ⁓ So we've come so far. it's a crazy thing to even try to imagine where we'll be in 10 ⁓ because I think that women's sports just continue ⁓ to ⁓ outperform and outdo anything that we believe it can. potentially got in that position again at Houston and now and we kicked on and that shows that we're growing as a group. That shows that the leaders in the group are having a real influence and the players are deliberately going through the process and I'd in 10 years... ⁓ goal and objective and everything that I built toward is the understanding that women's football is the number one sport in our country on the women's side. So for me, the number one sport in men's is the NFL. There is no reason why we can't be as big or bigger than the NFL. And that is my sole objective. And in terms of building businesses and building community around women's football is to grow this sport to just that being like the obvious answer of where we can be and who knows beyond that. The entire city of Denver is showing up for the very first home opener with their brand new NWSL soccer team. You know, the 63,000 and four people that showed up to empower field at mile high. An NWSL all time attendance record, fireworks and national broadcasts, the whole thing. And Eva Gaetano, defender, Paris St. Germain alum, Notre Dame product. you It's easy to be motivated when you lose. ⁓ And said it to us. ⁓ winning hides but losing teaches. And I think that we really took a big couple lessons from that San Diego game and the Boston game. And if you can take the lessons from the hard losses and turn them into performances like we have over the last two weeks, that's what it's all about. And for anyone that's been part of this league before and for anyone that's watched the beginning of the season, every single week is a different challenge. The league is chaotic. You can go from 14th to seventh in one weekend based on results around the league. And what we really need to focus on is kind of putting those One of the most technically gifted players on this roster is sitting on the bench. Her ankle is triple the size that it should be. She's tried convincing the medical staff to let her play. They said, nope. So she sat and she watched 63,000 people show up And then she went back to work. those blinders on and focusing on us. And we said that every single person needed to own their personal performance. And if people went out there and executed their roles last weekend and this weekend, we have really good players on this team and we have a really great coach and a really great staff behind him that are going to keep pushing us. And I would say I'm not even satisfied with, you know, them getting a goal. I think that the standard is a clean sheet. We have an incredible set of three goalkeepers that want clean sheets. And as a defender, we want Fast forward to Saturday night, May 16th at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. 16,974 fans, Pride night, a sellout. The last home match before this club moves into Centennial Stadium. And in the early minutes of the game, the 10th minute to be exact, the earliest goal Denver has scored all season, Eva Gaetano arrives at the back post off the corner and that as well. So we'll go back and we'll definitely celebrate this win tonight but it's back to work on Monday because it's just going to get harder from here. finishes past Anna Morehouse and scores her first career professional NWSL goal. First career goal, first home win in franchise history, and she runs straight to the bench to share it with everyone who watched her come back. I don't know how you write a better story than that. That is the spirit of this win. That's the spirit of this team right now. The expansion narrative, it's over. Denver Summit FC is not interested in it anymore. And honestly, neither am I. By the way, welcome back to the 5280 pitch women's soccer at altitude. I'm Kate Hanson We're going to have a full recap of that magical 3-1 win that the Denver Summit had over the Orlando Pride just last Saturday. And the reality is you don't get in playoffs if you don't win at home. to me the way that you get in and you get in in solid position as you win your home games and then every point Gotham away, Houston away that you get, it gives you solid position. So we had to win tonight to put points on the board. ⁓ and a deep preview of what is coming this Saturday against the Utah Let's give some context first, because what happened Saturday doesn't land without the understanding of what came before it. Six weeks ago, Denver Summit FC had real questions, not the soft ones that you typically ask about expansion teams, real questions. To be honest, I've really been focusing on my defending. So maybe that's the key. Just like don't focus on attacking and then it gets better. I think it's just my ability to get forward and my forward mindset is something that I really cherish as a fullback. And I think that this team is just so exciting having Io and Yaz on the right side, just the last two games, just being an absolute like just chaos for other teams to handle. And then they make it easy when they put the ball in the box and Yaz puts herself in a position to draw Can this team hold a lead? Because twice in the span of eight days, they couldn't. San Diego 3-2, Boston 3-2. Both times Denver had the advantage. Both times they let it slip. And I said something on the podcast after Boston that I