Denver Summit Loses at Washington Despite Doubling xG

Kate Hanson: Okay, so Denver doubled Washington's expected goals on Sunday night. They doubled them. Outshot the number one team in the NWSL 17 to 13. And we lost. 1-0 off a shot with a 7% chance of going in. And I need you just to sit with that for a second. Because I sat with it for two days now. 7%. That's honestly that's the whole. season right there. In one football match. We got the no call, of course, to get into and we've got the red card trend that I wanna walk you through. And we wanna talk about some people getting paid deservedly. Welcome back to the 5280 Pitch. I'm Kate Hansen and I'm I'm glad you're here because let me be real with you, it has been a week. So before we get into it, I'm just gonna call out the elephant in the room. I owe you an explanation because not only did I get this episode out 24 hours later than normal, I also missed the Friday episode. it's been a series of unfortunate events lately in our household, from flat tires to house fires to trying to keep it all together and still throw off a great birthday party for my nine year old. It was just a crazy seventy-two hours. So I apologize for getting this out to you a little late, but yeah, it's you know, I guess everything happens in threes. And I guess I I also threw my back out last week. Yes, an old horseback riding injury reared its ugly head again. So those are my three unfortunate things that happened in the span of four days, and luckily it's all behind us now, right? And we can move forward. But I I wanted to let you know Everyone's fine from the house fire, everyone's okay. it's just fun, you know, adulting and having to deal with insurance and getting contractors. So, anyways, that's why the episode's a little bit late. That's why the episode didn't happen on Friday. But let's get into some Denver Summit football. Because that's why you're all really here. you're not here to hear my sob story. So let's talk about the Washington recap. The no-call, I wanna bring up some people getting paid. I wanna bring up some stadium news, and I wanna circle back on Centennial Stadium If you haven't been out to Centennial Stadium yet, I'm gonna give you a little insider info so that you can go in prepared. So let's start where it hurts. Sunday, outie field in Washington, DC. It's the first road trip back for the Denver Summit since the break. And the last time we saw Washington was at Empower Field. Sixty-three thousand of us were there cheering on our new women's professional team. And we drew. This time, if at the beginning, I was feeling it. It I felt like this was a game that we had a legit chance of winning. It felt like we were dominating a lot of opportunities. We had a gr a lot of great rush opportunities. It just felt different this time around, even though we were on the road and we've had a lot of road games under our belt based off the first trimester of the season. So I went in feeling pretty. confident. We walked away with no points and the number one team in the league walking away with three. I want you to hear where this team's head was three days out before they even stepped onto the pitch because it really sets the table for everything that's coming.

Katie: We're definitely more together. We understand each other more. We're probably more complete in the way that we play the games, in the chances we create. And our and our expectation is a lot higher, I think, than we were, you know, off the back of a win on the road at Gotham, probably still trying to figure out where we where we stood in the league and how competitive we were against other teams. I think now we know we're competitive, we know that. Even when we don't play well, or even when we like we lose to Kansas, we know it's probably sixty, seventy percent our our own performance. Not that they're three nil better than us. so for us, it's about how we turn up on the day, the mentality of the team, the collective approach in the sense of we're gonna be put under pressure, you've got to absorb it, we're gonna get chances, we've got to take them. but we're definitely we know we know that we're competitive in this league now.

Kate Hanson: So that was Nick Cushing on Friday, just a few days before match day, and this is a coach who thinks his team has arrived. They are prepared. And Abby Smith, same day at the pregame presser, she was asked about what beating Portland, who was number three in the table at the time, actually proved to that Denver Summit locker room.

Katie: I think us being able to beat Portland was really exciting. And it's also really rewarding to the hard work that we put into that week leading into the game. But it's also something that's like you look at the fan base that has showed up day in and like literally every single game. They've supported us and e home and away. So that was really rewarding for us and I think the fans. I think in going forward in this game, it would be really exciting, but also there's a piece that like we're really good team and it only just keeps reaffirming that belief. And I think that's something that coming into this game is continuously believing that we're a good team and that we can be any team day in and day out. It's more so of like you see how hard this league is and if we do us really well, we're able to be teams that are at the top of the table.

