The 5280 Pitch - Denver Summit FC Podcast

Kate Hanson
  • 4.8 (18)
  • Soccer
  • Updated Weekly

Women's soccer in Denver is no longer a "what if." Denver Summit FC is here. And every Tuesday, Kate Hanson — Colorado native and sports radio reporter — breaks down what's actually happening. The results. The roster. The moments defining this inaugural season in real time. Plus the players themselves, in their own words. Inaugural seasons only happen once. Might as well pay attention. Women's soccer at altitude.

  1. 4d ago ·  Video

    Tash Flint Interview: Denver Summit FC, Nick Cushing and That Shot (BONUS)

    Denver Summit FC forward Tash Flint joins me this week, and folks, I've wanted this NWSL interview for a long time. You chant her name at the stadium. Now you get to hear her story. Tash grew up in Salford chasing her brothers to training and playing with the lads. She was in Manchester United's academy at five, then moved to City when United didn't have a women's team for her to step into. At City she won the 2014 League Cup under a coach you might know. Nick Cushing. She tells me what Nick sees in her now that he didn't see back then, and why she's not sure he'd have called if she were still in England. We get into her knack for year-one clubs as Denver is her fifth club in its first season. We talk Carson Pickett, the altitude, and yes, I asked about the shot. Where does that power come from? Her answer goes back to getting knocked around playing with boys. She's signed through 2027, so I asked what would make Denver the place she finishes her career. Celtic comes up. Plus the 14ers chant, her dachshunds, and the tattoos. If you like this episode, please hit subscribe, leave a review, and share it with somebody. That's the biggest thing you can do for an independent show like this. Stay connected on the socials @5280pitch on Instagram, Threads, and Facebook Subscribe to the newsletter, check out the merch, and read the blog www.5280pitch.com

    Tash Flint Interview: Denver Summit FC, Nick Cushing and That Shot (BONUS)

  2. Sep 8 ·  Video

    Denver Summit Just Beat the Best Team in the League. Angel City Is Next.

    Denver Summit FC just beat the best defense in the NWSL 3-0, and it's the team we've been waiting for all season. Scoreless at half. Then three goals in the final forty-one minutes — Yamamoto, Thomas, and Ryan all get on the board, Kat Asman gets her first clean sheet in a Denver shirt, and we end Gotham's ten-match unbeaten run for the second time this year. I break down the numbers behind what was honestly a ruthless performance, and I get into the rookie contracts nobody's talking about — three of our four rookies are already locked up through 2028. Then the part that stings a little. Sunday's win barely moved us in the standings. Orlando's one point back now, and I walk through exactly what has to happen this weekend for us to actually gain ground. The back half of the show is all Friday. We're at Angel City in a match that might decide our season, and I get into the full breakdown — their coaching change, the venue splits, and my actual prediction, model and all. Follow along at @5280pitch on Instagram, Threads, and Facebook. Newsletter and blog at 5280pitch.com. Sign up for the newsletter and get special merch discounts!

    Denver Summit Just Beat the Best Team in the League. Angel City Is Next.

  3. Sep 1 ·  Video

    Denver Summit FC: Nine Games Left and Four Points From an NWSL Playoff Spot

    Denver Summit FC beat the Chicago Stars 6-1 at Centennial Stadium, the most goals any NWSL team has scored in a single match this season, and I've got a lot to say about all of it. Six goals. Five assists. Eight different players with a goal contribution. Melissa Kössler ended a 126-day drought with a brace, Yuzuki Yamamoto and Olivia Thomas both scored their first, and Lindsey Heaps came back at Centennial for the first time since the injury, wore the armband, and set up the second goal inside 19 minutes. I break down what Lindsey and Yuzu did together from the opening kick, why that was the most comfortable game Yuzu has had in Denver, and what Liv Thomas gave up to be here. You'll hear from Nick Cushing on the negotiation over Lindsey's minutes, and from Melissa and Olivia in the press room afterward. Then the honest part. Chicago are last in this league and they were missing their two best attackers, so I go through what Saturday proves and what it doesn't. And the table. Denver sit ninth on 27 points, four back of Seattle with nine to play and five of those at home. I lay out exactly what has to happen, why Angel City worry me more than Seattle do, and why our home record is the number nobody is talking about. Plus a full preview of Gotham FC, Sunday at noon at Centennial. Follow along at @5280pitch on Instagram, Threads, Facebook and X. Newsletter and blog: 5280pitch.com