stand by. I was frustrated, not with the talent on the team, but because obviously the talent is there, but with the composure. So everyone's doing what they need to be doing. And I feel really positive right now about this group. with what this team would be when things got hard. Then they went to Houston on May 9th and they won 4-1. I thought maybe, just maybe, this is a turning point. But again, Houston was a struggling team. Maybe it was just the matchup. And then Saturday happened. Denver beats the Orlando Pride with leading goal scorer in the NWSL, Barbara Banda, at the helm. They beat them three to one at home in front of a sellout crowd on pride night and when Orlando pulls one back late, when it could have gotten weird, when this team could have done exactly what they did against San Diego and Boston. They answered in 60 seconds, three, one done. That is not luck. That is a team that has genuinely learned something from losing. Here's a number that I want you to sit with. Denver's expected goals was 2.98. 2.98 expected goals. That is incredible compared to Orlando's 0.55. Denver outshot them 23 to 9. I'm kind of sick of the whole, we're the expansion team, we have this journey, it's okay if we're losing, no. We've built the trust, we've been working together and we've been putting the pieces together to have a performance like that where we're able to dictate the game and play the game well. Our passes, 510 to 388. Denver had twice as many touches in Orlando's penalty box, 26 to 13. This was a thorough beat down of a very good Orlando Pride team. And you might be saying, well, Kate, there was the red card and don't worry, we will get into the red card. But Nick Cushing framed the whole turnaround way better than I can. Denver's record right now, folks, is three wins, three draws, and three losses. 12 points. We're now up to seventh on the table. I know that's not a finished product. They still have things to clean up. There's still a lot of season left to go. But the last two performances tell a very different story than what we saw just a couple weeks ago. They're hard to beat. They are physical, dangerous on set pieces. They're doing it without Lindsay Heaps, who again, doesn't arrive until July. My honest take, ⁓ FC becoming one of the harder ⁓ outs this league. I would not want to play them right now. And I didn't expect to be saying that about an expansion team in mid May. Now, before I get into the tactical breakdown, I have to tell you about something that made Saturday night even more significant because I was not the only one watching what Denver summit FC is building. Yeah. Two NWSL, US women's national team superstars were in the building. two of the most decorated US women's national team players in history. Tobin Heath, who was recently inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame and Kristin Press has 155 senior caps, 64 international caps, ninth in the all-time US Women's National Team scoring list. They were there as part of their Football Loves You campaign, which is a partnership with Denver Summit FC through their Re-Inc brand, the media company that they co-founded to elevate women's sports and tell the most important stories in this game. and we're so lucky that the media was able to sit down with them before kickoff. Tobin had the opportunity to explain what it felt like to see an expansion team competing against established teams like Orlando ⁓ giving them a run for their money in year one. Now I was a guest on another NWSL podcast earlier this year. And that podcast laughed at me when I said that playoffs is a very realistic goal for this team. said, playoffs for an expansion team, Kate, really? Expansion teams, you're from Tobin Heath. An expansion team could truly win the league in their first year. From Tobin Heath, someone who has been inside winning environments. Utah is going be tough on the road and Louisville is going to be tough. But we've got an opportunity to add some more points and get to that break in a really solid position. I ⁓ had the desire to get and we're above the line now and let's see where we can go. Let's see where we can go. Let's see whether we can stay above. But I think winning back to back, winning at home was a real desire of mine. And this team can achieve. said, I'm ⁓ more than confident this team be there. ⁓ like this her entire career. This is not just a throwaway line. This is a statement about what makes this league different. She also said that she and Christen can smell winning ingredients. And from the moment Denver Summit was announced, the ownership group, the coaching hire and Nick Cushing, the players that they went out inside, she said to Christen, this Denver Summit FC, this club has a lot of winning ingredients. It's it's growing, there's something Then I had the opportunity to ask Tobin Heath where she sees women's soccer in the next 10 years. Let that stick for a second here because when she said it Saturday, I got goosebumps. No reason we can't be as big or bigger than the NFL. Not a dream, a Tobin and Christen are here, partnered with this club, doing the work of building the ecosystem that gets women's soccer to that place. So let's talk about what this team is building, how it all played out on the field. There was three threads ⁓ of this game and all of them matter for understanding about where this team is going. The first thread ⁓ is the lineup. The formation and the lineup