Washington Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury saved all three penalties she faced as the Spirit defeated reigning champion NJ/NY Gotham FC in a 3-0 penalty shootout on Saturday at Audi Field to advance to next week’s NWSL championship.
The two teams played to a 1-1 draw through 120 minutes after the Spirit forced extra time in the final moments of regulation.
Spirit midfielder Hal Hershfelt scored the equalizer for Washington in second-half stoppage time to offset Esther González‘s goal earlier in the period for Gotham, who played the final 19 minutes of extra time down a player. Kingsbury followed with her heroics in the shootout to send a sold-out crowd of over 19,000 fans into a frenzy in the U.S. capital.
“[I] just got a good read,” Kingsbury said after the match. “And I think it’s more just the confidence and having the fans behind me. I was really trying to get them into it because I knew that would give us a great advantage for their penalty takers coming up and trying to make one in front of that wall of fans. Like, I would be scared.”
Washington will play the winner of Sunday’s semifinal, between No. 1 seed Orlando Pride and No. 4 seed Kansas City Current, in the NWSL championship on Nov. 23 at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.
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