Boston Legacy vs Denver Summit

Two expansion clubs. One win between them walking in - Denver’s. And somehow we got the most Boston possible ending to get off the board.

18th minute, Yazmeen Ryan catches us on the break and bends one into the bottom left from outside the box. It’s a beauty, I’m not going to pretend otherwise. But it’s also the kind of goal that shouldn’t be happening. Against the run of play, early, saveable if we’re better positioned. The first ten minutes had felt like ours and then - like that - we’re behind.

What happens next is what I’ll remember about this team. Prince wins a corner in the 44th minute and puts her head on it from close range. Captain. Leader. The place erupts and we go into halftime level.

The second half is when it gets complicated. We’re pushing, we look like the team that wants this more. Then the 77th minute happens. Natasha Flint - who’d been dangerous all day - gets on the end of a cross and rifles it top left from outside the box. Stunning finish. Genuinely stunning. 2-1 Denver. Seven minutes to play.

Here’s what this team did with seven minutes: nothing panicked, nothing desperate. Traoré - who’d come on as a sub in the 71st - had been a menace from the moment she came on. In the 90th minute, Ansbrow picks her out in the box and she slides it into the bottom left. 2-2. Ninety minutes on the clock. Absolute scenes.

Then 90+4 - four minutes into five of added time. Traoré heads it across goal, St-Georges is arriving at the back post, and it’s in. It’s actually in. St-Georges - who picked up a yellow earlier in the match - turns straight to Traoré and they’re celebrating together before the rest of the stadium has even processed what happened. That’s a teammate moment.

“TIED UP BY TRAORE IN THE 90TH MINUTE - ST-GEORGES WITH THE WINNER 90+4 - WE ARE DOING IT”

That was verbatim in my notes for this game.

A few things to take from this:

The subs finished the game, but we dominated it. Boston outplayed Denver from the first whistle - the scoreline just didn’t reflect it. The two goals we conceded came in the few moments we let Denver breathe, and they took both of them. That hurts. But it doesn’t change the story of the 90 minutes. Traoré and Ansbrow coming on in the 71st and combining for both late goals was the finishing touch on a performance that had been ours all along.

Defense still needs work. Both goals against came against the run of play and the first one was early. That pattern - offense growing, defense still learning - is real and it’s not going away on its own. But we’re doing better. We’re fighting back. That matters.

Gutierres up top was a presence. Even before she came off, she was causing problems. This offense is coming together.

Flint’s second goal was a thing of beauty. Call it like it is. She put in the kind of individual moment that wins matches. We answered it. But she’s a player.

The come-from-behind win was the only way this was ever going to happen for us. We’re Boston. We’ve got grit and we’ve got heart. A 3-2 comeback for your first win, sealed in stoppage time by a sub who came on nineteen minutes earlier, is the most Boston first win you could possibly write.

We’re off the board. Took long enough.

Up the Swans.