The Washington Spirit secured a 2-0 victory over the Portland Thorns with goals from Gift Monday and Croix Bethune, propelling them to the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) championship game. The Spirit’s win sets them up for their second consecutive NWSL final appearance in San Jose, California next weekend, where they will face the winner of the Gotham FC versus Orlando Pride semifinal match.
This marks the fourth time the Spirit will compete for the championship title in their history. In the previous season, they were defeated 1-0 by the Pride in the final. The first goal of the game was initiated by Rosemonde Kouassi, who made a swift 80-yard run to set up Gift Monday for an easy tap-in following a Thorns corner kick in the 27th minute.
Despite Thorns goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold making six crucial saves, including a remarkable sequence in the 56th and 57th minutes, the Spirit continued to press forward. Sofia Cantore came close to doubling the lead in the 69th minute but struck the post. Croix Bethune secured the win for the Spirit in the 83rd minute by outmaneuvering Arnold and calmly slotting the ball into the empty net.
In a significant moment, U.S. women’s national team forward Trinity Rodman made a comeback from a knee injury in the 90th minute, replacing Cantore. Rodman nearly extended the lead to 3-0 in stoppage time of the second half but narrowly missed the target with her shot from inside the box.
The semifinal match took place at a packed Audi Field in Washington, D.C., with a capacity crowd of 19,365 spectators. This is the second consecutive year that the Spirit has hosted an NWSL Playoff semifinal, and they have now sold out four consecutive playoff games.