Photo credit: Denver Summit FC
Denver remains in 10th place, out of a playoff position, but only four points separate it from sixth
For a moment, it seemed like the same excruciating script was unfolding for a third consecutive match for Denver Summit FC.
It’s crunch time in the NWSL playoff race, in which Summit FC is hanging on by loose threads. It had chances to perhaps vault into the sought-after eighth seed with only a few games remaining in the regular season. But it squandered both in the past week, earning two-goal leads against Angel City (ninth in NWSL) and Bay FC and then allowing comebacks for draws.
Fittingly, Summit FC went up a pair over the Seattle Reign with goals on either side of halftime but then conceded on an error by goalkeeper Abby Smith. After figuring out how to score en masse over the past five games or so, the goal-gluttonous Denver team’s newest evolution, naturally, is to more consistently hold onto leads. It did so on Saturday night to beat the Reign, 2-1.
“I think a deliberate demand on each other and on individuals to defend the game. You could see how hard the team is running to recover. Eva (Gaetino) and KK (Kaleigh Kurtz) and the two fullbacks were really engaged, but Seattle caused some problems,” Summit FC coach Nick Cushing said after the match. “…I thought we were really good for 65 minutes and I thought we gritted the last bit out, which is important for us chasing the playoff line.”
Delanie Sheehan opened the scoring with a cross-turned-shot in the 44th minute. From the right side of the box, she floated a ball to the opposite side, kissed the left post and it bounced in for her second goal of the season. She insisted it was indeed a shot while Tash Flint was sat beside her in the press conference, while joking that Flint couldn’t believe such a thing.
In the 50th minute, Flint got her sixth of the year on a no-doubter. Carrying the ball from left to right just inside the box, she ripped it into the top netting from about 15 yards out.
That made for 16 goals in five games for Summit FC. Coming into the match, 14 goals in four games was the most in any four-game stretch in the league since 2024, and set a record for expansion teams.
Earning all three points has eluded Summit FC recently, though, and it got nervy at times. Just four minutes after Flint’s wonder strike, Smith mishandled a cross she should have easily caught. It fell to Brittany Ratcliffe, who tucked it away with ease.
In this league, moments like that are where teams like Denver make or break playoff hopes. Three points to the good in that sense, having held on for the next 35 minutes to secure the win.
“Something we did speak about when they got their first goal, we did say, ‘Come on, we just need to switch on a little bit more,’ don’t be sloppy like we were,” Flint said. “I think we let the goal back in quite easy, to be honest. But I think it’s something we’re working on and it’s huge taking it into the game on the weekend. I think it’s what we all deserve, what we need and we’ll just keep pushing from that.”
With other results around the league this weekend, just four points separate the sixth-place North Carolina Courage from the 10th-place Summit FC. In its last five matches, Denver will play three of those teams sitting in that range, while the remaining two matches are against the two worst teams in the NWSL.
While encouraging, anything can happen. Three six-pointers and potential trap games against lesser competition are by no means a gimme. Three of the five matches are on the road, and recent history says the road form must improve.
“That pack is really tight now, and it’s going to be about which team can go on a bit of a run and which teams can try and put those wins together,” Cushing said. “…We know those games are important for us, but for now, it’s about the small details. We need to improve our road record, that’s one thing we want to do as a football club.
“…For us, it’s about taking the opportunity now. We’ve earned the right to be in that middle pack chasing for (No.) 8, 7. Players really, really want it, so now it’s just about trying to put it together.”
