{"id":223575,"date":"2026-03-17T10:49:34","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T10:49:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/223575\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T10:49:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T10:49:34","slug":"five-thoughts-following-denvers-nwsl-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/223575\/","title":{"rendered":"Five thoughts following Denver’s NWSL debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN JOSE \u2014 Denver Summit FC fell 2-1 to Bay FC in its inaugural match<\/a> on Saturday at PayPal Park. Five thoughts from a momentous day in Colorado soccer history:<\/p>\n

Abby Smith is as advertised.\u00a0\u00a0The veteran NWSL goalie was stellar. The two goals Smith gave up weren\u2019t her fault; the first, by Bay FC\u2019s Alex Pfeiffer, came on a wide-open look in the box. The second, via Joelle Anderson, was an uncontested, deflected shot from the top of the box. Smith made a handful of highlight saves in the second half, including stopping two 1-on-1 breakaways. Bay FC coach Emma Coates lamented her team should\u2019ve scored more, but Smith (five total saves) kept them from pulling away.<\/p>\n

The offense needs time to gel.\u00a0Denver coach Nick Cushing wants Summit FC to be an aggressive, attacking side, but Saturday showed the offense is a ways away from finding its chemistry. Even before captain Janine Sonis was sent off with a red card<\/a> in the 26th minute, Denver offense wasn\u2019t applying consistent pressure. Summit FC finished with two shots on goal, just six shot attempts and controlled possession for only 36.8% of the time. Those stats won\u2019t win many matches.\n<\/p>\n

Youth movement. Denver\u2019s six rookies<\/a> are the most of an NWSL club this season, while the club also has eight players who started their pro careers in other leagues but had yet to play in the NWSL. Defenders Eva Gaetino, Natalie Means and Ayo Oke, midfielders Natasha Flint, Devin Lynch, Emma Regan and Yuna McCormack, and forwards Olivia Thomas and Melissa Ko\u0308ssler all debuted. Ko\u0308ssler scored the first goal in club history in the first half off a perfect cross from Sonis.\n<\/p>\n

Sonis still rules.\u00a0Cushing chose his words carefully following the loss, noting he didn\u2019t think Sonis\u2019 penalty was worthy of a red care while qualifying his opinion with the fact he had not yet seen the replay. By league rule, Sonis will serve a one-game suspension for being sent off. But Denver fans need not worry about Sonis, who remains a club pillar. And from the press box view, the red card issued to the Canadian Women\u2019s National Team member on Saturday should\u2019ve been kept at a yellow.\n<\/p>\n

The looming X-factor.\u00a0Summit FC needs to find a way to mold its identity, win a few close matches like the one they lost on Saturday, and stay relevant in the playoff race through the first third of the season. If they do that, come the June break in the schedule, Lindsey Heaps<\/a> will be done playing in Europe and will arrive in Denver to join the club. The U.S. Women\u2019s National Team captain, one of the best midfielders in the world, will provide an instant boost to Summit FC\u2019s playoff odds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE \u2014 Denver Summit FC fell 2-1 to Bay FC in its inaugural match on Saturday at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223576,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[101942,101943,551,101030,101944,13027,101945,181,101946,101947,101948,8858,88,90,89,1083,127],"class_list":["post-223575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-abby-smith","tag-ayo-oke","tag-colorado","tag-denver-summit-fc","tag-emma-regan","tag-front-range","tag-janine-sonis","tag-latest-headlines","tag-lindsey-heaps","tag-more-denver-summit-fc-news","tag-nick-cushing","tag-nwsl","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}