Kate Hanson: This is a team that went in feeling very confident. Top of the table, doesn't matter. They were walking into DC ready. They felt prepared. And then the game happened. And this one opened up pretty wide open. It was a very different game than we have seen the Denver Summit play all year. Now I was watching, I was going back and forth. We I was watching it on the alternate cast on Victory Plus, so That was one with Kelly O'Hara giving some play by play insights as as the game was happening. Very interesting to watch from those that trio's point of view. And one thing after seeing so many Denver Summit games this year and looking at all the stats, I was really curious how this game was going to be played because both Washington and Denver are very possession-heavy teams. We didn't see that a ton in the first half of the game. Both sides were just trading it end to end. Nobody really settling into anything. Rodman gets the first real look, picks Denver's pocket near midfield. drives it forward, and she doesn't quite finish the play, thank goodness. Denver comes right back, then Cantora turns and shoes, gets blocked. Smith mops it up back and forth like that for the greater part of the first half of the game. It was a very exciting game to to watch, very unlike anything that we've seen from this Denver Summit team so far this year. And right before half, man, Ryan had an incredible shot, just a Chef's kiss off of the off the crossbar. And it was so close. Beautiful shot. And I mean, with if you're wat if you only watched the first half, you'd think that this was more of a track meet sort of game, not a chess match. both teams turning the ball over into space, both getting real chances. Olivia Thomas got the start over Melissa Cussler, and she had a moment where she just squared up Esme Morgan. one-on-one, tried to beat her outside, nearly caught the near post. Second straight start for Olivia Thomas. And she is playing like someone that trusts her legs. I love that. Nate Cushing did have a few words to say about Olivia Thomas's play,

speaker-1: I actually think she should take it closer to the goal with her speed and her power. The two in the first half where she got away and she took it from probably 18 yards and the second one she took from 18, 20. I think she should keep going because she's got the power and the strength to hold off the two central defenders from Spirit. I just think she sees the goal and maybe takes the shot too early. I think when she analyzes it, she'll see that she's a young player and she's growing and learning and... Our expectations are that she improves every game and she's coming into chances, but she's a young player, right? We can't expect Olivia Thomas to be the difference for us.

Kate Hanson: Thomas has been getting the nod over Custler, and a lot of people are I've I've seen on on the socials and on the Reddit threads, they're asking why. and one I think it's because Custler's had a hard time finding the back of the net. Again, she was our secret weapon at the beginning of the year. Everyone's on to her now and Cush Nick Cushing is trying to shake things up a little bit with that speed that Olivia Thomas brings. Going into half, we are tied at zero zero. The second half, it's the same story for a while. And then in the 65th minute, this is the one that you're gonna see all over the NWSL highlight feeds, unfortunately. Lacey Santos comes off the bench, wins the ball high, and in about three touches total, Bang, bang, bang, Denver's line is not able to reset. One touch, one touch, Rodman lays it off the first time to Cantor, and she just smacks it in off the underside of the bar. Like I said at the beginning, a 7% chance of that shot going in. If Rodman takes two touches there instead of one, Denver's defenders would have had enough time to close that gap. unfortunately, Trendy Rodman makes the perfect pass. She sees it early, plays it early, and that's the whole difference between a very good chance and a goal in this league. I was checking the stats and the that shot had a seven percent chance of going in. Again, it it went it went in, it was a goal. Denver, we came right back at them. Heaps, weaves through the box a few minutes later and goes down. And we are going down on that one in a second. Yes, we are gonna rabbit hole on that play, so stick around. But it ends up being a no-call and Denver, we just kept coming. it heaps gets in behind, plays a ball, back across the six. It's bobbled, Clangs off the crossbar for the second time this game, and then it's stoppage time, and Denver just camped out at that end of the field. Brazier gets a look, puts one off the post, hits the frame again in the final minute of the match. it's the crossbar's not that big. And the goal is so big. It's so frustrating when you can hit the crossbar so many times and not get a single goal. But that's where we end with the game. That's the whistle. Washington won. They stay at the top of the table. And Denver wraps up with nothing. If you watch the last 10 minutes of that game with the sound off and just count the box entries. just something I did. Denver is throwing bodies at this thing over and over and none of it is going in. And that's it's honestly you guys, it's not a team that got outclassed. That's just a team that got outscored. So Let me back up real fast with actual numbers because you know me, I love the numbers. Because they support everything that I just said. So 17 shots to Washington's 13, 35 touches inside the Spirits box to their 20, 75% more time in the danger area. Denver's final third passing accuracy actually out-edged Washington's 70.8 to 69.7. And Denver completed 120 passes in the final third to Washington's 99. And the finishing, god, the finishing. 17 shots. One on target. One from Olivia Thomas. And I'm just gonna I'm I'm frustrated with this And it was something that I spoke about before we went into the June break. Our finishing needed to get better. And I like I just said, I think that that is why Nick Cushing Has been giving Olivia Thomas the past few starts. Denver finished the night with an expected goals total of 1.4 to Washington's.7. So we doubled the league leader's number and we lost. Abby Smith, five saves, 18 recoveries, busiest keeper. on the pitch by a mile. Janine Saunis, five chances created, tops the team for this game. Statistically, it's one of Denver's best road performances of the entire year. So here's the room, twenty minutes after the final whistle. Kaylee Kurtz, Abby Smith sat down and they had a very different tone than they did in the pregame presser on Friday.

