NWSL Final 2016 - Washington Spirit v. Western New York Flash

It all comes down to this game for the championship. The Spirit and Flash square off in Houston with visions of the trophy in their eyes. Playing goal today are Washington's Kelsey Wys and Western New York's Sabrina D'Angelo. The game airs live on FS1, and will be available on YouTube later. Washington's Megan Oyster blocked a cross from Makenzy Doniak of Western New York in the first minute. The Flash's Samantha Mewis also tried a cross that got all the way across goal. Oyster blocked a shot from Western New York's McCall Zerboni in the second minute. Mewis ripped a shot in the fifth minute that Wys saved. Lynn Williams knocked a ball off Oyster for a corner kick in the seventh minute for the Flash. Abby Dahlkemper took the Western New York set piece for Alanna Kennedy, who headed the ball into the goal but a foul call negated the play. In the ninth minute, Washington went ahead 1-0 with an Oyster long ball for Crystal Dunn, who took one touch around D'Angelo and then fired the shot from a tight angle into the goal. Kennedy blocked a forward ball from the Spirit's Tori Huster in the thirteenth minute. In the fourteenth minute, Williams led a Western New York counterattack and then found Mewis centrally, and she fired a shot to the lower right corner of goal to tie the game at 1. Caprice Dydasco of Washington came out of the game a few minutes after the equalizing goal with an injury suffered in contact with Elizabeth Eddy of the Flash. Alyssa Kleiner replaced her in the game. Estefania Banini saw a pass for Ali Krieger blocked by the Western New York defense. Banini had a shot in the twenty-first minute that D'Angelo saved. Banini's pass for Dunn caught her offside in the twenty-third minute as Washington continues to have much of the offense so far. Kennedy blocked a Banini shot in the twenty-fourth minute after a throw-in from Kleiner. Huster cleared a Doniak pass for Jessica McDonald in the twenty-sixth minute after a bad clearance from Washington's Shelina Zadorsky. The Spirit's Whitney Church cleared away Abby Erceg's flick-on from the Flash throw-in by McDonald. Another throw-in went for Erceg, but Huster got there first. Eddy cleared a Krieger cross in the thirtieth minute but only as far as Christine Nairn, who shot wide right of the goal for the Spirit. In the thirty-second minute, Williams put a ball in front of Eddy, but just a step too far ahead as it went out of bounds as the Flash miss another chance to create offense. Nairn forced D'Angelo into a thirty-third minute diving save after a pass from Banini left Nairn wide open. Mewis' pass for Zerboni was intercepted by Krieger in the thirty-fourth minute. Dahlkemper put a long free kick on goal, which Wys grabbed without trouble in the thirty-sixth minute. Mewis cleared a Krieger cross after a great individual effort in the thirty-eighth minute by Dunn on the right flank. Krieger sent a rebound into the box in the forty-second minute after Kennedy blocked Dunn's cross. D'Angelo bobbled it, but Francisca Ordega couldn't get there in time for Washington. Mewis tried a pass to Doniak in the forty-fourth minute after touches from Zerboni and Williams on the Western New York counterattack. Kennedy blocked a forty-fifth minute pass from Ordega to Dunn. Dahlkemper blocked an Ordega shot in stoppage time. Oyster made a big steal on Doniak's pass for Williams about halfway through the added time. Williams had a weak cross after defensive pressure from Ordega. The game went into halftime tied at 1, with the top players for the Flash being CB Kennedy, DM Mewis, LW Zerboni, and LF Williams, while the Spirit's top efforts came from CBs Oyster and Church, RB Krieger, DM Huster, ACM Nairn, RF Dunn, and CF Banini. In the forty-sixth minute, Church blocked a shot from Williams. Huster and Kleiner combined to clear McDonald's pass at the top of the box. Mewis had another chance that the Spirit also blocked in the forty-seventh minute. Krieger cleared a McDonald throw-in to end the early blitz of Flash offense. Doniak missed contact on her shot in the forty-eighth minute after a Mewis pass. Eddy surrendered a corner kick in the fiftieth minute to the Spirit. Krieger put the set piece in over Church's head. McDonald made a steal and run against Church in the fifty-second minute, but her pass missed Williams and went to Huster and then Nairn as Washington cleared. Dahlkemper cleared a Kleiner cross in the fifty-third minute. In the fifty-fourth minute, Ordega was caught offside on a Dunn pass after Banini made a steal for the Spirit. Krieger blocked a Jaelene Hinkle cross out for a Western New York corner kick in the fifty-seventh minute. Dahlkemper went for Williams, but Wys made the grab over the top of the Flash attacker's head. Washington had a pass around the front six, but Banini's final touch was scooped up by D'Angelo. Zadorsky blocked a Doniak cross in the sixtieth minute. Kennedy kept a ball from Krieger away from Ordega in the sixty-first minute. Dunn had a shot deflected out in the sixty-second minute off of Zerboni. Nairn served this Spirit corner kick for Huster, but Dahlkemper sent it back out of bounds. Nairn tried again