By Henry Krueger, Gonzaga University ’25
A late goal gave Lexington SC its first win of the season as the club defeated Spokane Zephyr FC in 3-2 fashion on Sunday afternoon at ONE Spokane Stadium.
In the fourth minute of stoppage time, Madison Perez delivered a corner kick into the box, where Sydney Shepherd’s header found the back of the net. The go-ahead score sealed the victory for Lexington, with Spokane failing to provide an equalizer in the last four minutes before the final whistle.
The result has minimal impact on the USL Super League table, where Zephyr (1-3-3) remains in sixth place and Lexington (1-4-2) maintains its spot at the bottom of the standings.
Lexington was the aggressor early, controlling roughly 60% of the possession through the first 15 minutes. Spokane struggled to maintain the ball, even in their own half, dealing with pressure from Lexington’s front line.
As Zephyr worked to handle Lexington’s attack, they lost a key piece of their backline when Taryn Ries left the match with an injury in the ninth minute.
The first breakthrough for Lexington came in the 17th minute when Shea Moyer took a shot from outside of the box that deflected off Zephyr goalkeeper Izzy Nino’s hands and into the goal.
Spokane began to find a rhythm as the half continued, and a long possession in the 37th minute eventually led to a one-touch score from Emma Jaskaniec. The ball bounced around the box before landing at Jaskaniec’s feet, and she fired it into the net for her professional goal.
“Not all goals are pretty goals, like some are gonna be scrappy, and the ball fell right to my feet, and I just struck it as hard as I could into the back of the net, and it ended up going through everybody and scoring,” Jaskaniec said. “It was definitely a cool feeling, scoring my first professional goal.”
With the score level at 1-1 going into halftime, Lexington regained the lead just three minutes into the second half after Marykate McGuire drilled a shot in the bottom left corner.
Spokane found its second equalizer in the 58th minute, following a well-placed long pass from Haley Thomas that found a streaking Emina Ekić. Ekić then dribbled past her defender and buried a shot just under the crossbar for her second goal of the season.
“I literally think I made eye contact with Haley all the way across the field,” Ekić said. “… It was a great ball, it hit me mid-stride and then I got to go 1-on-1 and finish.”
The match remained tied until stoppage time when Perez’s corner kick connected with Shepherd’s head to give Lexington the final lead of the match.
Spokane came up short despite outshooting Lexington 21-15, including six more shots in the box. Goalkeeper Sarah Cox played a pivotal role in limiting Zephyr’s attack, tallying six saves.
Spokane goalkeeper Izzy Nino recorded five saves, bringing her total to 25 this season — the highest mark in the league.
Zephyr will enjoy a 13-day break before returning to action, hosting Tampa Bay Sun FC (2-1-3) on Sunday, Oct. 27. Each of Spokane’s home matches has a theme, and this one will be “confident.”
“We’ll go back to the drawing board and give [the players] a little break,” said Zephyr head coach Jo Johnson. “It’s been quite a grind here so we’ll just get after it for a couple weeks to start training and getting better before we play Tampa.”
The match against Tampa Bay on Sunday, Oct. 27 will be the last home game until March, as Zephyr embarks on a stretch of seven consecutive road matches, followed by a winter break before resuming the spring portion of the inaugural season. The club will be celebrating “Send Off Night,” encouraging supporters to pack the stadium with a $12 fan appreciation ticket special, Zephyr shoelace giveaway to the first 500 fans, face painting, photo booth and more.
