Six Games to Save the Season: Bay FC 2-2 and Seattle Next

Katie: But like it the reality of the frustration is because it's there, right? The game is there, the game is won and should be dead and buried. But you see it all over sport, right? Especially in soccer, 2-0 goes to 2-1, and all of a sudden it's like, my well, we might draw this. And we should just go and win the game. So it's something we'll talk through, it's something we'll look at. the team is the intent of the team and the commitment of the team is there. I can't fault the performance. I asked tonight for intensity. And for seventy five, eighty five minutes, we've destroyed a team from our league.

Kate Hanson: Dead and buried. That's our head coach after Wednesday night, and he is right. We were up 2-0 at home. We took 18 shots, we put 10 on target, and we walked away with one point. Seven. That's how many missed points we have given away this season from two goal leads. San Diego, Angel City, Bay. We've got 32. should have 39. so as I sat there on Wednesday night in the 95th minute, I thought to myself, how could they let this happen? Welcome back to the 5280 Pitch Women's Soccer at Altitude. I'm Kate Hanson Seattle is here Saturday. So you're getting the Bay recap and the preview in one episode. And I want to start at that 95th minute because that's where I got angry. I was frustrated. I literally put my head in my hands. It was 2-1, fifth minute of stoppage time. Bay FC came into Centennial Stadium with six wins all season. And Nick called them a team that's probably just playing out the year. We are one clearance from three points. Three very important points. The ball ends up at the back post, And Taylor Huff is standing there, wins it away from Yuzu and suddenly it is 2-2 and we are out of time. From where I was sitting, because remember, I was there with my daughter's soccer team. They walked out for the mascots for that game. And from where I was sitting, we were right behind the goal. And I got to see the whole thing happen very clearly right in front of me. And it it was a mess in our box. And we didn't deal with the mess. When that ball got to the back post, Yuzu was the only one of ours there. She was the only Denver Summit player there. And Yazuki Yamamoto came on in the seventy eighth minute for Tosh. I want to be fair to her. She's she's not the whole story, but somebody has to clear that ball. You get it out, you get it anywhere, and the game is over. And here's the detail that makes it worse for me. That goal, like I said, it came in the ninety-fifth minute, There was seven minutes of stoppage time. essentially we had two more minutes left to try and get something. What happened is in that stoppage time, that seven minutes of stoppage time, we ran out of concentration with time still on the clock. The bigger question isn't one player though. Why is one person covering the back post in the 95th minute when we're protecting a lead, a very important lead that would have given us three points? We treated stoppage time like garbage time. Bay treated it like opportunity time. They had nothing to lose. So they threw bodies forward until something dropped. here's our co captain Janine Sonas on how that felt.

Katie: but it's gotta be a learning game. It's tough to continue to have to learn these lessons. I said that these ties are taking years off my life 'cause it's genuinely what it feels like. And in a playoff race that's as close as this one, we really need to be picking up points in these games, especially when we're dominating opponents. So yeah, I'm feeling really frustrated, but trying to see the positives in that for about eighty minutes of that game we really were in control.

Kate Hanson: These ties are taking years off of my life too. Janine said it, and every one of us watching it felt it. And listen to what she says we actually did wrong.

Katie: It's just a matter of trusting our game plan because when Nick always says it don't get tired of doing the simple things and you know, when we're missing clearances and getting to the ball a little bit late and, you know, not clearing the back line with our clearances, teams build in confidence and they just kept throwing numbers forward and you know, it's dangerous to play against a team that feels like they've got nothing to lose in a game. and that's what we were facing in that last fifteen, twenty minutes.

