Rodman: Back injury ‘not an excuse’ for final loss

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Washington Spirit forward Trinity Rodman acknowledged she was battling a back injury in Saturday’s NWSL Championship but refused to use it as an excuse for her team’s 1-0 loss to the Orlando Pride at CPKC Stadium.

The United States star reaggravated an ongoing back injury in September, when she was wheeled off the same field as Saturday’s match.

“I’m not gonna make an excuse — it’s not hiding the fact that my back’s not feeling great,” Rodman said after Saturday’s loss. “I decided to stay in the game. I could have pulled myself out. That’s not an excuse but I wasn’t the Trin that I wanted to be today.”

Rodman played the full 90 minutes as the Spirit tried to find an equalizer.

“I stayed with Trinity because I think that the team we had on the pitch was the best 11 players to win the game,” Spirit head coach Jonatan Giráldez said.

Rodman has dealt with back spasms and related issues since her rookie season in 2021, when she helped the Spirit win its first and, to date, only NWSL Championship. She was left off the USWNT roster for away games against England and the Netherlands in the next two weeks to allow her to rest and heal after a long 2024.

Rodman scored three goals at the Olympics and started all six matches to help the USWNT win a fifth gold medal in August.

The Spirit had 26 shots to the Pride’s nine on Saturday, but Pride forward Barbra Banda scored the game’s only goal in the first half.

Rodman registered five shots but was largely limited throughout the match by Orlando’s defense. And she pointed to her team’s inability to finish opportunities as ultimately being the difference

“We still had hope the entire time, but I think the cards weren’t falling for us in front of the goal,” Rodman said. “That’s credit to their defense. Their defensive line did a phenomenal job. They were shutting me down for sure. We went down, we’re used to that, but we couldn’t get that late winner again.”

Rodman looked like she might have another opportunity to run at a fullback sitting on a yellow card, as she did in each of the Spirit’s two previous playoff matches.

Pride defender Kerry Abello received a yellow card in the 31st minute for tripping Rodman on a potential counterattack. But instead of that becoming a vulnerability for Orlando, the Pride tightened up their defending, as they had all season long.

“They know I love 1-v-1s,” Rodman said. “Getting her a card halfway through the first half is an ideal situation for myself, but as soon as she got that card, they’d bring forwards to drop and help.”

Abello’s yellow card was one of six in the match, four of which were shown to Spirit players.

The game’s lone goal came after Orlando midfielder Angelina won a challenge against Spirit midfielder Leicy Santossending Santos to the ground before playing Banda in behind.

“From my perspective, I saw two hands pushing her down,” Spirit defender Casey Krueger said. “I could be wrong. I’d love to go back and look. We questioned the ref on it and that was the decision, so it’s a tough pill to swallow.”

“I don’t want to say no comment but I think she was a lot more receptive to hearing the Orlando Pride talk than us,” Rodman said. “A ref’s gonna do what they’re gonna do but I don’t think she was as open to hearing what we had to say.”

Banda’s goal was one of only three on frame for the Pride on Saturday. Orlando held off a late surge from the Spirit to clinch the club’s first NWSL Championship.

“You could see the players throwing their bodies on the line, working together, tracking back, trying to stop a service or get close to them, blocking shots. It’s no different than what we’ve done all season long, especially in this championship game,” Orlando head coach Seb Hines said.