speaker-0: I think in reality, like there when we're having performances like this, we're only raising the floor so it's something that we can take back, go home and also evaluate. Because at the end of the day, like we're creating chances and at some point the tide will turn. But if we only focus on the negative, that is a really crappy way of playing this sport and so we have to acknowledge what mistakes we make, but w there's a lot of good that came out of this game. You're also talking to a center back and a goalkeeper and we just lost and any time we do lose we take it p quite personally. So, you know, we're two of people that are gonna look at it in a personal way and we're gonna watch film back, learn however we can fix whatever mistakes we made, and come back for the next week so that we can help lead this team in a different way.

Kate Hanson: And when you listen to this, I love what they said. And one of the things that we kept hearing over and over and over on the alt cast on Victory Plus was how Denver is not playing like an expansion team. And it's because of statements just like that. that is the goalkeeper and the center back telling you they're not panicking. They're gonna go home and they're going to learn from it. They're not spiraling. They're just going to recalibrate and fast. Because we have three games in a week now at home in front of our fans. Okay, so before I go into that game, let's talk about the no call. what happened with Lindsay Heaps in the box? So depending on who you're a fan of, there's a lot of different opinions on this no-call. I'm gonna give you my opinion on it, but what happened is heaps gets the ball on the left and she starts weaving through the box. You can see her setting her feet up before contact even comes. And the way she does, shifting the ball in front of her so she knows exactly where the defender's coming from. And she goes down between two Washington bodies. And live on the broadcast, I was like, yes, penalty shot. Here we go. Tie game. The whistle blows, points to the spot, and I thought, like I said, watching the game live, I was like, yes, we're tied. Janine Saunis is gonna finish this Because Saunas has been about as automatic as anyone from that spot all year. Then The referee jogs on over to the VAR monitor. Doesn't take long there either, which is never a good sign. Comes back. No foul. Overturned. And I've watched this replay more times than I probably should have. on my handy dandy laptop. Watched it slow-mo, all the things. And here's where I land. I don't love the no-call, but I get it. There's contact on both sides of Lindsay. Officials they call it live, VAR gets involved overturns Because heaps is the one who ends up on the ground. And the read is that going to the ground negates the contact. So you might say, wait, well, she was pushed. No, she was going to the ground before the the play happened. So when you have contact on both sides, the attacker goes down, that is a genuine fifty fifty in this league right now. I'm not calling it a robbery. I've seen worse takeaways, I've seen worse penalties given for a lot less. What I will say, and I'm not the only one that has noticed this, this is the second week in a row Denver's been on the wrong end of a marginal VAR call. Last week it was Janine Saunis that was denied a penalty, then conceding one at the other end almost immediately afterward. And this week it was heaps. I don't think that there's a conspiracy there, so don't come after me. I don't think anyone is trying to keep Denver down. I think that this is a team that is creating chaos in the box week after week And a review process that keeps unfortunately landing on the other side of the coin toss for us. And honestly, that right there is more of a story than the refs are out to get Denver. Is that this team is generating enough box activity to be in that position at all. Friends, that is progress. Even when the marginal call doesn't go your way, and we can't play a game where we're relying on penalty shots for us to win. I'd rather be the team drawing the 50-50 than the team that's never even in the box long enough to draw one. And Trinity Rodman could have had a penalty on her own in this game for what it's worth. I mean, Washington had their own waved off too. And usually that means the crew is being consistent. Even when it is so frustrating in the moment as a fan, I'd much rather have consistent officiating. And it was. I mean, even at the very, very end of the game there was that very similar no call that Natalie Means had on, I believe, Cantor at the very end. It could have again, that wasn't a very similar play that could have just been called they didn't call it for them. They didn't call it for us. That is consistent officiating. And as frustrating as it is, that beats a crew that's in your favor one week and then against you an X. So it's a consistent crew. Here's what Nick Cushing had to say post game, and honestly, this might be the most honest thing said in either the pregame or the postgame presser all week.

