The Washington Spirit tallied their fourth straight win, topping the defending champion Gotham FC 2-0 behind goals from Croix Bethune and Ashley Hatch and the club’s first clean sheet of the season. After the match, interim Head Coach Adrián González, Trinity Rodman and Croix Bethune met with the media for their reaction to their performance.
Interim Head Coach Adrián González
On how the players have implemented his style of playing
“The results are just a consequence, to be honest. I see them training every day. The desire that they have to learn, to improve, and to be better. To be honest, I’m not surprised because they are hungry. They want to learn, and they are doing an amazing job during the week. You never know because you can win or you can lose, but I’m so happy that they are having these results. In terms of building their confidence, I think it’s important if you can build a new project and also have the results. The results for me now are not that important because we are building something long-term. It’s a process. We know that it’s gonna take time. This is just the beginning, but I am very happy with the way they are training and the way that they are competing for sure.”
On how close the team is to where he wants them to be
“Far away. They have no limits. I’m going to push them every day because they want to be better and they want to improve. We still have a lot of things to improve. A lot of talent to show but we are building that already and I think that now we are starting to build something really powerful but our mindset is that everything can improve. They are humble too. We are all ready to improve and I hope that the team can improve in the future.”
On complicating the game for Gotham
“We’ve been working on that, especially during the first 15 to 20 minutes just figuring out what we wanted to do. Emotionally, and also some behavior in terms of tactics, we wanted to play in their half as much as possible. Try to play simple and a little bit more vertical to try to avoid easy mistakes and we didn’t want to concede corners or falls. I think we did a pretty good job. We had the chance to press them high and that was the thing that we wanted.”
On keeping the other team away from Croix Bethune
“We are just starting to build those situations where players can recognize those spaces and they can make those rotations and they can identify where we want to progress. I think she’s very intelligent and she can identify those spaces very well. After a few months, when we knew which spaces we wanted to occupy when we attack, we are now starting to be more fluid. She did an amazing job today again and gave a really good performance.”
Croix Bethune
On being able to set herself up for a shot against Gotham
“It all started off of Andi Sullivan’s pickup from defense. So, of course, we need defense to win games and for her to pick it up and us switching, it made a real difference. We were able to beat the player and strike it into the back of the next.”
On her connection with Casey Krueger during the match
“Casey is very technical, has a lot of speed, and can see the game very well. When we were switching to the other side, it opened up space for us to get to the ball and connect, while finding their weakness.”
On anticipated adjustment to a professional soccer career
“I had the confidence I would do well because I’ve been playing soccer for so long. So, this is just another step of my journey that I was ready to take.”
Trinity Rodman
On switching to the left side 20 minutes into the game
“No matter what team we play, we’re looking to see what side we can expose them on. For me and Croix, that was the left side. We had set up on the right and weren’t as successful but when we moved to the left, we had several plays and had the opportunity. For us, it’s just statistics to see who is playing where and how they’re defending. Their right back was going very high, so that left room for us to attack.”
On Bethune’s success as a midfielder
“She sees the game and having midfielders who have the confidence to hold the ball and see things is really important. Sometimes, we’re trying to go forward too quickly and holding onto the ball for too long. I think she sees the game really well and is just confident on the ball, which is exactly what we need in the middle. At the end of the day, execution is everything, and she’s doing that, too.”
On change in performance this season
“Confidence has been the biggest thing for me changing my game, and it’s not just individual confidence. We all have confidence in each other, and I think you see that we’re always pushing together and no one is ever going alone. We’re a family, we’re a team, and we’re gonna work together.”
