Boston Legacy vs Denver Summit

Photography by Luke Stergiou

For the first six weeks of the season, the results hadn’t fully reflected the performances. The Boston Legacy had shown flashes of attacking quality, controlled stretches of matches, and repeatedly looked better than their record suggested. On Sunday night in Foxborough, that breakthrough finally arrived, and it came in the most dramatic way possible.

Bianca St-Georges scored deep into stoppage time to hand Boston Legacy FC a thrilling 3-2 comeback victory over fellow expansion side Denver Summit, securing the club’s first-ever regular-season win in the NWSL.

If there is a city built to appreciate late-game heroics, it is Boston. And fittingly, the Legacy delivered one in front of their home crowd, overturning deficits twice before finding a winner in the 94th minute.

Denver struck first in the 18th minute when Yazmeen Ryan announced herself with her new club in spectacular fashion. After receiving a pass from Natasha Flint, Ryan took a few touches before unleashing a rocket from outside the box that flew past Casey Murphy for her first goal of the season.

Boston answered just before halftime through Nichelle Prince, whose headed finish off a corner kick leveled the match and gave the Canadian international her first goal for the Legacy.

The game opened up again in the second half. Flint restored Denver’s lead in the 77th minute with a composed left-footed finish, seemingly putting the Summit on course for a much-needed victory. But Boston refused to fold.

Second-half substitute Aïssata Traoré changed the match almost instantly. In the 90th minute, she fired home an equalizer that sent the crowd into a frenzy and capped another aggressive attacking performance from the Legacy. Moments later, Traoré was involved again, getting a decisive touch on a header that fell perfectly into the path of St-Georges, who buried the winner in stoppage time.

“That wasn’t even me. I felt like I had the whole team with me,” St-Georges said afterward. “The goals are team goals. We don’t have an individualistic team. We’re a team that’s together.”

The euphoric celebrations from the whole squad were more than fitting. Boston had been building toward this moment for weeks. Despite entering the match with only one point from six games, the underlying performances hinted that a first win was coming. In a loss to Chicago earlier this season, the Legacy outshot the Stars 28-6. Days later, against North Carolina, Boston raced to a two-goal lead before settling for a draw.

Sunday finally felt like the payoff.

Boston controlled much of the match against Denver, finishing with 62 percent possession and 19 shots. More importantly, they showed the resilience that expansion teams often spend seasons trying to find.

“It’s almost like we had this pent-up energy inside of us that we could not wait to let go,” St-Georges said. “We knew that we deserved this win. It’s just the best feeling in the world.”