Spokane shuts out Lexington 2-0, jumps three spots in standings

The Spokane Zephyr have three regular-season games left.

For now, though, they can sleep well knowing that their hard work is starting to pay off.

Entering February, Spokane sat at the bottom of the table, nearly counted out of the playoff contention. Saturday, after a 2-0 shutout against Lexington, the Zephyr sit in third place.

The top four teams advance to the postseason.

This spring, Spokane (10-8-7) has clawed its way up the standings winning eight of its past eleven games.

“It hasn’t been easy getting here,” said forward Ally Cook.

“The standings are kind of bittersweet, because we’ve had a great run… we’ve been sitting in six forever, so it just feels good to move a little bit,” Zephyr head coach Jo Johnson said.

Emina Ekic opened the scoring in the first half with a goal in the 11th minute off of a penalty kick.

Then, in the 50th minute, Cook scored off of a cross from Katie Murray.

Murray seized the ball in Lexington’s half, and bolted to an open space on the right side. Murray launched the ball to Cook in the goalie box on the opposite end, and Cook tapped it into the back of the net.

“I know Katie’s on the end line out wide, we kind of make eye contact,” Cook said. I’m floating back post at this point. Somebody else on our team had kind of made the run in the near post to draw the attention, Katie floated that ball perfectly back post and I kind of volleyed it in.”

The Zephyr have two games on the road before returning home on May 31 for their final game of the inaugural USL Super League season.

While they can savor this sweet victory over Lexington (4-16-5), the Zephyr understand the importance of their next three games, making it clear that the job is not finished.

“Getting on the road is always difficult, but I think we need to keep finding the back of the net. That’s gonna be really important for us,” defender Alyssa Bourgeois said.

“We gotta keep putting up the performances and not taking our foot off the gas,” Cook said. “We don’t want to leave it up to anyone else.”

Spokane travels to battle fourth-place Brooklyn (10-9-7) Saturday at Maimonides Park at 3 p.m. The game will broadcast on Peacock.