{"id":259401,"date":"2026-08-24T17:15:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T17:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/24\/spirit-and-current-skid-heath-honored-sanchez-and-silkowitz-deserve-awards-equalizer-soccer\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T17:15:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T17:15:17","slug":"spirit-and-current-skid-heath-honored-sanchez-and-silkowitz-deserve-awards-equalizer-soccer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/24\/spirit-and-current-skid-heath-honored-sanchez-and-silkowitz-deserve-awards-equalizer-soccer\/","title":{"rendered":"Spirit and Current skid, Heath honored, Sanchez and Silkowitz deserve awards \u2013 Equalizer Soccer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"mvp-content-main\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<div id=\"mvp-post-feat-img\" class=\"left relative\" itemprop=\"image\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<meta itemprop=\"url\" content=\"https:\/\/equalizersoccer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2026-08-24T004250Z_161107721_MT1USATODAY29649864_RTRMADP_3_NWSL-HOUSTON-DASH-AT-BAY-FC-1000x600.jpg\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"1000\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"600\"\/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><!--mvp-post-feat-img--><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"mvp-feat-caption\">Photo Credit: John Hefti | Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Week 18 saw some shocking results, lots of stoppage time play, and some early and late goals.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Here are 11 thoughts from the weekend, courtesy of Arianna Cascone, subbing in for Dan Lauletta this week. We\u2019ll do this every Monday following NWSL match weeks. Some points will be factual, some will be opinion based. And some will just be random statements or observations.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">I. Ashley Sanchez\u2019s case for MVP is only getting stronger<\/h2>\n<p>Sanchez bagged a brace over the weekend, which put her in first place in the league\u2019s Golden Boot race with 12 goals. She\u2019s been in unreal form this season, and <em>is<\/em> the reason that North Carolina is a force to be reckoned with. I posted my thoughts about this on Bluesky after the game and following the rest of the weekend\u2019s games, my feelings haven\u2019t changed.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-bluesky-social wp-block-embed-bluesky-social\">\n<blockquote class=\"bluesky-embed\" data-bluesky-uri=\"at:\/\/did:plc:pgujspfvbiwbq5l54wnco3hs\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3mtpk2mcxvk2g\" data-bluesky-cid=\"bafyreietxpft2buflf4tttf55uff6jmaqjcgovsmrxed53tg76dntffstq\">\n<p lang=\"en\">The NWSL&#39;s MVP award has been interpreted differently by folks over the years, but for me it&#39;s about who is absolutely crucial to their team&#39;s successes: take them out of the equation, and that team is markedly less successfulWho better fits that description than NCC&#39;s Ashley Sanchez right now?<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/did:plc:pgujspfvbiwbq5l54wnco3hs?ref_src=embed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Arianna Cascone (@casconearianna.bsky.social)<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/did:plc:pgujspfvbiwbq5l54wnco3hs\/post\/3mtpk2mcxvk2g?ref_src=embed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2026-08-23T00:32:28.679Z<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/embed.bsky.app\/static\/embed.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">II. Boston\u2019s \u2018aggressive\u2019 game-plan needs a reality check<\/h2>\n<p>The Boston Legacy can\u2019t stop fouling. Over the weekend, the Bianca St. Georges committed a foul in the box late in stoppage time. Ashley Sanchez converted the penalty, and Boston left Cary, North Carolina with nothing to show for it.<\/p>\n<p>That wouldn\u2019t be the end of the world if it wasn\u2019t so <em>classic<\/em> Boston. This team is leading the league in fouls per game (12.6), yellow cards (36), and tied with two other teams for the lead in red cards (3). Two of those three red cards are thanks to Sunday\u2019s foul-committer herself, too, which is a rough look.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"equalizer-paywall\">\n<div class=\"paywall-block\">\n<p>\n      Access the best women\u2019s soccer coverage all year long\n  <\/p>\n<p>\n     Start your FREE, 7-day trial of The Equalizer Extra for industry-leading reporting and insight on the USWNT, NWSL and beyond.\n  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 3 --><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<!--mvp-post-tags--><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<!--posts-nav-link--><\/p>\n<div class=\"mvp-org-wrap\" itemprop=\"publisher\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Organization\">\n<div class=\"mvp-org-logo\" itemprop=\"logo\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/equalizersoccer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/equalizerWhite-1.png\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<meta itemprop=\"url\" content=\"https:\/\/equalizersoccer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/equalizerWhite-1.png\"\/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><!--mvp-org-logo--><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<meta itemprop=\"name\" content=\"Equalizer Soccer\"\/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><!--mvp-org-wrap-->\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/equalizersoccer.com\/2026\/08\/24\/cascones-xi-spirit-and-current-skid-heath-honored-sanchez-and-silkowitz-deserve-awards\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Photo Credit: John Hefti | Imagn Images Week 18 saw some shocking results, lots of stoppage time play, and some early and late goals.\u00a0 Here are 11 thoughts from the weekend, courtesy of Arianna Cascone, subbing in for Dan Lauletta this week. We\u2019ll do this every Monday following NWSL match weeks. Some points will be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":259403,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6805],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-259401","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-womens"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}