Washington Spirit forward Trinity Rodman admitted to having performed below her expectations in the NWSL Championship final, where her team fell to Gotham FC by 1-0. Rose Lavelle’s goal in the 80th minute made the difference in the match. Rodman, who had been recovering from a right knee sprain for the last month, started the match on the bench and came on as a substitute in the 57th minute. His participation was limited and he failed to take any shots during the 33 minutes he played.
Rodman also mentioned that his knee “felt great”, but acknowledged that it wasn’t one hundred percent. This is the second consecutive time Rodman has reached the final dealing with an injury. Last year, she had back problems when the Spirit lost to the Orlando Pride, also by 1-0. Gotham wins the NWSL championship after a series of magical moments. The defeat in the final weighed heavily on the Spirit. Rodman couldn’t hold back the tears after the match. Rodman reflected on his limited playing time and physical condition, admitting that he didn’t feel in his best shape.I felt like I wasn’t myself tonight, which is terrible. I feel like this is the second year I’ve reached a final without feeling like myself. So it saddens me. But yes, for my part, I just tried to go out and do what I could. I definitely didn’t perform as I hoped.
Trinity Rodman
Now, the question is whether this was Rodman’s last game with the Spirit, or even in the NWSL. It has been reported that she has lucrative offers from England and the USL Super League. The match, as is often the case in finals, was intense from the start, with solid defenses and few scoring opportunities. The decisive moment came with Lavelle’s goal, although Bruninha was fundamental in the assist. Hal Hershfelt, midfielder for Washington, suffered a leg injury and received treatment before returning to the field. Spirit coach Adrian González admitted that, in retrospect, he should have substituted Hershfelt.It was sad, and you feel like you have your team throughout the year, but sometimes you just need external support, and Ben is that for me. So I was crying. I’m sad. It’s horrible and it’s not just that we lost a soccer game. It’s all the work we put in and it’s nice to get that reward at the end, but at the end of the day we can still celebrate because we did a lot.
Trinity Rodman
Goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury, who was also on the Spirit team that lost the 2024 final, expressed her disappointment at losing the final for the second year in a row.Obviously, we were receiving information that [Hershfelt] wanted to continue and was trying to, so the message was that she was about to start. Obviously it took longer than we expected, but a player like her always wants to play, and I imagine that in a final you always want to play, and you don’t want to be substituted.
Adrian González
I think it’s a big impact because this group completely believed we were going to win. There really wasn’t any scenario where we weren’t going to lift that trophy today. So yeah, it definitely hurts. I think it was a great final, it came down to a moment of brilliance from Rose Lavelle, and yes, I’m very proud of the season we’ve had and the way we played. But we fell a little short on the day.
Aubrey Kingsbury