Kate Hanson: Missing clearances, getting to the ball late, not clearing the back line. That's our co-captain describing the exact problem that we all saw unfold in those crucial final minutes of a game that we should have won. But think about what it means. They knew this last Friday in Los Angeles too. It it happened again five days later. I will give credit where credit is due. Huff, man, she she was she helped on the assist and she scored the game winner. She had herself a night. But and on we let her have it. She finished with three shots and four chances created, which was more than anybody on either team. She did most of that damage after the hour mark when we stopped putting pressure on the ball. And consider who did it to us. Again, Bay FC has scored 24 goals in 24 games this season, which is one of the quietest attacks in the entire league. and they got two of them out of us inside of 22 minutes. That is not a team that solved us tactically. That is a team that kept throwing balls into a box where nobody was picking anybody up. That goal wasn't bad luck. It was 30 minutes of letting a struggling team believe. go ahead. Watch the replay of the game. Rewind it to the hour mark and you'll see what I mean. through the first 60 minutes, We took about 15 shots worth about three and a half expected goals. And we scored twice. From the 61st minute on, we took three shots. Three. I can if you guys can't tell, I'm a little fired up. We took three. Three in more than half an hour. Worth less than a tenth of an expected goal combined. That's the same game, same opponent. We went from creating three and a half goals worth of chances to creating nothing. And I want to be clear about how good that first hour actually was Because it's easy to lose sight of in the frustration. We had 35 touches inside their box to their 22. We put 17 crosses to their seven. And in the final third, we completed 73% of our passes to their 59. Janine alone had 74 touches and nine crosses from left back. KK completed 51 passes. That is a team controlling a game in somebody else's half. Bay went the other way. For the first 60 minutes, eight shots and no goals. In the final 30 minutes, four shots and two goals. And there's a moment right before it turns that I keep replaying. The 60th minute, we win a corner. Off that one sequence, we get four shots worth almost a full expected goal on their own. Silkowitz makes the saves. She finished with seven saves on the night. She had herself a game. She is playing some incredible keeper right now. One of those shots go in and it's three nothing and we are not having this conversation. None of them did, and after that corner, our attack disappeared. Bay won the ugly stuff too. Sixteen tackles to R five, thirty duels to R nineteen. That tells you who wanted it more once the game got messy. I also want to talk about the subs. The subs are the other thing that I've been seeing show up a lot on social media and on Reddit. So Bay made three changes in the 63rd and 64th minute. Fresh legs, more direct, numbers forward. We made our subs in the 68th. Liv came on for MK. Iowoke came on for Natalie Means who Natalie Means had a great night. MK led us with four shots. Natalie had the assist on the opener. Those two came off at the same time. Five minutes later, Hutton scores. In the 78th, Delaney Sheehan came on for Devin Lynch and Yuzu came on for Tosh. Are four subs combined for one shot the rest of the night? Now this isn't a pattern. This is the first time that we've seen something like this happen. This isn't a Nick's sub are a disaster storyline. But in this game, our changes gave us nothing, and theirs gave them everything. And to his credit, Nick didn't hide behind the rotation. He said the Friday to Wednesday turnaround forced changes to the lineup and that it's on those players to come in and play ready. I'd rather have that than excuses. It's the next part where I push back.

Katie: This one tonight is a very, very simple one. We'll see this a hundred times over in in the game of soccer. We had enough chances to win two games. And if you don't put an opponent away, gives them something to fight for at the end, and they go two strikers and they throw the ball on the back line. And in the end, you end up feeling like you're hanging on in a game where we dominated for eighty five minutes.

Kate Hanson: enough chances to win two games. Agreed. He also said twice that he can't complain about performance. We didn't dominate for eighty five minutes. We dominated for sixty and then tried to coast and hope for the clock to run out. You don't get to coast when you're chasing a playoff spot. And if this were the first time, I'd have called it a bad night and I'd move on. We've led by two goals in eight games this year. We've won five of them. The other three got away. April 25th, that was San Diego at home. Last Friday at Angel City, up 3-1, we ended up drawing that game. And then last night went. And then Wednesday, up 2-0. We ended up drawing 2-2. Three from the loss, two from each draw. That's seven points. And two of those three collapses came in five days. I want you to also go back and look at the clock on them. Across the last two games, we've conceded three goals between the 63rd and 74th minute. Same window in back-to-back games. and here's what actually frustrates me about it. This team knows how to close. Five times we've gone up to and finished the job. Chicago, Gotham, Houston, Orlando, and then hot Gotham again. It's not a can't. It's a don't some nights. And Nick actually separated the two draws this week. And I thought I thought that was interesting. He said that at this stage of the season, with how this new group is, the Angel City point on the road is one that he'd take even at 3 1 up while admitting that a mature team will win that game. Wednesday, he said was was different. Wednesday was simple. You have chances to put a team away at home and you don't take them and you hand them a reason to keep running at you. Nick also said something post game that I've been chewing on since.

Katie: Yeah, I don't think we play down to lower teams because you w we beat Chicago, right? What I do think is you're right, is we'll let lead slip. And that is an in-game mentality and an in game focus that we have to fix. You know, there's probably what, four times that I can recall we've gave away two nil leads. There's many times Houston at home, right? One nil up, one one, two one up, two two. That ultimately could be the the thing that hurts us getting above the line.

