Santos, Rodman score in 2-0 Spirit victory over the Courage

Leicy Santos and Trinity Rodman scored goals and the Washington Spirit won their third straight match, 2-0 over the North Carolina Courage on Saturday night.

Leicy Santos and Trinity Rodman scored goals and the Washington Spirit won their third straight match, 2-0 over the North Carolina Courage on Saturday night. In the only other game in the National Women’s Soccer League, Angel City beat the San Diego Wave 2-0. Santos scored in the 37th minute when she took a cross from Kate Wiesner into the box and volleyed into the net.

The Spirit (8-3-2) took a 2-0 lead in first-half stoppage time when Rodman scored on a long-range delivery from Tara Rudd. Courage forward Ashley Sanchez appeared to halve the lead with a free kick goal in the 50th minute, but it was called back after a video review. It was determined that midfielder Shinomi Koyama encroached within a yard of the Spirit wall.

Spirit goalkeeper Sandy MacIver made one save for her sixth clean sheet of the season. The home loss in Cary ended a four-match winning streak for North Carolina (6-4-3). Angel City tops the Wave in SoCal rivalry match Maiara Niehues scored for the fourth straight match and Ary Borges added a goal as Angel City (6-1-6) downed the league-leading Wave at San Diego's Snapdragon Stadium.

After goalkeeper Luisa Agudelo failed to corral the ball, Niehues beat defender Perle Morroni to the ball and headed it home for the 1-0 lead in the 17th minute. Sveindís Jónsdóttir’s long throw into the box in the 26th minute was put away by Borges to make it 2-0 in the 26th minute.

Angel City attacker Jun Endo went down with a noncontact injury in the 33rd minute and was assisted off the pitch visibly shaken. Borges took down midfielder Kimmi Ascanio in the box, resulting in a penalty kick for the Wave (9-5-1) in the 86th minute but Lia Godfrey's shot from the spot hit the post. Angelina Anderson had six saves for her fourth clean sheet of the season.

San Diego’s shutout streak came to an end at 242 minutes. ___ AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer Phuoc Nguyen, The Associated Press