for Oyster, but it went a bit long and bounced off of Huster and out of bounds. Doniak won a cross off of Zadorsky in the sixty-fifth minute. Hinkle took the Flash set piece near post, and Kleiner cleared it. Doniak put in the second effort for Williams that Wys grabbed. Williams cleared a Nairn free kick in the seventieth minute. Nairn had a seventy-fourth minute free kick that Oyster sent wide left on a header. Zerboni fouled Dunn in the seventy-seventh minute, giving Washington the first really dangerous free kick. Nairn sent this one off the wall to Church, and then Krieger's shot went wide left, but she was also offside. Krieger fouled Zerboni on the other side for a wide free kick for the Flash. Wys handled the set piece served into the box from Dahlkemper. Ordega won a corner kick off of Eddy for the Spirit. Krieger served it for Oyster, but a foul in the box negated the play. McDonald's eighty-first minute throw-in went to Erceg, but the Flash couldn't produce a shot. Wys caught Eddy's service to end the attack. Dunn cleared a long throw from McDonald. In the eighty-third minute, Zerboni fouled Ordega to end the Washington counterattack, and Zerboni took a yellow card for the play. Krieger put in a cross in the eighty-eighth minute that Kennedy cleared. The play ended with Ordega colliding with D'Angelo. Huster cleared Williams' pass in the ninetieth minute after she got around Zadorsky. Hinkle put a shot over the bar in stoppage time. Krieger sent a shot over the bar after a pass from Dunn. The game stayed tied through the half at 1, producing overtime. Impressing in the second half were LB Hinkie and RF McDonald for the Flash, and LB Kleiner and LF Ordega for the Spirit. At the ninety-one minute mark, Krieger found Dunn, who went top right corner to give the Spirit a 2-1 lead a minute into overtime. In the ninety-third minute, Mewis ripped a shot that Wys had to punch down before grabbing. Taylor Smith of Western New York won a corner kick off of Kleiner in the ninety-fourth minute. Dahlkemper sent it over McDonald, but she took the return service and it fell to Smith, who lost control of it. Ordega drew a foul call in the ninety-fifth minute against Zerboni. Nairn took the free kick for Washington, sending it to Dunn, who crossed it to Krieger, and D'Angelo made a diving save. Eddy crossed to Mewis in the ninety-eighth minute, but she couldn't redirect it on goal. Kennedy kept Dunn away from the long ball by Krieger in the 100th minute. Church blocked Williams' 101st minute shot. Zadorsky and Huster cleared a McDonald throw in the 102nd minute, but they sent it out for another throw. McDonald tried to find Erceg, and then Kennedy, and Wys held it. Ordega's 105th minute cross went out of bounds. Church kept a long ball from Eddy away from Williams in the 107th minute. Wys punched a cross from Williams away after Kristen Hamilton missed a shot on an Eddy cross. It bounced off of Smith and out for a goal kick. Kennedy blocked a through ball from Diana Matheson to Dunn in the 108th minute. Kriger put a cross in for Ordega in the 111th minute that she missed on. McDonald's throw in the 113th minute created a game of head tennis in the box, ending with Kennedy's half-shot cleared by Zadorsky. Hinkle put in a 114th minute cross that Wys caught. Dunn took a shot in the 115th minute that D'Angelo saved. In the 116th minute, McDonald couldn't get a head on the ball against Wys and Church. Hinkle put another one in for Mewis, whose shot was not strong enough to beat Wys. Dahlkemper blocked Dunn's shot in the 117th minute, giving Washington a corner kick. Matheson took it short for Dunn to kill the clock. In the 118th minute, Dunn, Krieger, Matheson, and Katie Stengel combined for a chance, with Dunn's shot caught by D'Angelo. Matheson and Krieger went give and go for a shot, which Matheson took low, saved by D'Angelo. Williams' 120th minute cross was caught by Wys. Mewis tried to find McDonald, but Wys made the catch in the 121st minute. Wys took a yellow card for time wasting in the 122nd minute. McDonald sent a cross into Williams in the 124th minute, and she headed it in to tie the game at 2 with less than a minute left in overtime. This caused the game to go to penalty kicks. The Flash went first, and Dahlkemper went to the bottom right against Wys for a 1-0 advantage. The Spirit were next, with Krieger getting saved by D'Angelo. Hinkle went next for the Flash, bouncing it off of Wys' hand but still scoring for a 2-0 Flash advantage. Nairn took the Spirit's second kick, sending D'Angelo the wrong way to cut it to 2-1. McDonald sent her shot over the bar, losing the Flash advantage. Washington's Stengel took the third kick, beating D'Angelo to the left post facing goal to tie the shootout at 2. Williams sent a weak shot low that sent Wys the wrong way for a 3-2 Western New York lead. Huster was saved by D'Angelo. The final shooter for the Flash is Mewis and she was saved by Wys. Matheson tried to save the Spirit for the fifth kick, but D'Angelo was there again, giving the Flash the title with a 3-2 win in penalty kicks and 3-2 in the game. The NWSL Championship MVP is Sabrina D'Angelo for her critical three out of five saves in the shootout.