It was a familiar sight: Ashley Sanchez running at the left post, controlling a lofted cross, deftly finding a window between defenders and taking a quick shot to the inside of the far post beyond the reach of the goalkeeper.
asserted
Sanchez → run → goalkeeper
It’s how the North Carolina Courage winger has scored so many of her 19 goals this year.
asserted
winger → ’ → goals
This would be her 20th, tying Temwa Chawinga’s 2024 record for most goals scored in an NWSL season.
asserted
This → tie → season
But on Saturday against Gotham, it wasn’t meant to be.
asserted
it → mean → Gotham
As Sanchez celebrated with her teammates and fans in the WakeMed Soccer Park stands updated their handmade “Sanchez Goal-O-Meter”, the center referee was summoned to the VAR monitor, and the goal was called off; Sanchez’s teammate Gianna Paul was a touch offside when the play began.
asserted
play → celebrate → monitor
“I was just happy to tie [the game] up,” Sanchez told the Guardian of the moment the ball went in the net.
asserted
ball → tie → net
“I honestly wasn’t really thinking about what that would mean until after, and I was like, ‘Oh, dang, I could have done it.’
uncertain
I → think → it
I was really upset that we didn’t tie the game up right then and there.”
asserted
we → tie → game
If that 20th goal comes, it’ll have been worth the wait.
asserted
it → come → ?
The same could be said of Sanchez’s season, the seventh of her professional career.
uncertain
same → say → career
She was on the US women’s national team’s 2023 World Cup roster, but didn’t see any playing time in Australia and New Zealand.
asserted
She → see → Australia
Five months after that, after a dynamite four years with the Washington Spirit, she was traded to North Carolina without warning.
asserted
she → trade → warning
Now, in the best form of her life, Sanchez, 27, doesn’t think about that turbulent year much.
asserted
Sanchez → think → year
“I feel like I’m past that point.
asserted
I → feel → point
But when I look back at this season I’m like, ‘I guess I had to go through some tough times to get here.’
asserted
I → look → times
I always felt like there was a reason that I had to go through them – maybe that was character-building, or not taking things for granted,” she said.
asserted
she → feel → things
“When I look back now, I’m really happy those things happened because I have perspective now.
asserted
I → look → perspective
But definitely at the time, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.’”
asserted
that → happen → me
“I’ve always kind of felt like there was something bigger that was going to happen.
asserted
that → feel → ?
I just felt like I needed to stay patient and have trust that whatever God was doing in my life was for a reason,” she said.
asserted
she → feel → reason
“I tried to lean on to that because you can get really caught up in, ‘Oh my gosh, these things keep happening to me, and it’s really hard.’
asserted
it → try → me
But I was very patient and I controlled what I could, and that was my effort.”
uncertain
that → control → ?
The effort has paid off.
asserted
effort → pay → ?
Sanchez has already broken at least two records: the most NWSL goals scored in one season by an American, and most goals by a Courage player in one season.
asserted
Sanchez → break → season
For Sanchez, her goal tally has come as a welcome surprise.
asserted
tally → come → surprise
But someone in Cary, North Carolina, saw it coming.
asserted
it → see → Cary
Mak Lind, the Courage’s first-year head coach, told Sanchez during preseason that she’d have a 20-goal season.
asserted
she → tell → season
“I was laughing,” Sanchez recalled of the moment.
asserted
Sanchez → laugh → moment
“He was like, ‘I don’t know why you’re laughing.
asserted
you → know → ?
At the time, she thought about the players with NWSL goalscoring records and thought Lind’s statement was “insane”.
asserted
statement → think → records
Entering this year, Crystal Dunn and Alex Morgan held the American single-season record, with 15 goals in 2015 and 2022, respectively; Chawinga and Sam Kerr were the only players to score 17.
asserted
Chawinga → enter → 17
Sanchez had never scored more than five in one season.
asserted
Sanchez → score → season
“There’s a reason that there are these records that nobody’s touched,” she said.
asserted
she → ’ → that
“It was my first time professionally playing on the wing.
asserted
It → play → wing
So I was like, ‘Hopefully I’ll score a lot of goals, but I don’t know if I’m going to hit 20.’
asserted
I → score → 20
As it turns out, playing on the left wing is what unlocked the former attacking midfielder as a scoring virtuoso.
asserted
what → turn → virtuoso
“My coaches have helped me with a lot of little things that really helped me improve: my timing, what to look for, making runs in behind defenders, and different things like that,” she said.
asserted
she → help → that
“But ultimately I do feel like this position really suits me and the skillsets that I have, and a lot of it does feel like second nature to me.”
asserted
lot → feel → me
Sanchez’s natural instincts are a joy to watch.
asserted
instincts → watch → ?
When she’s making a run, she considers if the defender is coming toward her, creating room for her to run in behind them once the ball arrives.
asserted
ball → make → them
…and 32 more, not listed.
The Aporia