decisions behind it. Denver lined up as a 4-2-3-1. Back four, Ayo Oke at right back, Eva Gaetino and Kaylee Kurtz as centerbacks and Janine Sonnis as left back. pivot of Devin Lynch and Delaney Sheehan in front of the defense. An attacking three of Yasmine Ryan on the left, Tosh Flint through the middle and rookie Natalie Means on the right. Melissa Kussler as the lone striker. So I'm going to stop on Natalie Means. She's actually listed as a defender on this roster. Saturday was her second professional start. And Cushing put her in at the right attacking midfield role. Advanced, creative, goal threatening. In a sold out stadium on Pride night, like I'm it's a lot of pressure for a rookie, but it worked. was recruited to Georgetown as a center forward. She scored 21 goals in college. If you want to listen to the full episode about Natalie Means and how she got to being here on the summit, go back and listen to her episode when I sat down and had a great one-on-one interview with her. I promise you will fall in love with her and her story, but back to Saturday night. Cushing looked at what she naturally is and decided to use it on the offensive side of the ball rather than suppress it. She pressed high all night, created constant chaos in Orlando's defensive channel, and in the second half, cut inside and forced a sharp save from Morehouse. Cushing actually shouted her out by name in the postgame. Completely earned performance by Natalie Means. The second thread. of the evening is the opening goal. The opening goal and Ayo Oke's role in it. Playing it right back, Ioake executes a short corner routine in the 10th minute. She delivers into the box. Melissa Kussler redirects a header across goal. Eva Gaetino arrives at the back post and finishes. Designed set piece, Gaetino even said she and Kussler talk about this on the fly during corners. It's a very fluid play, not very rigid. And the fact that it's okay delivering, that's exactly what a $450,000 transfer is supposed to do. She did make her US women's national team debut earlier this year and got an assist on her very first appearance as a US women's national team member. That right back role requires defensive discipline and technical quality in delivery. She's providing both. The third threat of this match is Yasmin Ryan. She is tied for first in the NWSL in assists Dudinja of San Diego and Olivia Moltre of Portland. Six chances created in this match alone. Most of any Denver player. Starting on the left of the attacking three, she was relentless all night. In the ⁓ minute, she drives into the box. draws a foul from Hernandez, and wins the penalty. And it was a pretty rough penalty. When we saw her go down at the match, was like, how that has to be a penalty kick. And it was. Sonnis lined up to take the shot and she converted. The first penalty kick in Denver franchise history and Sonnis makes it to nothing. Now, it got a little chippy in the second half. There was a red card and not by the Denver Summit. was by the Orlando Pride. Angelina got a red card in the 63rd minute. Off the ball. And when it first happened, from where I was hitting, I was like, what happened there? Quit category and find a replay. Because from way up high at Dix, I couldn't see the hair pull. And Angelina did an off the ball hair pull on Delaney Sheehan. VAR confirmed it. That's a straight red. That double pivot of Lynch and Sheehan had been suffocating Orlando's central channels all night. Banda was getting nothing. And when a talented team gets completely controlled like that and can't find a way to get back in, that frustration goes somewhere. The red card is evidence of a team whose spirit got broken. And Denver did that through a very strong suffocating press between Lynch and Sheehan. Orlando did pull one back in the 76th minute. Banda beat Abby Smith off of the McCutcheon through ball and made it 2-1. And even Nick Cushing said in the post game that Abby Smith, in the way that the team played today, Abby Smith deserved that clean sheet. But the game's not over yet. The crowd tightens, and just one minute later, Flint gets a shot away. Orlando defender gets a foot on it and Sonnis is right there to finish with authority, making it 3-1. Just 60 seconds later, this team answered when it got hard. Two weeks ago, they couldn't do that. Now they can. And Janine Sonis has had quite a couple matches. Two braces in two weeks, four goals on the season, tied for fourth in the NWSL. Golden boot race along Coastler and Flint now, three summit players in the top five. The only names ahead of them are Barbara Banda with nine, Ashley Sanchez with six, and Timwa Chowingo with five. Three players from a first year expansion team in the top five scorers in the league. Folks, that's supposed to happen. And Janine Sonnis, like I said, two braces in two weeks. And if you're to soccer terminology, a brace just means scoring two goals in a single match. So Sonnis scored twice at Houston and then scored twice again on Saturdays. Back to back, four goals, two games, back to back braces. But what I keep coming back to isn't the goals. It's what Janine Sonis our captain, said afterwards. absolute chaos. That is how the captain of this team describes her own right side. Io, okay, and Yasmin Ryan just creating problems every time they touch the ball. And Zanis, you said back to back braces, is talking about her defending. Yeah, players focused on the process and