England defender Esme Morgan scored a penalty in a shoot-out for Washington Spirit against Racing Louisville to take her side through to the semi-finals of the NWSL play-offs.
Rebeca Bernal and Hal Hershfelt also scored, with Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury pulling off two saves to make it 3-1.
It was a tight game, with Spirit having almost three-quarters of the possession in the first half, but nothing to show for it. They made the breakthrough in the 73rd minute as Rosemonde Kouassi played a ball in for Gift Monday who slotted it home.
But Louisville did not give up, and got their equaliser through Kayla Fisher in the second minute of additional time.
No more goals were scored in extra-time, so it went to penalties, with the Lioness one of the trio who hit the target for Spirit.
Gift Monday: We have to keep believing
“Football is a source of joy for me,” said Gift Monday afterwards, saying that she dedicated the goal to all of the Spirit fans as well as her father, who passed away recently. “Irrespective of what I’m going through, I know even my challenges will not stop me from achieving happiness.”
Admitting that she was suffering with cramp towards the end of the match, she added: “We have to keep believing.”
“I give a lot of credit to our fans,” said captain Kingsbury. “They’re so loud. I have to imagine that’s quite intimidating to come up as the opponent to try and score in front of that. They brought the energy, the confidence. We were confident in our preparation and knew that we would execute today.”
She went on: “I think we executed our game plan perfectly until the 93rd minute, when they scored. The adversity we faced, to have Terra come off at the end, to see how much pain she’s in, I was just wishing I could have helped keep the shut-out, we could have wrapped it up a little prettier earlier on.”
The Spirit will host either Portland Thorns or San Diego Wave in the semi-final.
England goalkeeper Moorhouse stars for Orlando Pride
In the day’s other quarter-final, Orlando Pride beat Seattle Reign 2-0, with England goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse starring with a sterling second-half display.
They will play either Kansas City Current or Gotham FC in the semi-final.
