ella stevens has all the sauce

Whether condiment, marinade, accent, base or star, sauce is one of humankind’s most versatile, innovative and delicious creations. When translated to professional athletes, sauce is reserved for those who approach their tasks with flair and ingenuity. Like sauce itself, there are several ways in which an athlete can display theirs, from the sly and subtle to the soigné.

This season, Ella Stevens has shown she can deliver every variation.

Condiment

• ½ tsp Tekkers

• 1 cup Awareness

• 2 tbsp Vision

Sometimes a sauce need not be more than an accompaniment, developed to hitch a ride en route to our taste buds. For this recipe Stevens added a dash of spatial awareness after a high turnover, along with a hefty pour of awareness, drifting into a pocket and asking for a pass to her feet. Vision adds the kick, selling her as the purpose of the bite just before all the flavors combine. Her one-touch pass finds Crystal Dunn for a one-touch pass of her own to Rose Lavelle, in the space Stevens created at the start of the sequence. Appetizing.

Marinade

• 2 cups Soccer IQ

• 2 tbsp Linkup

• 3 cups Artisanal Center Forward

• 5 cups Tekkers

Like a good marinade, the influence of the flavor permeates throughout, leaving no bite free of its enchantment. Stevens was central to this goal in much the same way. The strike itself is a bite so good it overwhelms the senses, but its creation was the culmination of a move marinated by Gotham’s central striker.

She shows into a pocket of space to give the ball carrier, Yazmeen Ryan, a short and simple pass then playing it back into space to keep the move flowing. As Ryan continues her dribble she picks out Mandy Freeman, while Stevens continues to add ingredients. Stevens gets in front of the center back and points skyward, preparing them for an aerial duel in the center of the goal. As a teammate drifts between Stevens has cover to peel wide, providing Mandy Freeman a patch of grass to aim at instead of her forehead.

She then uses the time, confusion and space she created during the sequence to line up a falling volley, contorting her body to send the ball low to the far side netting with precision and perfect execution. This recipe requires patience and the right ingredients added at the right time, but get it right and the dish becomes more than food, it becomes a memory. Delectable.

Accent

• 3 tbsp Awareness

• 2 cups Spice

• 1 cup Selfless Center Forward

Accentuating a dish with a sauce requires a complex understanding of flavors to make it the unassuming star. Here Stevens combines potent awareness, luxuriant selfless center forward play, and enough spice to grab—and hold—your attention. This dish is a perfect creation. As the play unfolds excitement rises when the center forward is receiving a pass in front of her defender and only the keeper to beat. Most shoot, many score, but Stevens chose to cook.

She takes a couple short choppy strides to draw the keeper and force her hand. As she sprawls toward the ground to cover shooting angles, Stevens squares the ball along the line at the top of the six-yard box for Delanie Sheehan. As Sheehan prepares to smash into an empty net, Stevens knows her job is done and jogs away before the ball is struck. She doesn’t need to look, it’s Sheehan’s goal, but Stevens’ sauce is the main attraction. Sumptuous.

Base

• ½ cup Positioning

• 1 cup Target Forward

• 10 cups Petty

Sometimes a sauce is just there to do a job. Not to be subtle or unnoticed, but to provide a flavorful foundation on which to build. Set pieces are an important element of any successful team, and getting it into the mixer is the soccer pared down to its base essence. So a center forward who can score from these scenarios provides a key part of an attacking foundation.

Stevens shows that ability here, but after the goal she shows much more. The nod into the net was a simple act in the end, but it took positioning, timing and a deft directed touch. It’s not fancy, but it’s a foundation all reliable goalscorers must have. The header was a 90th minute goal to take a lead over her former team, the Chicago Red Stars. Stevens then celebrated by repeatedly kissing the badge of her new club, then took a selfie with her new teammates. Savory.

Star

• 3 cups Classic Center Forward

• 5 cups Tekkers

• 36 ounces Audacity

Sometimes the sauce is the point. And honestly, it’s a chef showing off in the best of ways. That’s what this goal is: Stevens compiling complex elements to create something that on the surface seems a bullet point of her job description—kick the ball into the net. But even simple can be elevated to uncharted heights through execution and technique; planning and precision.

Before the moment shown by the GIF, Stevens starts the sequence with a slick reverse pass to break the defensive line. She uses the ensuing panic, plus some bobbling around of the ball before it’s played back out to Jenna Nighswonger, to create a passing lane. Then, as the ball heads her way Stevens immediately concocts a fluid, singular motion maneuver.

The pass flies in hip height and is knocked it toward the ground by Stevens’ left boot. As it pops back into the air, she’s already planted her left and to wheel around with her right for a clean volleyed strike. The two touches are executed in under a second and with layers of peak technique and execution, all blended together for us to savor. Exquisite.