Spitler Helps Washington Spirit Reserves to W-League Title
August 03, 2015 | Soccer
YAVAL, Quebec - East Carolina rising junior Lana Spitler helped lead the Washington Spirit Reserves to their first W-League Championship with a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Pride.
Yanara Aedo Munoz scored twice for the Reserves, including the game-winner in the 89th minute, was named the W-League Championship MVP.
"In any game in soccer you love that finish, and it happened to be us, and that's fantastic," Washington Head Coach Kati Jo Spisak said, "A lot of the players have been through the system and for a lot of them, this is their third try at a championship. I'm just thrilled for them.
"In the semifinal we didn't play very well, so our sole focus was on how we were going to play, and the girls executed it today, and you could see it in our play."
Washington completed an undefeated season after capturing the Southeastern Conference title at 9-0-3 to advance to the 21st W-League Championship.
Spitler played in 11 of the team's 12 matches, logging 206 minutes while tallying four points on two goals during that span. Her first goal came in the 74th minute of a 7-0 blowout win against the Braddock Road Stars in the second match of the season on June 6, before putting home another tally in the 84th minute of a 4-0 victory over the Atlanta Silverbacks just seven days later.
The Montoursville, Pa., native returns to ECU for fall camp before her third season after a breakout year in 2014 where she started all 21 matches, led the Pirates in shots (34) and tied for first on the club in points (18) and goals (8).
East Carolina begins its 2015 campaign at home on Friday, Aug. 21 against George Mason. Opening kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m., at Johnson Soccer Stadium.
