central back. Rustand is too slow to play such an important position, especially when our offense is so poor and pretty much any game we would win we would still only get one or two goals. Rustand has good ball control and generally good positioning, but she is just not quick and athletic enough to handle the speedy attacking players that other top teams have. And tonight showed it when a quick player like Castain is going at her and the best Rustand could do was a late slide tackle to legitimately foul her in the box and give up the PK.

Maybe Summers isn't as experienced (and absolutely got burned once later in game when she was moved to central back), but she has the physical tools and quickness that she has a higher ceiling back there. Or move Freeman to central back, or move Krommenhoek to central back.

Obviously as the injuries pile up to great players, our overall squad is going to be weaker. But need to make better coaching decision than starting Rustand at center back the rest of the season. Core defense is critical since our offense is rather anemic this season, and any goal we give up is a huge blow.