Spirit’s Rodman gets standing ovation, scores game-winning goal in return from injury

Washington Spirit fans greeted star forward Trinity Rodman with a standing ovation during Sunday’s match against the Portland Thorns. She rewarded the home crowd with a game-winning goal in the 92nd minute. 

Rodman took the field as a substitute in the 76th minute in her first game in more than three months. The 23-year-old, who led the U.S. to an Olympic gold medal last summer, stepped away from the Spirit and has not played since April 12 to deal with a nagging back injury. 

When the Spirit returned from its month-long break on Sunday, Rodman was with them. 

Less than 20 minutes into her return, the daughter of NBA Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman did what she does best — she scored. It was her first goal of the season. 

Rodman buried her head in her hands and sobbed after the goal, her first for the Spirit since last Sept. 15.

“That was the hardest thing I’ve had to go through, with the injury and everything. So being back, especially at the home stadium with the crowd behind me, scoring a goal like that, you saw I buried it, was not going to miss it,” she said after the match. “I’m just really happy to be back. I missed the team, I missed doing what I love, so just joy.”

“Welcome back,” goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury told Rodman after the match.

The assist came from Croix Bethune, Washington’s young star who led the NWSL in assists before a knee injury prematurely ended her rookie campaign last summer. 

The one-timer goal in stoppage time gave Washington a 2-1 victory over Portland. 

This article is based in part on wire service reports.

 

Rodman promised that she was “still going to be Trin” but acknowledged that her approach to the game would shift after the injury.

“I’m still going to be intense, and I’m still going to give it 100% all the time, but I think there’s parts of my game where I need to save energy or adjust to certain tackles,” she told reporters during training last month. “I think I’ve been doing a pretty good job with that so far coming back in training.”

With the win, the Spirit moved into second place in the NWSL standings behind the Kansas City Current.