speaker-1: I've never had a season where I've been so dominant on the road. Seattle away, Utah away, tonight again away. Games where it's difficult place to come. These are top of the league, been in two finals. And I thought we were the better team. I thought it was pretty even, small margins in the first half. I said to the team at halftime, this is playoff football. This reminds me so much of a playoff game in MLS where both teams... first 20 minutes is just attacking. There's no real defending, just two teams attacking each other and I'm proud that my team's involved in that and I expect Washington Spirit to be involved in that because they're two-time finalists and top of the league, right? So to come here and join that and to be able to come out second half and dominate and... It's a great finish from Cantore. World class. You get world class finishes from world class players. So, we didn't win the game tonight.

Kate Hanson: yep. Yeah, that I mean that's Cushion giving Cantor her flowers while still being honest that his team should have won. He even cited his own numbers in the the same press conference. Thirty-five touches in Washington's box to Denver's twenty, four big chances created to Washington's zero. I mean we had all the tools to win that game against the number one team in the NWSL. That's the second game that we've had with Lindsay Heaps on the roster. Now I want to bring up something else. Remember the start of the season? How many red cards were flying around this league? Janine Saunis got one in the very first Denver Summit game. I felt like every week there was another one. And so I was curious. I was thinking, hmm, have the officials put the cards in their pocket. a little bit more since the break, since the start of the season. and compared to the start of the twenty twenty five season. So I went and I checked the research. Instead of just going off the vibe that it sure felt like an awful lot of red cards. And last year, to start the NWSL twenty twenty five season, now I get it, folks, there was two less teams. There was only 14 teams, so there's not gonna be as many opportunities. The stats are a little skewed. However, they're not skewed enough to the fact that there were three red cards in the first ten matches of twenty twenty five compared to thirteen. in 2026. Because that spike isn't what I'm watching right now. Since the break, there have been hardly any cards drawn. and Sunday night had two moments that live I thought were a minimum of a yellow. And nothing happened. So which is it? Did the league clean up its act after a rough opening stretch and after seeing what happened at the World Cup? Or did the whistle just go quiet and we're due for it to swing back? There's two very different scenarios there. I don't think that we know which one we're living in yet. but one thing I think is super interesting is how strict the official the officiating was at the beginning of the season compared to how it is now. And maybe that's why Denver is playing the way that they are, because we were getting some of those calls in the first ten games of the season. Now we're not getting those calls. So we're having to kind of shift some of our strategies and our runs and our plays. I'm gonna come back after the next set of games since the June break and just do a before and after. How many red cards were at the beginning of the season compared to now? Because it was crazy at the beginning of the year how many times we're seeing only ten players on the pitch. Okay. That's enough doom and gloom, am I right? So let's talk some good news. Devin Lynch signed an extension with Denver on july twenty third And it's I'm so excited for her because sh her contract was up at the end of this season. Now her contract goes through twenty twenty eight and there is a mutual option for twenty twenty nine. I love this signing because she's had a great season as a rookie. She's been asked to do a lot and we've seen some growing pains with her. However, she's grown. And if if you are a regular listener to the fifty two eighty pitch, well first of all, thank you, but you already know Devin Lynch. And she's because she's been on the show not once but twice. So if you want more details on her background, her playing up, what she's thought of playing in every game Go listen to those past two episodes. They're all it's all in there. In this episode I just wanna hit why this extension makes a ton of sense right now. So like I just said, she started every single match this season. And she's one of three rookies in this whole league to do that. Fifth among all NWSL rookies in minutes played, and second on Denver's entire roster. Rookie or not, I'm sure you guys can guess who is sitting at the the top. It's good old Iron Woman, Kaylee Kurtz. But any Devin Lynch leads the team, not rookies, the team. In interceptions, tackles won, duels one. Cushing's language in the press