The entirety of the Spirit match against the Breakers last night could easily be summed up in one question–Is this real life?
In 94 minutes there were three penalty kicks, five yellow cards, one straight red card, and even an scuffle involving the referee. Ultimately that mayhem resulted in a 3-3 draw between the Washington Spirit and Boston Breakers.
Just three minutes into the start of the match Jazmine Reeves attacked the Spirit goal with Niki Cross trailing just behind her. Cross appeared to fall and take down Reeves with her as Reeves was headed straight into the six-yard box. The referee Dimitar Chavdarov immediately pointed to the spot of the foul and awarded a penalty kick. Heather O’Reilly stepped up to take the kick for the Breakers and easily converted as Ashlyn Harris guessed left, while O’Reilly went right.
In the 7th minute Ali Krieger brought down Nkem Ezurike in the box to give Boston their second penalty kick. O’Reilly stepped up again as she went to the left while Harris guessed right. Boston lead the Spirit 2-0 after the first seven minutes of the match.
The Spirit had the better of play throughout most of the first half. Jodie Taylor broke through for the Spirit in the 28th minute when she headed in a cross sent in from the far left touchline by Lisa DeVanna to put the score at 2-1.
Boston struck against just before the start of first half stoppage time. Reeves was once again racing with the ball into the penalty box with Crystal Dunn chasing just behind her. Dunn slipped as both entered the box providing Reeves with enough space to get a clear shot past Harris.
Heading into half it seemed unlikely that the Spirit would be able to come back from the two goal deficit. Whether it was poor decision making, questionable calls from the referee, or just bad luck the Spirit didn’t look like much would break their way.
Notably, Spirit assistant coach Lloyd Yaxley was sent off following an exchange with a referee following the end of the first half.
Meanwhile, the Breakers went into halftime with considerable confidence. The last minute goal from Reeves was important from both a scoreline perspective, but the goal was also important because it showed that their game plan focused on exposing the Spirit back line with Reeve’s blistering speed was working.
Rather than sitting back and attempting to prevent a Portland-esque score line, the Spirit came into the second half with a renewed fervor.
In 55th minute DeVanna was fouled just inches outside of the Boston penalty box and earned a free kick. Christine Nairn’s free kick connected with Taylor’s head, but her shot was just off target. Taylor followed up on her own rebound and scored to cut the deficit to one goal as the Breakers still lead 3-2.
The Spirit continued to push considerable numbers forward and put the Breakers under tremendous pressure, but in the 65th minute the Maryland SoccerPlex weather lightning detection system sounded signaling a mandatory stadium evacuation and minimum of 30 minute delay. The game resumed approximately 45 minutes later.
Only five minutes after play had resumed Maddy Evans was shown a straight red card for her tackle on Lori Lindsey. It was entirely unclear what aspect of the tackle warranted a card, let alone red card, as it appeared Evans didn’t make contact with Lindsey.
Controversy with the referee continued in the 88th minute when Ali Krieger used both her hands to stop Reeves. There was a scuffle following the foul as Krieger and Reeves had a heated exchange. Meanwhile Harris also entered the foray and appeared to either push or push off the referee as he reached out to guide her away from Reeves.
Boston had to play the final 20 minutes with only ten players, which made the relentless Spirit attack that much more difficult to absorb. However, it wasn’t until the 90th minute when Bianca Sierra fouled Taylor in the box that Washington was able to do anything with their one man advantage. Diana Matheson converted her penalty kick and, against all odds, the Spirit were level with the Breakers 3-3.
Both players and coaches had quite a bit to say following the game:
Breakers head coach Tom Durkin
Durkin was frank in his criticism of the referees and felt they had a direct impact on the game.
