Chicago Red Stars Vs Washington Spirit: 3 things we learned

2. Lavelle, Hatch star

Back in March, the game Doom Eternal was released, a game associated with the phrase: ‘Rip and Tear’. Washington Spirit coach Richie Burke must have taken that to heart with the tactics he sent his team out with. After the game, he said that his team wasn’t really able to play the sort of game they wanted, but the game they did play was effective, and it ran through two players: Rose Lavelle and Ashley Hatch.

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Hatch and Lavelle combined to meticulously tore the Red Stars defense apart. Hatch spent her entire game pressing high, constantly forcing errors and causing turnovers. Then, Lavelle simply did what she does best and bounded forwards with pace and power from midfield.

Hatch’s intense hustle was especially brilliant. She worked tirelessly and ran the hard yards, efforts that often go overlooked. Washington deserved to win by more but Alyssa Naeher. made several good saves to deny them.

The goals that were scored stemmed from Hatch’s work-rate. For the first goal, she stretched the defense and pulled open a pocket for Lavelle to run onto. For the second, it was her tenacity to continue pressing Naeher that forced the error. She was the best and most impactful player on the pitch, and it all came from here intense pressing.