Five Takeaways for Denver Summit at Boston Legacy

Foxborough, Mass.- After a defeat to the San Diego Wave, Denver Summit FC travels to Boston to face off with their rival expansion team, Boston Legacy. Boston Legacy still remains winless but was able to pick up their first points of the season in a 2-2 draw Wednesday night against North Carolina Courage (see the highlights here). If you haven’t already, read up on the Takeaways for Denver Summit vs San Diego Wave to get a better understanding of the team’s journey so far this season.

In case you missed it, Denver Summit lost to San Diego Wave after an initial 2-0 lead. While the offense started to click, defensive errors led to a comeback led by Wave rookie Lia Godfrey.

Here’s five things to look for when Denver takes on Boston Legacy and former USWNT goalkeeper Casey Murphy.

The Match: Denver Summit at Boston Legacy

Previous Result: 3-2 Defeat against San Diego Wave

When: Sunday, May 3rd at 1 PM

Where: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Massachusetts 

TV/Streaming: CBS Sports and Denver7

Defending the Cross

Both teams rely heavily on scoring on crosses, and both teams have struggled to defend the cross.

Against San Diego Wave, Denver Summit outside back Carson Pickett was unable to shut down rookie KiKi Van Zanten as she sent multiple crosses across the back post. Although Summit was lucky enough that Wave was unable to capitalize off of Van Zanten’s crosses, Pickett will need to clean up her defending to not over-commit, stay light on her feet, and make much-needed stops. In the game-losing goal for the Summit, Sonis made the same error. Sonis failed to defend against Dudinha, allowing the cross that led to Pickett’s accidental own goal (an unfortunate yet unnoteworthy mistake). Defensive errors such as these need to be cleaned up.

On the other side, Boston Legacy has also struggled to defend against the cross. North Carolina Courage took advantage of Carabali when Ashley Sanchez scored the equalizer off of a nice cross. Denver Summit should look to attack down the wings to exploit Boston’s weaknesses there.

Boston’s weakness on the cross will be key for Denver to target; meanwhile, Denver will need to clean up their defense in order to prevent goals scored by Boston.

Build on Offensive Momentum

Summit broke through their scoring drought against San Diego Wave, scoring two beautiful goals in the first half and recorded 9 total shots (4 on target). Summit needs to capitalize off of this momentum and continue to score.

Although the team had failed to impress so far this season offensively, the highlight of the Wave game was the promise Summit showed offensively. Melissa Kössler sat in a less isolated area of the field in a new 4-4-2 positioning which allowed her to retrieve more balls and lay some off, such as with her through ball to Tash Flint, resulting in a goal. Oke excelled under pressure and made a key pass that resulted in the first goal. Yazmeen Ryan was dangerous on the flank, and if she can get more of her shots on target, she’ll enter her name into the Summit goal records. Tash Flint showed great resilience in her goal – here’s hoping these goals are only making her hungrier for more (Summit signed Tash Flint to a contract through 2027).

Recent reports indicate Kössler and Flint picked up minor injuries which may limit their time or abilities on Sunday, so it will be key for other players to step up. If limited in minutes, Boston will be a great time for other players to pick up some minutes against an easier opponent. From current starters, Yazmeen Ryan’s abilities perhaps stand out the most, as she has recorded ten shots for the Summit so far. Her ability to put shots on target could decide the outcome for the Summit.

In general, if Summit can continue to build off of what they were able to achieve against one of the best defenses against the NWSL, they can be successful against more than just Boston.

Marking, Marking, and More Marking

Goals scored against Denver Summit have frequently been a result of poor marking. In the Denver Summit game, Lia Godfrey slipped past Lynch and Sonis to score her goal. Lynch failed to follow Godfrey, and veteran Sonis failed to identify the lone attacker loose in front of her. To be fair, most players’ errors in marking have led to goals scored against Denver – possibly a reason why Oke shifted from defense to wing (no complaints here). Unfortunately, Summit needs to count on the eleven players it has on the field to mark players as it is a rather essential piece of the game.

The main threats Summit will want to look to mark will be Nichelle Prince, Sammy Smith, and Asisat Traore – Boston’s three forwards. Prince is a proven NWSL attacker on the wing and Sammy Smith started to really flourish on Wednesday against NCC. Traore has all the speed so defensive anchor Kaleigh Kurtz will not be able to blink in case Traore flies by (see Traore’s goal here).

Summit will need to execute better in the defensive style of their choosing if they do not want to continue to give out freebies. It will be interesting to see what adjustments coach Nick Cushing will make off of the defensive failures of this past Saturday.

Mid-Week Game Exhaustion

When Summit played their last three-game week, culminating in their faceoff with the Washington Spirit, both teams looked notably tired. This author will continue to call into question the efficacy of three-game weeks in the NWSL, but in the meantime, it cannot be argued that Denver stands to gain from Boston’s loss.

In addition to also playing Saturday, Boston also faced off against the North Carolina Courage on Wednesday. Although Boston head coach Filipa Patao will likely try to rotate some of her players, during the Courage game three out of her four subs happened in the 84th minute and onward. Combine Boston’s exhaustion and Denver’s mile-high altitude conditioning, and this could get ugly for Boston.

Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall

When you look at Boston Legacy and Denver Summit on paper, they do not seem like very similar teams. They attack differently, they have played in different formations, and the coaches have very different backgrounds and styles. 

However, both teams also share a lot of weaknesses, which will make for an interesting game. Both teams have struggled with scoring, a weak center midfield, lineups with the most NWSL newcomers, etc. However, on all of these, Boston has shown themselves to be weaker than Summit which is a good omen for Nick Cushing. Although both teams have improved as the season has progressed, Cushing’s team has superseded Boston. In addition to these shared weaknesses, Boston has had a weaker defensive line and a more unreliable goalkeeper (there’s a reason Murphy left North Carolina at the end of last season).

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