I don’t know what the statistics look like and I don’t believe in them because I think the home team really has a tendency to fudge the statistics. I don’t think that they had all that many more chances than we did and all we did was put the ball to where it was dangerous at the beginning of game, which was actually the plan the girls came up with. To go forward early and we came out the two goal lead. We gave away soft goal. I felt it was a soft goal. I thought there was a string of errors and then we went up 3-1. Then the rest is all up to the referee as far as I am concerned. I don’t care the league can fine me. They can fine our club, but that was the most suspect officiating. I haven’t complained all year. Not one time. But, that was absolutely crazy.
Full marks to Washington for coming back, but I think the referee had a big influence on the match. He shouldn’t have an influence. If you call three penalty kicks and gave out three yellow cards, and a red card you can’t say you’re doing a good job. You can’t, as an official, say you are doing a good job I’m sorry.
From where I’m sitting, they are two obvious penalty kicks. The third one, I want to look at it on video tape, but the sending off I think is rather harsh. The girl played for five minutes in the game. No sending off on neither of the penalty kicks. Was there a yellow card given? The first was definitely a denial of a goal scoring opportunity. If it not a red card, it is a yellow card at a minimum. I think it is in contention.
I don’t know the young man, but it was an underwhelming performance.
Durkins’ criticism didn’t end with the referees as he mentioned toward the end of his interview that the Breakers have a variety of factors working against them. “By the scheduling and everything else that goes on in this league, I wonder how the Boston Breakers can get a fair chance,” he explained.
Heather O’Reilly (Boston Breakers)
Heather O’Reilly focused on the positives for her team following the game noting that she and her teammates could be proud of their grit and determination. “I think we’re disappointed to only come away with a point from that game,” said O’Reilly. “Obviously we were up 3-1. You never like to let a lead like that go. This was an absolutely crazy game with us going down to 10 players. The fight was there. The heart was there. This one will go down as a weird one. We just have to stick together and continue to fight and claw for points.”
Spirit head coach Mark Parsons
Mark Parsons focused less on the decision making of the referees and more on how his team allowed those one-on-one situations that lead to the penalties. “I think it is up to the league and the refs to take care of those decisions,” explained Parsons. “For us, how did they get one-on-one? How did they get one on one with Cross, how did they get one on one with Krieger for the two early penalties?”
At halftime Parsons said he spoke with his team about the emotions of the match and how to use that positively in the second half. Parsons told his team “Let the emotion drive you in your energy. The frustration and emotion from how the game went and the calls. Don’t put anything toward the referee because they can hurt you, but they can’t really hurt us [coaches]. Let us take care of that and put your energy into trying to win a game.”
Parsons, like most of the coaches and players on the pitch, is just looking forward to putting this game and the myriad issues that arose behind them. “There were a couple of moments where our players almost lost their cool because I think the players were put in situations they shouldn’t have been put in,” noted Parsons. “We escaped it and we kept our cool. It was great character and determination to get it back.”
Ashlyn Harris (Washington Spirit)
Ashlyn Harris faced two penalty kicks and was involved in a confrontation with the referee near the end of the game. Unsurprisingly Harris spoke directly about the fact that most players on the pitch were near and boiling point and the referee had lost control of the game.
It was just one of those games where everyone was kind of just losing control. I think the ref kind of let things get out of hand. Every player was boiling at that point. I think players were put in situations where they could have been injured. There were tackles out there that shouldn’t have been. My hope is that if this happens again a referee can take a little bit more control of the game. We’re just out here trying to win. Our emotions may come off differently. It isn’t that we are going at each other. We just want to win. In the heat of the moment things happen. We were just having a funky day. You can’t place blame on referees, these things happen. It is part of our sport. I think their group let us down today. I think they let down Boston. It was just really unfortunate, probably one of the worst games I have ever been a part of.
The Breakers move to 3-10-2 (11 points) and will face the league leading Seattle Reign FC in Seattle on Sunday July 6th . Meanwhile, the Spirit maintain their third place spot on the table (7-7-2; 23 points) and won’t play again until Saturday July 12th against the Western New York Flash.