Trinity Rodman changed the tone of Washington's playoff run in a single Sunday, taking the ball away from Carolyn Calzada and sending in the cross that set up Melissa Bethi before adding a pair of goals in a 4-1 win over the Thorns. It was the kind of decisive postseason turn Washington had been waiting for, and it came from a player who had gone years without a playoff goal or assist.
That is why Rodman is being searched now. She entered the postseason with no goal contribution since the 2021 NWSL Championship-winning goal she helped create for Kelley O’Hara, and the drought ended with one direct assist and two more goals in the quarterfinals. By the time the final whistle went, Washington had not just advanced — it had done so on the back of a player who looked as if she was carrying the game herself.
The sequence that started it all was simple and ruthless. Rodman won the ball from Carolyn Calzada, then delivered the pass that turned into Melissa Bethi's finish, before later finding the net twice on her own. She even flirted with a hat trick in the 4-1 victory, a level of control that made the Thorns look flat in a match that quickly became a showcase for Washington's attack.
That matters because quarterfinal week was already full of movement across the league, with the Royals pulling an upset in their playoff debut, Washington producing an offensive explosion and the end of the line arriving for Jess Fishlock. Rodman's performance fit that pattern, but it also stood apart: after years of silence in the postseason, she delivered the one kind of game that can reset the conversation around a team in a hurry.
Washington now moves on carrying momentum that did not exist before Sunday, and Rodman has turned one playoff afternoon into proof that her biggest postseason moments may still be ahead of her. The unanswered question is no longer whether she can decide a match like this, but how much farther Washington can go if she keeps doing it.