the stats show up anyway. She also said something about the standard for this group that deserves to be said out loud. you know, win three, one, score twice, first home win in franchise history, and your captain says, Well, we should have kept a clean sheet. Back to work on Monday. Folks, that is who you want to have leading your locker room. That right there is the standard that Nick Cushing is building here in Denver. now at the beginning of the episode, I told Eva Gaetano's story, but the performance really deserves its own moment. She led all Denver players with 83 touches and 69 completed passes on Saturday. She is tied for first in the entire NWSL in accurate long balls per 90 with 4.7, sharing that with Malaya Berkeley Houston. She builds from the back line like a quarterback, makes the whole defensive structure function. And then she came back from a severe ankle injury to score the opening goal, of a franchise defining home win. One that will be in the record books forever, folks. That was the first win here in our great state ⁓ of Colorado a women's professional team. And she said it's still a little bit of bliss. She doesn't know if... scoring that first goal has fully hit her. what she said she feels most is pride for this team and for the city. And that line about being tired of that expansion team narrative, that I think is going to age really well. Now Devon Lynch, who's also been on the podcast, if you'd like to get to know a little bit more about Devon Lynch, go back and check out her episode after this. Devyn Lynch She started all nine matches Denver has played and is one of just four rookies in the entire NWSL to start every match for their club. On Saturday, she led the whole game with six tackles won. But the box score, it doesn't tell the real story. Lynch is the reason that Yasmine Ryan can be so aggressive going forward. She sits at the base of the midfield, wins second balls. And in the second half of that Orlando game, she was unattested and was able to bring the ball all the way from our end into the final third Orlando. ⁓ then made a great pass over to Natalie Means and Natalie Means just missed it. But Lynch was able to carry it the entire way up the field. like ⁓ said, Lynch breaks up those counterattacks. She wins the second balls. And she gets it to someone who can do something with it. A lot of what Devon Lynch is doing right now is thankless work. Not a lot of high highlight real stuff, but it's absolutely essential. She's doing it as a rookie and She has a lot of veterans that are showing up and giving her the mentorship every single week to help her succeed. And I want to talk about Carson Pickett because this is the second game in a row that she didn't start. She came on late in the 95th minute. And I think this was a little bit of a surprise for all of us Denver fans because she has a big storyline. She's a veteran on this team. She is the Lauren Holliday award nominee for Denver and Nick Cushing has her on the bench, but Cushing is getting results out of the lineup that he's been putting out there. The defensive unit is functioning. Means has earned that spot and played 75 great minutes. Competition is healthy, but pick it as too accomplished and too experienced to stay on the bench indefinitely. At some point, this becomes a real story. I'm watching it. You should be too. Now let's talk about what is At the beginning of the year, Utah Royals didn't seem like it'd be such a tough match, but this right here might be the hardest test Denver has faced all season. The Utah Royals are second in the NWSL table right now. 20 points from 10 matches, six wins, two draws, two losses. They just beat Racing Louisville 2-1 on Sunday to stay just one point behind San Diego at the top. And before Louisville ended it on Sunday, Utah had posted a 536 minute shutout streak. The fourth longest in NWSL history. Nearly nine full games without conceding. This team that we're facing on Saturday is not an exhausted Orlando pride arriving after a brutal road trip. Utah's rested, they're organized at home, and playing the best soccer in franchise history. So head coach Jimmy Coonrat scraped his opening 4-2-3-1 after three matches, two losses and a draw, and instilled a 4-3-3 with asymmetrical wingback overlaps and a high counter press. That is a meaningful contrast to Denver's 4-2-3-1, where Denver relies on that double pivot to protect the defense unless the attacking three do the creative work. Utah's system is more fluid. Wingers interchange constantly. The single midfield anchor drops to free up the interior players. And the fullback push high to create overloads. It's a different kind of pressure. And Denver is going to have to defend shapes that they haven't seen very much of this weekend. Mina Tanaka is a name to know of from this Utah Royals roster. She has three goals and three assists. She is a Japanese international registered domestic through permanent residency, elite box positioning. Her XG numbers reflect someone who constantly gets into the right spaces at the right moments. If Denver gives her half a yard in the box, she will punish it. And Kate Del Fava. anchors the back line with 68 consecutive starts tied with Kaylee Kurtz for the longest active streak in the NWSL. She averages 11 defensive contributions per 90. Nothing is coming easy inside that box. Now, if you go back and you look at some of the numbers from the summit game, where do