The past year and a half of Ashley Hatch's career has been a roller coaster.
She narrowly missed out on a World Cup roster spot last summer and then spent a third of this NWSL season on the bench for the Washington Spirit.
But you wouldn't know it looking at her stat line the past six games — or maybe you would.
Maybe Hatch is playing with an extra chip on her shoulder, looking to settle a score. If you ask Hatch what's behind the uptick in goals she's scored, she'll credit hard work and point to her teammates, in typical Hatch fashion.
"I think just working hard every single day, honestly. Even though this season has looked a little bit different for me as an individual, the team has been playing really well, and everyone's been working really, really hard," she told the Deseret News earlier this month.
Last season, Hatch started all 22 of the Spirit's matches, playing 1,838 minutes and scoring nine goals.
This season, she has only started 12 games and spent a lot of the other eight on the bench. While she did end up playing in every game this season, her time on the bench has dropped her playing minutes to 1,079.
But Hatch worked her way back into the starting lineup six games ago and is making the most of it, scoring four goals in the past five games.
"I've just been making sure that I show up every single day and work really hard for whatever opportunity I've given, and so getting the opportunity to get more minutes and to start, I've been super hungry for it and just ready and waiting for any opportunity," Hatch said. "I think that's where it's coming from. It's just lots of hard work every single day at training and just being hungry for any opportunity."
Hatch said she's seeing the game differently under new head coach Jonatan Giráldez, who made his sideline debut with the Spirit in July, and his style of play.
"I know it sounds cliché, but we do train really, really hard. But I feel like that's helping, and Jona just has helped us all see the game a little bit differently. We're all on the same page as players on the field. We know what to look for, kind of like the habits of each other, and so, of course, if we're going to understand each other better, then we're all going to play better as individuals because we're going to be in the right spots at the right time. I think it's a combination of all those things that has helped, and then just having the desire to help the team whenever I get on the pitch," Hatch said.
The decision to move Hatch, a former golden boot winner and the 2017 rookie of the year, to the bench was surprising. But like the competitor she is, Hatch saw it as another obstacle to overcome.
"I feel like I've experienced everything in my career: being a bench player, being a starter, somewhere in between, national team experience, coming back to the Spirit, being traded. So I kind of just saw it as another experience that I knew that I could overcome," she said.
She knew her team would need her eventually and made sure she'd be ready when her number was called. She used that as motivation.
"I think knowing that at some point the team is really gonna need me and wanting to be ready for that, that really motivated me, even if I wasn't seeing minutes at that particular time. I wanted to be ready for whatever was asked of me, and if the team needed me, I wanted to feel confident enough that I could step up and help the team and play like myself and be myself," she said.
That prevented her from "slacking" or "moping around" about how often she saw the pitch.
" Just knowing that that's who I am , and that's what I want to do, and that's that's what I preach, so I need to do it. So, just trying to stay true to myself and the person and player that I want to be is kind of what motivated me to make sure that I'm where I am right now," she said.
Hatch has two more regular season games to go and at least one playoff game this season after the Spirit clinched a home game in the first round of the playoffs.
When asked what she needs to do to keep her scoring streak hot the rest of the season, she gave a similar answer to the one she gave as her reasoning for her uptick in goals.
"The same thing that I've been doing all year, just working hard, focusing on the things that I can continue to get better at and help the team with. Also, just as a team and as a collective, we all need to continue to work hard and improve and build on our game as we go into playoffs," she said.
Following Sunday's game, the Spirit recognized Hatch for earning her 150th NWSL regular season cap on Sunday.
Hatch is only the 35th player to earn that many caps in the NWSL's 12-year history, according to the Spirit.
For context, Alex Morgan 's final game before retirement last month was her 150th cap, and Rapinoe retired before hitting 150.
The organization gifted Hatch with a framed No. 150 Spirit jersey, which she admitted in her postgame press conference that she has no idea where she'll display.
Hatch's last three goals have been historic.
On Sept. 15, Hatch became the seventh NWSL player to score 50 regular season goals after recording a brace in the game. Two matches later, Hatch scored goal No. 51 and tied Megan Rapinoe for sixth most regular season goals in NWSL history.
Her goal on Sunday puts her in sole possession of sixth place. The goal came via a penalty kick and makes her a perfect 11-for-11 from the penalty spot in her career.
That is the third most converted penalties in league history, per the Washington Spirit , and the longest streak in the NWSL, according to OptaJack . Her penalty kicking prowess could have been useful to the U.S. women's national team in last year's World Cup when the team was eliminated in the Round of 16 after three Americans missed in the penalty shootout.
On the all-time scoring list, Hatch is surrounded by some of the greatest to ever play in the NWSL. As the Deseret News previously reported , she trails:
Sam Kerr , 74 goals
Lynn Williams , 68 goals
Christine Sinclair , 65 goals
Alex Morgan, 60 goals
Jess McDonald, 54 goals
Ashley Hatch, 52 goals
While Hatch appreciates having her name next to the names of women's soccer legends, she isn't focusing on the accolades or thinking about her soccer legacy just yet.
"It's pretty cool. It's always fun to see. It definitely brings a smile to my face," Hatch said. "It's something that I'm sure that I'll appreciate more when I'm done with my career and I can look back on it and show my kids and stuff. But in the moment right now, I try not to think about it just because I'm so focused on what we're doing here. But yeah, it's fun to see, and it's pretty cool to be next to some of those names, for sure."
