PACHUCA, MEXICO (AP) – Irene Guerrero scored the go-ahead goal in the 79th minute and Scarlett Camberros added another point in stoppage time to lead Club America to a 5-3 victory over the Washington Spirit and clinch the CONCACAF W Champions Cup title on Saturday night.
This was the second regional championship for the women’s club team. Defending champion Gotham FC lost 3-0 to Pachuca in the third-place match at Estadio Hildalgo on Saturday.
Club América of Liga MX took an early lead when Aylin Avilés scored from a pass from Camberos in the 22nd minute. Just five minutes later in the 27th inning, Gaese’s goal extended the lead to two points.
Sofia Cantore scored from 35 yards left to close the score for the NWSL Spirit. Just 35 seconds into the second half, Rosemond Quassi cut the lead to two points.
Kouassi scored his second goal in the 58th minute, giving the Spirit the lead. She was the tournament’s top scorer with six goals in total.
But Gase took advantage of a mistake by Spirit goalie Sandy McIver to score his second goal in the 61st minute, tying Club America at 3-3.
Guerrero scored a goal in the bottom right corner in the 79th minute off an assist from Camberos.
Club America’s captain, Campbellos, scored in the sixth minute of stoppage time to seal the victory. She scored one goal and two assists and was named the final’s Most Valuable Player.
“Obviously, the result hurt a little bit, but it was an incredible effort by the team to come back from a two-goal deficit and tie the game,” Spirit’s Kate Wisner said. “I think we showed a lot of resilience today. That’s something we want to be part of our DNA as a spirit. And I’m very proud of the battles that we fought, but obviously we fell short, but there were a lot of lessons learned and a lot of things that we can take back and hopefully improve on.”
The Spirit defeated Pachuca 1-0 in the semifinals to advance to the final. Club America defeated Gotham 4-1.
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