release when they announced her signing was very direct. He loves her drive, professionalism, competitiveness. She plays at a level that pushes the whole team forward. And when she started on Washington on Sunday, She played until the eighty-fourth minute. This the coach trusts her. And in the position that she plays, you need to have that trust. The job for a defensive midfielder is to show up, do a lot of the unglamorous stuff, and let your play speak for itself. And I think that with this extension, it did. Let's move on to the stadium because like I said we have three home games. And I know it feels like I've just been talking about the stadium a ton. You might be sick of stadium news. However, this is important. Denver's permanent home at Santa Fe Yards, we just got released last week a whole bunch of renderings. And it looks incredible. It looks so good. A lot of people are asking, why does it have an open end at the south end of the field that doesn't make any sense? I love that because it is a smaller stadium. It allows for the team to add seats. You always want to be able to have the opportunity to add seats. It's a lot easier to add than it is to take away. But we were all excited. and in that release, it still had the words that twenty tw the start of the twenty twenty eight season was the expected timeline for the grand opening of Santa Fe Yards. Well, not even forty eight hours later, there was another there's another release that came out that Sadly, the target has slipped. And delays tied to the whole city council vote and the land acquisition process The club no longer expected the stadium to be ready by the start of the twenty twenty eight season. The debut could be pushed closer to twenty twenty nine. Some others are still reporting that This is a little more optimistic construction schedules, you know, are still being finalized. and there's still the hope of hosting some twenty twenty eight game home games there. But I mean i the honest read is twenty twenty eight start of the season is no longer a safe bet. Twenty twenty nine is what I would lean towards, especially we saw with Centennial Stadium. It got delayed a few weeks because of weather. Same thing could happen at Santa Fe Yards. So I think start of 2029 is a realistic expectation. And I want to be fair here because this project, it totally deserves it. This would be the second purpose-built NWSL stadium in league history. after Kansas Cities. Populace is doing the architecture. Sid they were they are the ones that did the Common Spirit Performance Center. City Council, they've already approved up to seventy million in land acquisition and infrastructure. That's not small. This is very intentional, and Denver City Council does not move at expansion team speed. Feel like they they probably move closer to these contractors and insurance people that I'm dealing with for the whole fire thing. It's a little bit slower than what you'd like. A lot of hurry up and wait. I'd rather that though, and that they get the zoning and the funding right than rush it and then we end up with Concourses that are too small. centennial stadium problems on a building that's supposed to last for decades. And don't worry, we're gonna talk about Centennial Stadium in a second here. But I wanna talk about what Kansas City did before you get too frustrated about the delay here. The current didn't just go for a nicer building, they got a business that is entirely theirs. They got the naming rights, the concessions, premium seating. Every match day dollar staying in house instead of splitting it with a landlord. I've seen the comments, folks, that you li that have been left, like why can't they just stay at Dick's Sporting Goods? There's no reason for them to have their own stadium. There's already a soccer stadium. Different ownership groups, having to split things, having to pay a landlord. that is the real prize at the end of the Santa Fe Yards Road. A year's delay on getting that right is a much smaller cost than getting the entire stadium ownership structure wrong on a building that this club is planning on playing in for decades. So Centennial Stadium. Three games next week. Sunday, Wednesday, S Saturday. People were upset about the delay for the stadium happening, and we had to play those July 3rd and July twelfth matches over at Dicks. I get it. I I was frustrated to drive out there too. I was so excited to be at Centennial. and this is one of the things I want I keep reiterating. This building went from a dirt field to a stadium that is hosting NWSL matches. In a genuinely fast window. Not every game is going to be brutal midday heat of the summer heat. I get the Portland game was hot. I was there too. And I was right in the sun. There was zero wind. It was a scorcher. But I'm asking everyone to just give the venue a real season before you write the whole thing off. A lot of people I've I read a lot of