In Eva Gaetino\u2019s first foray into pregame speeches, she unknowingly played fortune teller.<\/p>\n
Thrust into and entrusted with giving the final words of wisdom before Saturday\u2019s match against Orlando Pride at Dick\u2019s Sporting Goods Park, she preached the importance of gaining \u2014 and more importantly, maintaining \u2014 momentum, early. Not even she could have guessed she\u2019d be the one to answer her own plea.<\/p>\n
![\"Eva](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2276629865.jpg\")
Eva Gaetino #23 of the Denver Summit FC celebrates with Kaleigh Kurtz #3 after scoring a goal against the Orlando Pride in the first half at Dick\u2019s Sporting Goods Park on May 16, 2026 in Commerce City, Colorado. (Matthew Stockman, Getty Images)<\/p>\n
But in the 11th minute, in front of another sellout crowd of 16,974, Gaetino\u2019s first career goal was the first in a 3-1 win over Orlando. Her name will be etched in Denver sports history as a goal scorer in Summit FC\u2019s first-ever home win.<\/p>\n
She was the recipient of a corner kick routine straight off the training grounds. Yazmeen Ryan received a give-and-go on a short corner and sent in a ball to Melissa K\u00f6ssler at the far post. She headed it to Gaetino at the 6-yard box, who volleyed it in off the post.<\/p>\n
The celebration \u2014 a dead sprint to the bench to greet her coaching staff and teammates \u2014 was a bit unorthodox, but valid given how quickly she went from walking in a boot to scoring for the first time.<\/p>\n
She sustained an ankle injury the day before she was supposed to feature in Summit FC\u2019s home opener at Empower Field in front of more than 63,000. Not only did she miss out on an NWSL-record crowd, but she also couldn\u2019t attend a national team camp in which she was slated to participate.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, coming from overseas, coming here, starting for a little bit, getting injured, it hasn\u2019t been easy by any means,\u201d Gaetino said. \u201cIt\u2019s so validating to know that the work I\u2019m putting in is paying off, but I\u2019m not going to sit here and smell the roses quite yet. I think there\u2019s a lot more from me and from the team to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another item on her pregame checklist: \u201cWhen we put our foot on their necks, we do not let up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unlike the reverse fixture two months ago, Summit FC was the aggressor for essentially the entire match. That has been the difference in the past two games, both multi-goal wins, as opposed to the two matches prior, both losses after leading.<\/p>\n
![\"Janine](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2276630197.jpg\")
Janine Sonis #6 of the Denver Summit FC advances the ball against Seven Castain #30 of the Orlando Pride in the first half at Dick\u2019s Sporting Goods Park on May 16, 2026 in Commerce City, Colorado. (Matthew Stockman, Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Janine Sonis provided the other two Summit FC goals, scoring a brace in her second straight match. One was from the penalty spot in the 54th minute after Yazmeen Ryan was taken down on a run toward the byline. Orlando\u2019s Barbra Banda scored on a breakaway in the 76th minute, then Sonis responded just a minute later with a rocket to the right side netting on a rebound.<\/p>\n
Banda\u2019s deficit-cutting goal came just 15 minutes after Orlando\u2019s Angelina was sent off for pulling Delanie Sheehan\u2019s hair during a tackle, which is by default a straight red card in the NWSL.<\/p>\n
\u201c(It was) a little weird. I thought I forgot how to (score) for a while, but to be honest, I\u2019m just so happy to win. Same feeling as last week,\u201d Sonis said. \u201cWe have some really great individual performances right now, and as a team, this is the momentum we wanted to build. I have no doubt that we\u2019re going to continue on and keep having good performances, but we know it gets harder from here.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Summit FC coach Nick Cushing, there was no other option than to win on Saturday night. Barring construction delays, Denver\u2019s next home game on July 3 will be at Centennial Stadium and not DSGP, so Cushing felt obligated to send a home crowd happy. Third time was the charm.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been an up-and-down season for Summit FC so far. In Cushing\u2019s head, two dominant wins may not have been in the cards if not for losing two straight after leading.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe tough times, the tough moments, the knocks, the best teams work through that,\u201d Cushing said. \u201c\u2026I strangely like the adversity. Adversity is a terrible thing to waste.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Eva Gaetino\u2019s first foray into pregame speeches, she unknowingly played fortune teller. Thrust into and entrusted with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":274428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[117242,16516,117243,117240,31962,48181,114,117241,139,141,140,2062,110],"class_list":["post-274427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-adams-county","tag-colorado","tag-commerce-city","tag-denver-summit-fc","tag-dicks-sporting-goods","tag-front-range","tag-latest-headlines","tag-more-denver-summit-fc-news","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}