all of our goals come from? Inside the box. Now, Utah's starting keeper. got injured back in April and backup keeper Mandy McGlynn stepped in and has been extraordinary. In five appearances, she's posted a 90.9 % save percentage, For context, Abby Smith is having probably one of the best seasons of her entire career for Denver at 74.1%. And she has been keeping us in a number of these games. McGlynn is just on a different level right now. Denver is going to have to earn every goal on Saturday. There are no gifts coming from this Utah side. So here's what Denver needs. And it's a real concern, and I'll name it honestly, because Denver is outperforming their expected goals, 10.2 expected goals, but 12 actual goals scored, a plus 1.8 differential. Now some of that is finishing quality. Some of it is opponents making mistakes and Utah simply won't make those mistakes. The Angelina red card helped the Denver Summit on Saturday. Orlando's defensive errors helped. Utah is very tight. They will not do that. Denver needs three things. First, the set pieces. Okay, delivery the size in the box, the Gatino Coastler corner connection. That could be the difference in the game that might not have very many open play goals. Second, get Yasmine Ryan involved early. She is the creative engine right now. Her and Tosh Flint together, that is a duo that I would not want to mess with. If Utah locks down, Yasmine Ryan and Tosh Flint in the first half, Denver is going to struggle. And third, there can't be any casual possession. the goal that the summit conceded on Saturday came from exactly that. Against Utah's counter press, ⁓ one lazy turnover in wrong area could cost Denver the match. Now, Denver, we're climbing back up the table here, folks. We're now in seventh with 12 points. Utah is second with 20. A win closes that gap significantly and puts Denver in ⁓ a genuine playoff position, not just above the line, but pushing for something real. A loss keeps them in the middle of the table pack. The next two weeks, Utah on Saturday, and then on the road again to Louisville before we have that June break, this will define the first half of this inaugural season. And Cushing said it best. Let's see where we can go. Six weeks ago, that sentence would have felt like hope. Right now, it feels like a statement of intent. Now, before I let you go, Saturday night was more than just a soccer game. It was Pride night. It was a sellout. It was the last home match at Dix before Centennial Stadium opens in July. But. Centennial Stadium is close to getting there, folks. We are getting real close to our new permanent, semi-permanent stadium for the next few years. But at Dix on Saturday, the atmosphere from the moment the gates opened until the final whistle was unlike anything I've ever experienced covering professional sports. And I've covered Broncos, Rockies, Nuggets. I mean, I've covered a lot. And... This was unlike anything I've ever experienced covering this team. Nick Cushing said post game that in his five years at MLS and every stadium he's been to, the show that's been put on at Dick's Sporting Goods Park and the fans that are showing up are some of the best he's ever seen. His exact words were, it's like MLS Cup here. The fireworks, the fans, if you saw it, there was a beautiful rainbow that went over the field during the game. Yes, and Nick Cushing said this is something special. And Eva Gaetano standing in front of those fans an hour after scoring her first professional goal said she's still in a little bit of a bliss. She doesn't know if it's fully hit her, but what she feels the most is pride for this team, for this city. This fan base has shown up since day one and on Saturday night in front of 16,974 people on Pride night with two World Cup champions in the stands who said they can smell the winning ingredients. This team gave them something to remember. First home win, our captain throwing this team on her back and saying, we will win this game. Denver Summit FC is not just another expansion team story anymore. They are a team, and I cannot wait to see what they do on Saturday night in Utah. That's it for this week. Make sure that you subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Podchase, or wherever you listen to your show. Make sure you subscribe on YouTube, like and subscribe. Links are in the show notes to get connected with me. have created something really cool for the website. So go on over to 5280pitch.com and check out the match recap stats that I have put in on there. We're not on the newsletter yet. What are you waiting for? Get on the newsletter, head over to the 5280pitch.com. Check out that new feature that I put up on the website. Check out 5280pitch for merch like this awesome sweatshirt that I'm wearing right now. This has also been the player favorite Kaylee Kurtz has ⁓ one, ⁓ Smith has one. mean, Natalie Means. Check out the sweatshirt, check out the gear, ⁓ 5280pitch.com. And you're heading to a game this season, come find me please. I'm there. I would love to meet you, connect with you. I was over at the ⁓ 14ers, ⁓ on Saturday before heading on in to do some pregame press stuff, but it was great to get over there. I met some of the drum line. let's this community. Let's grow this fan base. Now is the time to hop on the summit train. But that's going to do it for this week's episode, guys. Thank you so much for being here. We'll see you in next week's episode.