comments about like, it it didn't feel any different than being at a high school stadium. Well a little bit. I I mean, and this will be used for high school athletics once they're done. So if you're heading out there for the first time over one of the next three games, this homestead, I'm gonna give you some insider tips. Book your parking well in advance. You know, the if you're driving, go ahead, pull over, go to the Denversummitfc.com page, book your parking. Don't just wing it and hope to find a spot when you're there. Be prepared for the heat. Yes, a bottle of water at a sporting event is expensive. It was eight dollars, I think, for a bottle of water. You can bring your own water in, and they didn't have actual bottle water bottle refill stations at this game. They just had the water fountains. Will that change before the next set of games? Maybe, who knows? But you can skip the water fountain blinds. There are hose spigots on the side of the building that the fountains are on. Walk on over to the host bigots and turn on. It's literally the same water. and if you're looking at the concession prices and saying, holy cow this is a lot, they have a three three menu, so three dollars and three cents if you don't want to blow your whole budget on concessions while you're there. look, I'm gonna be honest about the whole concessions thing too. I'm an Av season ticket holder. You've heard me talk about my Av's fandom on the show before. I know what stadium concession prices look like. I've made my peace with it a long time ago. Yeah, it's a lot, but that's professional sports. It I mean and you I maybe someone's gonna come after me and say, well at the Atlanta Braves games or at this game We're in Colorado at all the major league sporting events I've been to. If you're going to eat at the game, it's going to be expensive. And It's not a high school game. I'm I've gone to plenty of my daughter's swim meets over the summer and paid six dollars for Santiago's burrito. So I'm not gonna pret pretend that Centennial's pricing is some unique injustice. Plan for it, eat beforehand, you you know, go to the three three menu when you wanna save, enjoy the product that's on the field. Because what Denver's built here On this timeline is genuinely rare in this league. Most of this league has spent a decade renting other people's buildings. Denver went from an announcement to a functioning credentialed venue inside one calendar year. Now, that doesn't excuse every rough edge on opening weekend. There was no shade, the bath there weren't enough bathrooms, the concourse areas are narrow and tight. But Instead of just giving it a blanket verdict before the place has even played a full home stand, I think is unfair. So give it a few more games. Give it a game that's not a hundred and thirty eight thousand degrees in the middle of July. Go to a night game this week. Test it out. See how it is then. And then if there's still complaints, then we can kinda start putting all those ideas together and giving them to the club before they get started at Santa Fe Yards. That is one positive that we have out of all this. They they can learn from things here and be like, people really like having water refill stations. Let's make sure we have at least X amount throughout the Santa Fe Yard Stadium. Yeah, so I mean, these are things that we can learn from. But just give a little grace. Go to another game. So Where does that leave us? A loss outplays the score line. A no-call that I can live with even though I don't love it. And congrats to Devin Lynch. She has earned that extension game by game. And a stadium timeline that's getting a little bit more honest. I think that three years to build a stadium is a very realistic timeline. Two years was a little ambitious. But here's the part that stings. With me a little bit more than the box score. Denver did it. They held Washington, the number one team in the league, scoreless for the first sixty minutes. Second longest anyone's managed against the Spirit all season. Yeah. Pretty awesome. I'm proud of the fact that we were able to do that because again, we're still an expansion team. We have veteran leadership that is driving this team for wanting more. Denver did drop to 11th place with the loss, down from number 10. But, you know, Denver's finding out how fast that clock moves in the second half of the NWSL season. These next three games are huge for us. Kaylee Kurtz in the postgame presser actually put painted a better, bigger picture than I could. When someone asked her about the gap between chances created and goals scored. She said goal scoring is one of the hardest things to do in soccer, especially as a new franchise. You have to continue to figure out what works best, what combinations of people, what combinations of passes. That's not an excuse. That's that's accurate. it tracks with what I want to leave you with from Nick Cushing too.

