It was a blustery night at Audi Field as the Washington Spirit hosted their NWSL home opener for 2025 against KC Current in front of a sold-out 19,254 fans— a new record for the club. The Spirit didn’t come out the gates with all of their firepower due to a list of injuries. Even superstar Trinity Rodman started on the bench as they’re easing her back in after her injury.
The opening 10 minutes were all KC, with most of their possession in the Spirit’s half of the field. Every time the Spirit tried to put together a play, the Current’s press would run them errant. In the 14th minute, the Current had the Spirit on their heels when a lobbed ball landed at the feet of Michelle Cooper. At the last minute when it looked like goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury was beaten, Rebeca Bernal slid in to deflect the ball over the goal for a corner.
Just five minutes later, the Current had a second chance to break the deadlock after a Spirit mistake in the midfield. After another lob broke the backline, Kingsbury mistimed her run out the box and failed to neutralize Temwa Chawinga. The striker gathered herself and found Debinha in the center of the box. The Brazilian fired an attempt on a frazzled Spirit defense but rattled the crossbar. Chawinga came back two minutes later threatening the front of goal but Kingsbury made a diving challenge and deflected it out of bounds. Then again, Michelle Cooper flew down the right wing and sent a beautiful cross in front of the keeper that landed to Chawinga. With Kingsbury beat, a tap-in would’ve broken the deadlock but she skied her attempt into the stands.
The Spirit finally posed a threat at goal in the 34th minute. From a corner kick, there was chaos in the keeper’s box and a slight deflection put goalkeeper Lorena on her heels as a last-minute swipe kept the Spirit from their first goal.
The tide changed in the 54th minute when a penalty was awarded for a handball inside the box. Lo’eau LaBonta converted her attempt to give the Current the lead.
Trinity Rodman was subbed on for Chloe Ricketts and immediately made a difference. It looked like she had scored within just a minute of being on the field. From a corner kick, she gathered a deflection and beat Lorena just feet in front of goal, but a VAR check would confirm she was offside. When Ashley Hatch went down inside the box minutes later, it looked as if the Spirit would have their turn at a penalty. But the referee would overturn the call after VAR reversed the decision.
With few chances and little creation, 11 minutes of stoppage time stood between the hosts and their first loss of the season. Brittany Ratcliffe was knocked down in the box and the foul looked like a pretty obvious penalty but the match played on, which sparked an eruption of boos in the sold-out stadium.
The match was sealed after Chawinga finally got the best of Kingsbury and sunk the match-winner in the dying embers of stoppage time. In the 98th minute, the Malawian speedster beat the last defender and bested the keeper, quickly repossessing a deflected shot and converting her second attempt.
One question people will have is why the Spirit switched their formation. “We’ve played in a three-back before, just a different personnel for it,” said Tara McKeown after the match. “Some of our passes were just a bit off but we’re gonna have to clean those things up if we’re gonna get going.”
The Spirit will go back to the drawing board and get ready for their next match against Bay FC, next week on Friday, March 28, at Audi Field.
-Jon Jones
Photo: Courtesy of Washington Spirit