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On Saturday night, the Washington Spirit handed the Orlando Pride its first home loss in over 600 days thanks to a second half goal from Gift Monday. After the 1-0 victory, Head Coach Jonatan Giráldez spoke to the media about the Spirit’s tactical adjustments, limited player availability and the brewing rivalry with the Pride. Captain Aubrey Kingsbury, who made her 150th regular season appearance, and defender Tara McKeown also sat down to provide their thoughts on the team’s third straight shutout and how they shut down Orlando’s prolific attack.
Jonatan Giráldez, Head Coach
On Gift Monday:
She’s a good player, and I know her from a long time ago in the last three seasons that she was playing in Spain. I know that this season [with Tenerife] she’s been scoring a lot of goals, playing as a striker … [For her first start] against an amazing team—that in I don’t know how many games, they didn’t lose here at home—she did pretty well … I’m very happy for her because it was not an easy job today playing the first game and not having too many players available today. So scoring that goal, I think, is going to increase her confidence for the rest of the season.
On the brewing rivalry with Orlando:
They will have more desire, you know, next time that they face us to beat us. Today, they did a good job. I mean, they played so well. They created chances to score. They could have scored some goals, but at the same time, we did a good job, defensively especially. We identified the moment that we could be aggressive at the possession, and we were defending the box I think pretty well. I have to review the game again to see exactly what happened during the game, but they are an amazing team. It’s so difficult to defend them. It’s very difficult to defend Marta, playing between the lines, having free movements, [their] attacking is very difficult to defend. [Barbra] Banda, [Ally] Watt, in the second half [Prisca] Chilufya coming inside, Angelina. It’s an unpredictable team. It was very challenging for me to prepare this game, but I am very happy because we got the three points.
On the shutout:
It’s the third game [this season] that we’re with the goal at zero. It’s good news, very good news. I think that gives us confidence and it also gives us meaning to everything we’ve been working on during the week, understanding the things we do so that the team can win games … I’m very proud of them because the times we’ve changed [the defensive strategy], their adaptation has been super fast, and I think that’s very important for the team’s growth.
On limited player availability:
The more players we have available, the better. It’s true that this week has been a very rare week, very difficult to be able to prepare in terms of availability. We know that there are many players who may be ready, but we don’t want to force any because we are still in the early moments of the season. What I like the most is the way the team competes. That is, there is no one player who is essential—we all have the ability to compete no matter what happens. I think that’s the most important to see, the positive side of this whole game, knowing how few games we had to play today, but how well we competed as a team and how we got three points.
Goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury
On the first half:
We’re used to them sitting in more of a low block, not really pressing us high, but this time they kind of played a little higher with Banda and Marta … so it took us a little bit to adapt. I think we eventually found some space … I was busy, but a lot of it just came from bad decisions and turnovers where then we’re kind of scrambling and giving them good opportunities.
On the second half:
We came out of the second half, made a tactical formation change that really helped us keep more possession. We’re a little more aggressive. Obviously, Monday on the high press there got us a goal, and after that, we kind of sat back a little bit more, played conservative and just defended for our lives. I think we did a great job of winning our duels, defending the box, clearances and just doing whatever we had to keep the ball out of the net. It’s a tough place to play. Orlando’s a great team, and yeah, we had to really work for that one tonight.
On Orlando’s equalizer which was called back:
Yeah, I knew it was coming back. A corner kick in-swinger and a girl kind of pushing me into the goal, so I couldn’t catch and hold it or i would have fallen into the net. I had to kind of bat it away while I’m being pushed back and couldn’t really get too much power on it … I immediately went to [the ref] and said, “they’re backing me into the goal. You can’t do that.” Then I grabbed the ball, and I put it on the goal kick. So glad they got that one right. [Orlando is] a physical team, and I think we did a good job to match them.
On what a victory over Orlando means:
This is huge. I think we’ve seen that Orlando and Kansas City [Current] especially are setting themselves ahead of the pack in terms of just [being] dangerous attacking teams, scoring lots of goals, and I believe they were undefeated before this. So anytime we play them, it’s an important match in terms of the standings. So that’s huge, especially to win on the road. It’s a hard place to play. We didn’t have the [deepest] roster available today, so just really proud of our players and everyone who came in today and made an impact.
On the developing rivalry between the two teams:
They’re a top team. I don’t think we beat them at all last year, so it was great to win the Challenge Cup and kind of turn that momentum around—I think that gave us some confidence. Then this time, coming back to Orlando and having a good memory here, we knew it was going to be a fight. That was kind of like our word for the day is fight. We know they’re physical, and so we came, we matched that. It wasn’t the best soccer, but I think when you have these games against the top teams in the league, it’s going to take a little bit more than just quality soccer. You’ve got to bring some energy, bring some fight, and have a little luck which was on our side today.
On the depth of the Spirit:
The strength in this team is just the sum of the players, and we’ve always had a strong sense of togetherness and camaraderie … There’s a lot of people that we wish were out there on the field with us—and hopefully some will be getting back soon here—but everyone who’s got an opportunity to play has stepped up and done really well. We’re just increasing our depth, and we have a really big squad now of players who can step in, play different roles and be asked to do different things just depending on the opponent in the game. So, yeah, really proud of just our versatility, and the overall just fight and togetherness.
Defender Tara McKeown
On the first half:
Definitely not really how we wanted to play in the first half, but to be able to get to halftime with a 0-0 slate and then stepping up big in the second half, I think was great for us. These are the type of games that you’re going to face towards the end of the season, so to deal with that now I think was really big for our team and how we were able to keep it 0-0 until we got that goal.
On playing on the left side:
I think it was just the personnel we had on the field, so we kind of had to switch up my positioning, and we wanted to build up with the back three. Being more on the left side, I think there wasn’t as many opportunities to go forward, so just finding like the free pass. I know that I gave the ball away too many times, so I wasn’t very happy about that. I think once we got settled into the game, I was able to find the open pass and we were able to break their line a little better.
On the Spirit’s defensive tactics so far:
I think it’s great. [Orlando has] a lot of great players on the front line, so being able to limit those threats with whatever tactics that Jona gives us throughout the week, I think is really great, and it seems to be working for us. I’m just really happy about that and happy to have a clean sheet against Orlando when they’ve been doing well this season so far.
On defending Barbra Banda:
I want to be locked in the whole game and don’t want to get beat by anyone. I kind of treat it the same way, but definitely have to go in a little harder against her.
On securing the shutout:
It feels great, honestly. That’s what we strive for as a defense. Our attackers want to score, and we just want to keep the goals out of our net. So to be 0-0 or 0-1 against a team like that is amazing, and I feel like the way that we’ve been going this season and getting shutouts more than we did last season feels great.
On the versatility of the team:
We have a lot of depth, and that’s what Jona really harps on throughout the week: everyone being ready and everyone knowing the tactics and being prepared for when they do have to step up. Like today, we had a lot of people step up in roles that maybe they haven’t played before.