speaker-1: It takes time. think to develop players takes time and we have to invest in the patience of developing players. You can see tonight the young players that we have are going to bring really good moments because of the work that they're investing in and the work that we're investing in. But this is the time you're going to see the inexperience. I can't fault any of our young players. Ioke tonight, incredible, a real threat through many moments, playing up against Trinity Rodman, world-class player. Liv Thomas is our number nine. Devon Lynch in the midfield. We bring Natalie Means on to deal with Trinity Rodman. For us it's about, we've got to be patient in these moments. We come here, we dominate. They're top of the league. We're really disappointed we didn't win. Out of spirit. Got to be patient because we've got a young team

Kate Hanson: in that Friday presser, he's telling you that his team's arrived. Twenty minutes after the loss, he's talking about patience and a young roster that's still learning who's igs and who's ags. Both things are true at once. That's honestly the most accurate read of where Denver is right now. They're good enough to dominate the number one team in the league. They're young enough that it still is costing them. Cushing said something in the pr in the pregame presser that predicted this whole night, honestly, before it even happened. He said that Denver's issue all season has been generating chances and not finishing them. That's what I talk about on the show, I feel like, every week. Wins on the road at Louisville and Gotham prove that this group can finish when the moment is real. Utah, Seattle, now Washington, those are the ones where they dominated. And they didn't get the number on the board. It's not a talent problem. We have constructed quite a roster. Denver is generating enough quality on the road to be one of the more dangerous away teams in the league on paper. But it's just a conversion problem. And conversion problems get fixed with reps. Not panicking. I'd be a lot more worried if this were a shot volume problem. We weren't getting enough shots out. But it isn't that. Three games at home for Denver. They start on Sunday night. We face our expansion rival, the Boston Legacy, who, man, how great would it be to have that game back? Those three points would be awesome right now. So let's beat the other expansion team, the Boston Legacy. And then we have that quick midweek turnaround. Then Saturday. Boston and North Carolina, those are both games that we should win because they are at the bottom half of the table. If we can win Boston and we can beat North Carolina, so at the Sunday Wednesday games, and be ready for that Utah game on Saturday, I that that this whole stretch is about as close to must-win as this club has faced all season. If the finishing turns around against these lesser defensive opponents, this week with Washington, Just a footnote. If it if we if we're not able to to win these three home games, that is a real conversation about where this se team's trajectory is for the rest of the season. I hope that this helped you make sense from that frustrating loss. I was super frustrated. I really, really wanted to see the summit get beat that top team since we just beat the Thorns. But I liked what I saw on the pitch. I thought that we're putting opportunities together is just growing pains, which sucks. but if this episode helped you make sense of that frustrating loss, go ahead. and send it to whoever you were sitting and watching the game with and they were yelling at the TV, send this to them and hopefully, you know, it helps it helps ease their pain a little bit. You can connect with me at fifty two eighty pitch dot com. Follow along on the socials at fifty two eighty pitch. and if you want to support the show directly, be sure to check out The merch for the show. We have some awesome hats and apparel, variety of colors. There's black with pink brims, navy, but the you know, this is summit green here. So support the show, check out the 5280pitch.com for all the fun merch. And thanks for riding with me. This was genuinely a chaotic week, and I'm really happy to be back with you guys. So thanks for joining me. We will see you on the next episode of the fifty two eighty pitch women's soccer at altitude.