Kate Hanson: The other thing that I keep coming back to was standards. And he was blunt about it. He said you don't get gifted three points in this league. And it's true. We've seen that time and time again. Anybody can beat anybody and that what he demands is expectations that this group puts on itself and on each other. he said that only the players know what their own preparation and focus looked like going into Wednesday night against a team that's near the bottom. Folks, that is a coach telling you politely that the problem started before kickoff. This game was a learning lesson. Nick called it that, Janine called it that. Wednesday night. At some point, the lesson has to show up on the field. Saturday is the best possible time. there's been a lot of discussion over on the socials again with about the goalkeepers conversation. And a lot of people are calling for Kat Asman back in goal. And I understand why. Abby Smith has started twenty-one of our twenty-four games. Kat, who's here on loan, has started three. And those three came while Abby was out. So Portland, Chicago, and Gotham. Two goals were allowed in those three games. Then Abby comes back and we give up three at Angel City and then two at Bay. On the surface, I get it, it's an easy call. well, Abby's not stopping as many shots as Kat was. And I want to be clear that Kat earned every bit of the goodwill that she's got. Her hardest night was the one that we lost at Portland, where she faced 16 shots and four big chances and made five stays. The only goal that beat her came from Sophia Wilson. Kat has been excellent in the minutes that she's been given. And if something happens on Saturday, I'm not going to be sitting here worried that we have a backup keeper going in. I'm with Abby. And it might be an unpopular opinion. I think these last two games are on the defense. And here's the evidence. So in Kat's three games, opponents averaged about 10 shots and a little over one expected goal. They got 15 touches a game in our box. In Abby's last two games, opponents averaged 15 shots and more than two expected goals. That's double the chance quality, and their touches in our box nearly doubled two to 29 a game. A goalkeeper doesn't control how often the other team gets into her box. That's on the back line, the midfield, everybody in front of her. Angel City alone created more than three expected goals against us last Friday, which is the most anybody has managed against us in this five-game example. And it's not even close. And I want you to keep in mind too, Angel City is a very good team, but Kat in the summit. We weren't facing slums either when she was in net. We had number one seed at the time, Gotham. We had Portland top of the table. Those are two very good teams, too. For what it's worth, Abby had more than 19 recoveries against Bay. More than any player on the field. She was sweeping up behind a back line that kept letting balls run through. That is not the stat line of a keeper standing around and just watching. Now, y'all know I'm a bit of a homer with the standards. So here's the part that does not help Abby. So She's about half a goal below average in each of the last two. shree saves on six shots on target at Angel City. Three on five at against bay. and Huff's Equalizer was rated as a shot that Abby could have had. So no. Abby hasn't been at her absolute best. But we're talking about roughly one goal across five games against completely different opponents. The only fair head-to-head we have is Portland and Gotham, where each of them played. Kat saved nine of ten, Abby saved six of seven. So if we're looking at comparisons of equally of the see in the same team, the one goal that was scored in each of those games was by Sophia Wilson So that's a fun fact. But this is Abby is a keeper who made the league's best 11 for March. She's won a championship with Portland and with Gotham. You don't bench that over two games where the defense gave up twice as many chances. Kat has been good and I am so thankful that we have her. But if you're fixing this team before Saturday, you don't start in goal. You start with the players in front of her. Fix the clearances, cover the back post, let Abby play. And for all of that, don't let anybody tell you Wednesday was a bad night. For an hour, it was some of the best soccer the Denver Summit have played. Lindsay Heaps, has now scored in back-to-back games. Wednesdays came off of a pass from Natalie Means and that was Natalie Means' first career assist. how cool too that Lindsay assisted Natalie on Natalie's first goal and then Natalie's first assist comes to a Lindsay goal. I think that's kind of fun. But so listen to how Janine describes these goals because it matters for what we just talked about.

Katie: Yeah, I mean it's she's obviously a fantastic player. That doesn't even need to be said, but to have her now contributing from a statistical point of view and you know, she makes everything look so easy and the two goals that she scored the goal at the weekend and the goal tonight are are veteran goals to score. Get in at the back post. That'll be the easiest goal. She'll score all season. And she just does the little things right all the time.

Kate Hanson: Veteran goals. Get in at the back post. The easiest goal that she will have all season. And Janine continues her MVP caliber run. she's now double digits and fourth on the Golden Boot Race. At left back. Just sit with that. Fourth in the golden boot. She's having an incredible year. Nick knows exactly who is carrying this thing.

Katie: And has been all season, right? Lindsay Heaps is two in two now. Yaz Ryan has been creating goals for this team throughout the season. now it's about what what what you can bring and what we can bring. And we've shown that we can win big football games here. We can beat Utah and we can beat Portland and we can beat Gotham. So we can definitely beat Seattle, but it's gonna be the the version of the of us that comes.

