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On Friday night, the Washington Spirit earned its first Challenge Cup title and second-ever trophy by defeating the reigning NWSL Champion Orlando Pride in a penalty shootout. After the trophy ceremony, Head Coach Jonatan Giráldez, goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury, and defender Casey Krueger spoke with the media.
Jonatan Giráldez, Head Coach
On what this match meant:
We wanted to try to give our best and win a title. We know these games are very tight as what happened today. Not having a lot of players available, I am very proud. It was very difficult to manage that, especially in the first half. In the second half I think we played better and created more chances.
On penalties:
Penalties are something we always like to do because we put in practice a lot of times in our training session. I am very happy because starting the season we can celebrate like we are doing today. I have to be very happy.
On Chloe Ricketts, who became the youngest player to start in an NWSL final (all competitions):
She helped us a lot. It was not easy for her completing against [Emily] Sams, one of the best centerbacks in the league. She’s improving a lot … Everything what I see in the training session I like a lot. She deserved to play today. It was not an easy game, but at the end of the day having the opportunity to play this type of game being so young is going to be important, especially for her evolution as a player because she will have a long career as a footballer.
On Leicy Santos, who scored on a free kick to tie the match:
We know she has a high quality finish. Today I’ very happy because she did a good job offensively, but especially defensively … I want to emphasize especially what she did out of possession because she did a good job defensively.
On the Spirit’s preparation:
We knew before coming here that this is one of the biggest teams in the league. They deserved what they did last season and are currently the best team in the league because they have an amazing roster. Also, when they get to play at home, it’s even a little more complicated [for us] … But the team was prepared … I think the starting point this season if we compare it with last season is much better … This season that starting point is higher so we were prepared to compete and understanding the situation playing away we have to do a smart game and have the proper mentality to cope with the pressure.
On coming from behind:
That’s the biggest situation that we were managing well last season. We showed good character when we played at home [in the playoffs] against Bay FC and Gotham. Today happened the same thing … In the second half, we did a good job, we deserved it, we scored the goal … Today, I have to be happy because the team performance was good enough to win today against he best team in the league.
Aubrey Kingsbury, Goalkeeper & Casey Krueger, Defender
On their takeaways from the match:
Krueger: I think just being down and being able to climb back into it—and also being down several players—shows the resilience of the group and how deep of a team we are. I think there are some big positives. Obviously not the prettiest game for us, but just being able to find a way was huge.
Kingsbury: I’m proud of us and the resilience that we’ve continued to show … It’s a good start to the season obviously. It’s crazy to win a championship with one match, but we’ll take it. We want to win trophies at this club, and this was the first opportunity [of the season]. I’m just really proud of us.
On what the Challenge Cup means:
Kingsbury: It’s a trophy at the beginning of the season when teams aren’t going to be their sharpest, but from the beginning as soon as we got together in January, we’ve been circling this date and knowing that this is our first match. It’s not a warm up to the regular season. This is the first opportunity for a trophy. Jona [Giráldez] really set the tone. He’s a crazy competitor and wants to win trophy, and he’s used to winning trophies. It’s the first he’s gotten here with the Spirit—hopefully many more to come. That’s kind of the mentality we’re taking into this season: It’s business. We came here to win.
On playing the Pride:
Kingsbury: We never beat Orlando last year, so it’s nice to finally get a win over them. It wasn’t necessarily a revenge match because it’s not like anything can change what happened in the final last year, but we’re focused on this year. We have a new team and a lot of exciting additions.
On if Kingsbury would have taken a penalty kick:
Kingsbury: I think they would rather have me focus on saving them, which is fair enough.
On coming from behind:
Kingsbury: We were hoping to be rid of that this year.
Krueger: It’s good to be able to come back no matter, to have that character and mentality. But yeah, we’d like to do the opposite here soon.
Kingsbury: Start strong and stay ahead is one of our goals for this year.
