Photo credit: Denver Summit FC
The girls in green beat the Chicago Stars, 6-1, in a record-breaking night at Centennial Stadium
Note: this piece originally appeared in inboxes on Sunday, August 30. Sign up for Nourse’s Notes here to get first access to newsletter stories.
In one gorgeous and glorious night at Centennial Stadium, all of the misfortune and poor results Denver Summit FC had endured in its inaugural season felt absolved.
For the first time in club history, the girls in green scored six goals in a 6-1 win over NWSL wooden-spoon dwellers Chicago Stars. Only one time this season has Summit FC amassed four goals in a single match, a 4-1 win over the Houston Dash in May. In one single night, Summit FC matched its goal total of the previous seven games, dating back to the Centennial Stadium opener against the Portland Thorns.
The question wasn’t a matter of who scored, but instead who didn’t.
Janine Sonis opened the night in the 13th minute with her ninth goal of the year, which puts the left back just outside the top five in NWSL scoring, where names like Trinity Rodman, Sophia Wilson and Barbra Banda reside. Her strike was a beauty from the top left of the box into the right side netting after Lindsey Heaps — who made her return after missing multiple weeks to knee swelling — played a wonderful dummy to set Sonis up.
Olivia Thomas and Yuzuki Yamamoto scored their first goals for Summit FC, and Tash Flint found the back of the net for the first time since that big win over Houston.
Finally, Melissa Kössler added a brace. The German international has struggled after lighting the league up in her first few matches this season. She hadn’t scored since an April loss to the San Diego Wave, and kept coming excruciatingly close to it. Finally, the monkey is off the back thanks to a first-half back-post header and a second-half front-post sneaky tap.
Coach Nick Cushing said the team had an “honest meeting” with the team on Wednesday about where it could improve, particularly in the front half of the field. In some ways, it boiled down to relationships and how after more than half a season, teammates are still learning about and connecting with one another after having (most of) everyone meet for the first time with the expansion side.
Each individual has goals for the season and in individual matches, he said. The important part, and perhaps the one piece missing before the Chicago game, is to focus on helping others achieve theirs.
“I’m a real believer in it’s a feeling when you click and connect. We had a conversation, especially with the attacking group around: Everyone knew MK was looking for a goal, Olivia Thomas wanted her first goal, Yuzuki wanted to be an attacking threat, and it hasn’t really happened,” Cushing said. “ So how do we help each other to help that happen? And tonight, you could see from the first moment there was a real intent to help each other to try and work and play together. The power of that is 6-1.”
Call this week a brand new beginning, because Cushing and Summit FC are calling the remainder of the regular season a separate 10-game season, mentally speaking, which started with Chicago. With nine games to go now, Summit FC sits in ninth place in the NWSL, just one point below the Seattle Reign for the last playoff spot.
There’s a significant gap between the final two playoff positions (KC Current in seventh with 34 points, Seattle in eighth with 28 points), so the fight for the league’s bottom half could solely be for that final spot. If Summit FC keeps the focus on helping the woman to her left or right, winning that race is certainly in the cards.