Kate Hanson: Lindsay, two and two games. Yaz, creating all year. We have scored multiple goals in four straight games now. Six on Chicago, three in Gotham, three at Angel City, two against Bay. And we lead the entire league with twelve goals scored between the forty-sixth and sixtieth minute. We come out of halftime flying. The attack right now is not the problem anymore. It's the last 30 minutes. The last 30 minutes are the problem. So, how do we make sure this doesn't happen on Saturday? When Seattle comes to town, we face them at 6.45 p.m. Mountain Time. The game will be on ion. And the math on this is brutal in the best way. So Seattle has 37 points. man, Wednesday didn't help us at all. We have 32. Seattle continues to hold that last playoff spot, and Angel City is now just a point behind them. If we win on Saturday, We are two back with everything in front of us. If we lose, it it's just about all but over, folks. If you haven't checked out my playoff tracker, I made a really fun playoff tracker that you can see at the 5280pitch.com. Click on the tab that says playoff tracker, and you can see all the different scenarios of what has to happen with that week's NWSL games to help the summit make the playoffs. There's only six games left. After Seattle, it's Kansas City, Chicago, Angel City, Louisville, North Carolina. Three of those six are at Centennial. So this is not a season where we've got ten more chances to figure out how to close out a game. We've got six. and two of the teams chasing that eighth spot in the table, are on that list. So Angel City just beat Seattle. And it's actually pretty interesting. So they beat them on set pieces. So a penalty and then an unmarked header off of a corner right before halftime. Remember our corner in the 60th minute? Four shots coming off of that one set piece? Hey, that's an opening. What that tells me is this is a team that you can hurt from a dead ball. And it's a team whose legs are going to be a question by the 70th minute because they've been on the road since Tuesday. And they're finishing a stretch of three games in eight days at altitude. so for Seattle, who I'm watching is Sofia Huerta, who is A defender, she scored in back-to-back games. She had a penalty against Bay and a long-range strike and stoppage time Wednesday, and she just became the third player in club history to hit 10,000 regular season minutes for Seattle. Jess Fishlock hit the post against Angel City and has been scoring in this league for forever. If she gives if you give her too much space around the box, she is going to punish you for it. And then their bench, Brittany Ratcliffe, she came on against Bay in the 89th minute and scored three minutes later. After what happened on Wednesday, I am watching every late substitution with my heart in my throat. One final number for you. Seattle has scored in fifteen straight matches, Which is a club record. The last time that these two played was on April 4th. It seems like a lifetime ago. But it finished 0-0. And that was a completely different Denver team in a completely different part of the season. Lindsay hadn't arrived yet. Janine wasn't leading the league's defenders in scoring, and we were still figuring out what this group looked like. If you've only got room For one game this month, and you want to see how far this team has come in five months, this is a must-watch game. So what needs to happen is simple and it's not tactical. We need to win. Not a draw, not take the positives, not learn another lesson, win. And the test is the same one we failed twice this week. If we go two up, the game ends there. if we're if we're ahead in the ninetiet, every ball in our box gets cleared and every back post gets covered. the second thing I'm gonna be watching is the start of the second half. We lead the league in goals between the 46th and 60th minutes, which means we come out of the tunnel with a plan and execute it. If we do that to a team that is playing playing its third game in eight days at altitude, you can have this game decided. Nick thinks that they're capable of it. And so do I. Friends, we can definitely beat Seattle. Just like we could have definitely beat an Angel City and Bay. Here is my prediction. 3-2 Denver. And yes, I hear you. Kate, you're picking them to give up two goals again? I am. Seattle has scored in fifteenth straight. I don't think that it's going to stop on Saturday, but I think that we score three. This attack is too good, they're clicking, and I think this group is sick of the word lesson. So yes, Denver Summit 3, Seattle Rain 2. the game is at 645 on Saturday. It's at Centennial Stadium. Get your tickets, get out there. If you can't be there live, watch it on Ion. If you like this episode, please hit subscribe, leave a review, and share it with somebody. That is the biggest thing you can do for an independent show like this one. And it's how more people find women's soccer. Be sure to connect with me on Instagram, threads, Facebook at 5280Pitch. That's where all the injury, the game news, everything happens there first. Sign up for the newsletter at 5280pitch.com and like I said before, check out the Denver Summit playoff tracker. What needs to happen in all the games that could potentially affect the summit making the playoffs. And look, this week stunk. Two leads, four points gone. And as you could tell from the first part of the episode, I'm still mad about it. But that first hour on Wednesday, that team that we saw, that's a playoff team. That's the team I've watched all year. They will get this right for Seattle. I really think they will. Thank you so much for watching. I'm Kate Hansen. This is the 5280 Pitch Women's Soccer at Altitude. I'll talk with you soon.