Washington Spirit midfielder Croix Bethune has been named the NWSL Rookie of the Month, presented by Ally, for her performance during March and April. She also shares the honor of being named to the NWSL’s Best XI of the Month with teammate Casey Krueger for their performance during March and April.
Bethune was a key reason for the Spirit’s hot start to the 2024 regular season as she netted three goals, two of which were game-winners, and added an assist during the club’s March and April matches. Her stellar performance helped the Spirit to a four-match win streak, it’s longest since the side’s NWSL Championship run in 2021.
Bethune is already making a case to be May’s Rookie of the Month as well. In the Spirit’s first match of the month, she became just the fifth player in NWSL history to record three assists in a single regular season match, paving the way for big midweek victory for Washington against the Red Stars.
Bethune came out of the gates on fire in her first professional campaign, scoring three goals and adding an assist in her first six matches. The midfielder netted a game-winner, her first career goal, in Washington’s home opener against Bay FC before finding the back of the net again in Houston and recording another game-winner against East Coast rival NJ/NY Gotham FC. Bethune is joined by Kansas City’s Vanessa DiBernardo and Louisville’s Taylor Flint in the midfield of March/April’s Best XI.
Selected with the third overall pick in this year’s NWSL Draft, Bethune started all six matches of March/April competition, playing 532 out of a possible 540 minutes to start the year. Alongside fellow first-year player Hal Hershfelt and Spirit veteran Andi Sullivan, Bethune completes a starting midfield that accounted for six goals in six matches. Bethune is the second Spirit player to earn Rookie of the Month honors in the past year, joining fellow midfielder Paige Metayer who won the award for her performance last June.