Denver Summit FC Had the Ball All Night in Portland and Lost

<p>Denver Summit FC held 62.5% of the ball at Portland, got into the Thorns' box 29 times, and lost 1-0 in an NWSL road match that looked nothing like the scoreline.</p><p></p><p>Abby Smith was out of the starting eleven for the first time in club history, which handed Kat Asman the first career start of her life — in the stadium that drafted her and never played her. She made five saves and held Portland under their expected goals and lost anyway, because Sophia Wilson ran past Denver's back line in the 44th minute and there was nobody left to chase her.</p><p></p><p>Nick Cushing sat down after and called the choice between his two backup goalkeepers the biggest decision of his day. Not the shape. Not the game plan. That's the part of this loss that points forward.</p><p></p><p>Plus: two streaks ended in the same ninety minutes, one of them league-wide. And I went through all 26 goals Denver have conceded this season to test a theory about the high line — and found out I was wrong, in a way that's more interesting than being right.</p><p></p><p>Follow along at @5280pitch on Instagram, Threads, and Facebook.</p><p><br />Spotify: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6jiBAbW0QXepwdqK0qhaaF" target="_blank">https://open.spotify.com/show/6jiBAbW0QXepwdqK0qhaaF</a><br />Apple Podcasts: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-5280-pitch-denver-summit-fc-podcast/id1859060272" target="_blank">https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-5280-pitch-denver-summit-fc-podcast/id1859060272</a><br />Newsletter and blog: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://5280pitch.com" target="_blank">5280pitch.com</a></p>