    Denver Summit FC: Nine Games Left and Four Points From an NWSL Playoff Spot

  4. Aug 28 ·  Video

    Denver Summit FC Host Chicago Stars: The One They're Supposed to Win

    Chicago has scored two goals on the road all season. One win, no draws, ten losses away from home. They are last in the NWSL and they come to Centennial Stadium on Saturday night. This is the one Denver Summit FC is supposed to win. Kate Hanson breaks down why that's exactly the problem. Denver sit twelfth on twenty-four points with ten matches left. Seattle hold the last playoff place on twenty-eight. Six of Denver's final ten are at home, and five are against the four clubs directly in this race — Chicago, Bay, Seattle, and Louisville. The playoff path runs straight through Denver's own schedule. Full availability report from Thursday: Lindsey Heaps back in training with the group after four matches out, Abby Smith day to day and back on the ball, and Nick Cushing's direct answer on whether Kat Asman has earned a second start after five saves on six shots in her NWSL debut. Also in this one: how Cushing built the goalkeeper room around Karen Bardsley, the standard he set for Asman on the record, why Denver's fullbacks push to the halfway line and what that leaves behind, a full scouting report on Chicago under interim head coach Karina Báez, and three Colorado storylines nobody else is telling. Plus Cushing on the final third: twenty-seven box entries at Portland, sixty-three percent of the ball, zero big chances. His words: frustrated and impatient. Denver Summit FC vs. Chicago Stars. Saturday, 6:45 p.m. MT, Centennial Stadium. ION, Denver7, and The Spot Denver 3. The 5280 Pitch. Women's Soccer at Altitude. 🎧 New episodes every Tuesday 📰 The 5280 Weekly newsletter → 5280pitch.com 📱 Follow @5280pitch on Instagram and Threads 🛒 Shop the Support Women's Soccer Merch → https://bit.ly/4xpBHPs #DenverSummitFC #ChicagoStarsFC #NWSL #KatAsman #LindseyHeaps #JanineSonis #MallorySwanson #NickCushing #WomensSoccer #ColoradoSoccer #NWSLExpansion #5280Pitch

  5. Aug 25 ·  Video

    Denver Summit FC Had the Ball All Night in Portland and Lost

    Denver Summit FC held 62.5% of the ball at Portland, got into the Thorns' box 29 times, and lost 1-0 in an NWSL road match that looked nothing like the scoreline. Abby Smith was out of the starting eleven for the first time in club history, which handed Kat Asman the first career start of her life — in the stadium that drafted her and never played her. She made five saves and held Portland under their expected goals and lost anyway, because Sophia Wilson ran past Denver's back line in the 44th minute and there was nobody left to chase her. Nick Cushing sat down after and called the choice between his two backup goalkeepers the biggest decision of his day. Not the shape. Not the game plan. That's the part of this loss that points forward. Plus: two streaks ended in the same ninety minutes, one of them league-wide. And I went through all 26 goals Denver have conceded this season to test a theory about the high line — and found out I was wrong, in a way that's more interesting than being right. Follow along at @5280pitch on Instagram, Threads, and Facebook. Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6jiBAbW0QXepwdqK0qhaaF Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-5280-pitch-denver-summit-fc-podcast/id1859060272 Newsletter and blog: 5280pitch.com

