Washington's Deflected Winner Flattered a Dominant Denver Summit

Sofia Cantore's deflected strike in the 61st minute was the only goal at Audi Field, and it kept Washington Spirit atop the NWSL table with a 1-0 win over Denver Summit FC. But the shape of the game tells a different story than the shape of the table. Denver out-shot Washington 17 to 13, had a Lindsey Heaps penalty waved off by VAR, and by their own coach's admission, controlled large parts of the match, "we came here and dominated," Nick Cushing said afterward, per Burgundy Wave.

That's worth sitting with. Washington's ten-win, seven-clean-sheet season has largely been built on control, not fortune. This wasn't that. It was a deflection finding the corner while Denver peppered the box late and hit the frame of the goal in stoppage time, according to Denver7's match recap. Spirit will take the three points and the two-point cushion at the top, and rightly so, but a system built on control shouldn't need a lucky bounce to beat an expansion side that's still finding its feet. If Denver plays like that again against the teams above them in the table, results will start turning their way.