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As always, quotes and some pitch-side pics from Friday in here.

Highlights:

• Trinity Rodman realized that the broadcast did catch her reaction to the winning goal: "I’m realizing what I was saying a lot now." Andi Sullivan was sitting next to her in the presser and asked what she said, and Rodman pantomimed a hand up to cover her mouth, leaned in towards Sullivan and whispered, “I was just like, what the—”
• Sullivan said there was no chance she was taking that penalty kick and the team knew immediately that it would be Rose Kouassi: "A penalty is a set piece we prepare for, so I knew who was taking the penalty, and the whole team knows who is taking the penalty. And we know if that person’s not on the field, we know who the next person in line is."
• Sullivan also had an adorable source of inspiration ahead of her first start since her return: the kid mascot who walked out with her: "She was so happy that she was just, kind of, laughing just to be out there, and I feel like that moment made me feel like, that this was all kind of, it just felt really natural and happy and blissful, and it’s also a good reminder of the perspective that was needed. So I think she really helped me kind of get into that space for this game.”
• Leicy Santos answered the bulk of her postgame Q's in English for the first time and said, that despite a bit of a language barrier, she and Trin have a natural connection like on the first Spirit goal: "I know when I have the ball, I’ll try to find her. It’s just contact, visual, and she makes it magic.”
• Hal Hershfelt on yet another clutch late-game goal at Audi: "Obviously, we don’t want to let it go down to the wire like that again, but I think it pumps us up that we can kind of take control of any situation if we put our minds to it."

Also inside: bubbles in the Spirit Squadron, Hal gets some mail from a young fan, and Sofia Cantore's game face (hint: it's happier than you think!)

Quotes and some pitch-side pics from Saturday in here.

Highlights

• Adrián González calls Hal Hershfelt the "Jeep" because, like a 4x4, she can do anything.
• Hal herself had to take a sec to celebrate, since she had just missed another chance before that: "I think I didn’t celebrate because I was so relieved, because I was so pissed off about the one that I missed before that.”
• Leicy Santos unpacks the art of her free kicks after her goal: "It’s concentration, understanding how I have to prepare myself to shoot it, so that the ball has the effect it has to have.”
• Laura Harvey, in defeat, gives Trinity Rodman a heck of a compliment: "We gave Trinity one glimpse, and she squares it to Hal and they score. And that’s what top players do, and they are the moments that are crushing, when you’ve done 95% of the work, and you know, that one time you don’t get it right, you get punished for it.”

Plus there are some fun pics at the link, including of Brittany Ratcliffe back at Audi, of Claudia Martínez looking a bit like that statue of The Thinker, and then plenty of Hal being the late-game hero and being celebrated afterward.

Hi everyone! Wrote a bit on the USL W League's Portland Cherry Bombs, the new club with a punky Portland theme and jerseys sponsored by Planned Parenthood.

Also included some NWSL notes in there, on the Thorns, Utah Royals, and the Spirit's loss in the CONCACAF W Champions Cup final.

Hi Summit fans! I cover the NWSL out of DC but took a vacation to Denver this past weekend. I wrote the game up in my newsletter and included photos and quotes I got while at the game. I also was part of the group of reporters who got to speak with Tobin Heath and Christen Press before the game. The part I pulled for the newsletter was mostly Pride-related but they had great things to say about Denver and the Summit too.