    Denver Summit FC Had the Ball All Night in Portland and Lost

  6. Aug 18 ·  Video

    A Point on the Road — Abby Smith's 300th and Eva Gaetino's Injury

    Denver Summit FC take a point on the road in a 1-1 draw at San Diego Wave, and this NWSL recap starts with the news: Eva Gaetino came off in the 16th minute holding her hamstring. Nick Cushing's full answer on her status is in this episode. Denver went into Snapdragon Stadium without Lindsey Heaps, lost a starting center back before the game was a fifth over, went down at halftime, and still walked out with the first home point San Diego had surrendered all season. Cushing called it two points dropped. I don't agree, and I explain why. Also in this episode: Abby Smith's 300th career NWSL save, making her the 12th goalkeeper in league history to reach the mark. Janine Sonis has 8 goals and 4 assists — a defender leading her club in scoring, and why that's a warning sign as much as a great story. Yazmeen Ryan and Sonis have now combined for 13 of Denver's 25 goals, and Cushing answers directly when asked how anyone else gets involved. Then Portland. The Thorns haven't lost a home regular season match in 12 straight. Olivia Moultrie is out for the year with an ACL tear. Sophia Wilson has 9 goals. Denver already beat this team in July — but that was at altitude. Saturday is Providence Park. Follow @5280pitch on Instagram, Threads, and Facebook. Newsletter and blog: 5280pitch.com

    A Point on the Road — Abby Smith's 300th and Eva Gaetino's Injury

  7. Aug 11 ·  Video

    Denver Summit FC Lost Every Stat and Beat Utah Anyway

    Denver Summit FC beat the Utah Royals 2-1 on Saturday night, and every number from that match says they shouldn't have. Utah out-shot them 18 to 12 and doubled them on expected goals. Then put three of those eighteen shots on target. Three. Kate Hanson breaks down why this NWSL result looked nothing like the rest of Denver's season, and why Nick Cushing's postgame answer about embracing the chaos of an expansion year is the most honest thing he's said all year. Also in this one: an Abby Smith performance the box score completely misses, and the yellow card that made no sense. Janine Sonis at eight goals and a career-best eleven goal contributions, on the first direct free kick in club history. Kaleigh Kurtz's 150th appearance and the record nobody's talking about. One substitution in eighty-nine minutes. And a Continental Divide rivalry that nobody actually won. Then Friday night in San Diego, against a team sitting fourth while finishing ten and a half goals below its own expected goals. New episodes every Tuesday. Get The 5280 Weekly newsletter and sweet merch at 5280pitch.com. Follow along on Instagram, Threads, and Facebook.

    Denver Summit FC Lost Every Stat and Beat Utah Anyway

  8. Aug 7 ·  Video

    Seventeen Shots, Zero Chances: Denver Summit FC's Real Problem

    Denver Summit FC have spent this whole season creating chances and not finishing them — and after Wednesday's 0-2 loss to the North Carolina Courage, that story doesn't hold up anymore. Denver took seventeen shots at Centennial Stadium and created zero big chances. Twenty-eight touches inside the Courage box, six corners, and not one clear look at goal. Tash Flint took seven of those seventeen shots by herself. Kate Hanson went back through the last five matches and found the collapse underneath it: six big chances created, then five, then five, then two, then none. There's a second number in there too — Denver hasn't scored a goal from open play since the eighteenth of July, three matches and twenty days ago. Nick Cushing addresses it directly from Wednesday's press conference, including his answer on why the margins keep going against his team, and Kate explains where she thinks that argument runs out. Also this week: Cushing's update from Thursday's practice on Lindsey Heaps' knee and what day-to-day actually means, his confirmation that the club is working the transfer window and is confident about bringing players in, Tash Flint on needing to be more ruthless in front of goal, and Ayo Oke's night. Plus a full look at Saturday's Continental Divide Rivalry match when Denver hosts the Utah Royals — a side sitting third in the NWSL while running five and a half goals ahead of its own underlying numbers — and the league's new 2027 calendar, which hands this club the shortest offseason in NWSL history. Follow the show at @5280pitch on Instagram, Threads, and Facebook. Sign up for the newsletter, find sweet merch, and everything else at 5280pitch.com.

    Seventeen Shots, Zero Chances: Denver Summit FC's Real Problem
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4.8
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About

Women's soccer in Denver is no longer a "what if." Denver Summit FC is here. And every Tuesday, Kate Hanson — Colorado native and sports radio reporter — breaks down what's actually happening. The results. The roster. The moments defining this inaugural season in real time. Plus the players themselves, in their own words. Inaugural seasons only happen once. Might as well pay attention. Women's soccer at altitude.

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