Hills & Heights
PHOTOS: Washington Spirit and Kickers vs JMU
One of these two professional teams had a much more successful evening against their respective college opponent.
Saturday night City Stadium had a dry run for the Richmond Kickers home opener on March 30th. The stadium was open along with the concessions and soccer fans gathered. It was a rare to watch the NWSL’s (National Women’s Soccer League) Washington Spirit take on JMU. The result was a lopsided affair with the Spirit dominating throughout the 90 minutes.
The tension was only ramped up when USWNT star Mallory Pugh went down hard and stayed down on a fifty-fifty ball. A serious injury to Mallory would have caused consternation among USWNT as they head into the World Cup. Although it looked like a serious injury, after receiving a little treatment on the sideline Pugh reentered the game and showed no signs of trouble even scoring a goal.
The final was 5-0 Spirit with goals by, Hatch (2), Dibiasi, Faquharson, and Pugh.
The Richmond Kickers didn’t fare as well against JMU on Sunday at Ukrop Park. After going up by 2 goals one of which was a penalty, the Kickers gave up 2 goals. The game ended in a 2-2 draw. The Kickers are definitely still figuring things out. They have two weeks until the home opener against Lansing Unite FC for all the figuring to get done.
Kickers goals were scored by Joe Gallardo in 27’ (PK) and 16’ by Daniel Jackson.
