Heartbreak can be an efficient teacher, but the Denver Summit need to learn fast.
A week after giving up a two goal lead at home to lose to the San Diego Wave, 3-2 - the Summit collapsed in the final moments against Boston Legacy FC to lose back-to-back matches for the first time in the club's history.
Tash Flint scored an absolute beauty of a goal in the 77th minute to take a 2-1 lead for Denver, but poor defense and abysmal spacing lead to a torrid comeback for the Legacy - capped off by a stoppage time game winner from Bianca St-Georges.
The Summit remain on six points this season and fall to 12th in the NWSL table - meanwhile, Boston earns their first ever victory but remain in last place with just four total points.
"We're being tested," said Summit captain Janine Sonis after the loss. "This is a challenging time for our team. We're doing enough to win these games, and I think that's the most frustrating thing."
"It is unacceptable," said head coach Nick Cushing. "As a group we have to come together in these moments. The direction that we take out of these moments is the difference between the progress we make and how quickly we're going to get there. These are powerful moments in the progression of us, but they're very painful."
That being said, they're not called the Denver Trailheads. Or the Denver Base Camps.
This is a group being built on the idea that success is a climb, an ever-present desire to reach ... the Summit.
"This isn't a time where we fold," said Sonis. "We have to rise to the challenge, we have to get back on the training pitch next week because it only gets more difficult from here. We need to continue taking steps forward and fix the things that need to be fixed."
Cushing said during the week that there were several players pushing for more playing time among the Summit, but his starting XI was nearly identical to the group that faced the Wave a week ago. The one change: Eva Gaetino returned to the starting lineup at center back after recovering from injury.
Early on, Carson Pickett was playing the role of puppet master as she pulled the strings for Denver's offense. Within three minutes of game time Pickett released Yazmeen Ryan who fizzed a shot just wide of the goal. Then a few minutes later, Pickett found Tash Flint on a chipped ball into the box - Flint, however, was unable to steer the excellent service on frame.
This wasn't one-way traffic, though - Boston was forcing Denver's defense into uncomfortable positions as well. Goalkeeper Abby Smith was forced to make a save within five minutes of kickoff, and Gaetino showed her selection in the starting XI was a good one when she cleared a sure goal off the line.
In the 18th minute, Ryan finally found bottom. Since joining the Summit in March she's acted like a live-wire on the pitch, an absolute dynamo in offensive build up, but she hadn't been able to find the final product. After yet another great run on the left wing, Ryan decided to have a whack, and this time the ball bulged in the back of the net.
Eerily similar to that night at the Richard, the Summit took a 1-0 lead within 20 minutes of action.
But in fairness to the Legacy, despite possessing the NWSL's worst goal differential, they were creating the more dangerous chances. And just before halftime they were rewarded - veteran forward Nichelle Prince nods home a rebound and Boston tied up the game 1-1 just before the break.
After crumbling in the second half a week ago, Cushing preached intensity out of the halftime break heading into the game against Boston.
Intensity was abundant, but not for the Summit.
The Legacy managed to transfer their momentum through the break and continued to dominate possession, and Cushing clearly saw that his club needed a spark. Against the Wave, the head coach waited until it was a bit too late to make any changes - he rectified that decision in Boston.
Cushing went to the bench early to bring on Ayo Oke, Ally Brazier, Emma Regan, and Olivia Thomas. The moves injected a level of competitiveness that had been elusive in the second half.
In the 77th minute, Flint proved that all she needs is a little space to make a big difference. Denver's second leading scorer took a page out of her countryman David Beckham's book, curling a left-footed shot past Legacy keeper Casey Murphy.
That winning mentality Cushing so desperately wants to see remains absent, however, as Boston leveled the scoreline in the 90th minute thanks to a brilliant individual effort from Aïssata Traoré.
And moments later, the collapse was complete.
Denver's defense lost both its focus and it's shape as Bianca St-Georges found herself all alone with the ball mere feet away from Smith. The seven year NWSL veteran slotted home the game winning goal, and dispatched the Summit to mourn their second straight loss.
"The game management piece is the bit that we have to learn and we have to learn quick," said Cushing. "The results are definitely testing us at the moment."
The road doesn't get any easier for the Summit - next week they're on the road once again to face the Houston Dash, who currently sit in 7th place in the NWSL table.
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** game played at DICK's Sporting Goods Park
other home matches scheduled to be played at Centennial Stadium