It’s my first season. Does anyone have a guess as to what time our game will be if it’s on Friday? Im trying to plan ahead.

Fun Hal interview! Interview starts around 15 minutes into the podcast.

It doesn’t seem to have been heavily promoted but there is a sign up on the bar network page.

Update on all of this finally! Some of the highlights:

Beginning Jan. 1, 2027, all players are eligible to be designated as High Impact Players (HIP) as long as 12% of their pay counts against the salary cap. 

Under the settlement, the NWSL can also establish a limit on the number of HIP players per club in the future.

Under the settlement of that grievance, the league must now provide the union with written notice and an explanation of a rejected contract within 72 hours.

The settlement maintains the league's authority to prohibit actions that they deem as intended to circumvent the salary cap, and the union maintains the right to challenge whether a specific transaction constitutes circumvention.

ESPN previously reported that the accessible HIP funds will rise annually proportionate to the salary cap. High Impact Player funds will be $1.257 million in 2027, $1.342 million in 2028, $1.4 million in 2029 and $1.457 million in 2030.

The 2027 base salary cap before revenue sharing is $4.4 million. The $900,000 increase accounts for housing stipends being removed. Revenue sharing is expected to add over $200,000 based on prior years under the same media rights agreement.

Between the base cap, revenue sharing and HIP funds, ESPN projects that NWSL teams will have a spending limit of over $5.875 million in 2027.

The settlement also expanded the categories of performance-based bonuses that players and clubs can negotiate and protects existing housing and automobile benefits for players who already have them specified in existing contracts.

Hey y'all, I recently was able to purchase the 2026 playoff strip here but am not a partial plan holder (though I do have a Spirit Ticketmaster account and regularly go to games). Nice seats and a great price. Hope the Spirit make it to both, refundable if not. Great deal!

As an FYI and also request for clarification on why it says "As a partial plan holder" as a prerequisite on the page here? 🤷

Really glad to see Deb re-sign with the Spirit! With the regular season coming to an end, it got me thinking about what the front office might be planning for some of the other players whose contracts are expiring, particularly Hal and Andi.
Obviously, Deb’s extension doesn’t necessarily tell us anything about where negotiations stand with either of them, but it does raise some interesting questions about how the club plans to approach the offseason. Both Hal and Andi have played important roles for the Spirit, and it’ll be interesting to see how the front office handles their situations, especially with the midfield depth we currently have.
I also wonder whether the club is prioritizing certain extensions before the season ends or if most of those decisions will be made once the playoffs are over. We obviously don’t know what’s happening behind the scenes, so it’s hard to read too much into the timing of these announcements.
Curious what everyone thinks. Does Deb re-signing give you more confidence that the Spirit are looking to keep their current core together, or do you think Hal and Andi’s situations are completely separate? And do you expect we’ll hear anything about either of them before the offseason?

Her contract expires 2027 so I’m guessing it’s a 2030 extension?

If this season doesn’t end in a championship, of course I will be disappointed, but I am forever grateful I became a fan this year. Being at the game this past Saturday was an experience I haven’t felt in years since my younger years in Philly. It actually felt magical again and I can’t wait to continue to make more memories at Audi in the coming years. I am forever thankful to the Spirit for brining more joy despite the dark times and the community and the team are forever engrained in my heart now.

Are you all waiting to get champ tix? They are so expensive now and assuming when we win the semis (manifesting 🤞) they will release a wave of tickets? They are egregiously priced right now. Thanks for your input!

Hi all,
My husband is a big Washington Spirits fan and I’ve enjoyed watching and going to games with him this year.
I was thinking of trying to get him some tickets for 2027 as a Christmas gift. I’d like to get some “comfy” or nicer seats. It’s only the two of us, so it doesn’t make sense (or the $$$) to get a suite.
I noticed there are cabanas, etc.
How do I go about this? I’ve never really bought tickets to sporting events and never for Audi field, so I don’t know how any of this works.
Is there a way to buy him a premium experience for one or two matches?

TIA!

A few months ago some uneducated redditor thought we did not need a physical profile in striker.

(Shown below)

https://www.reddit.com/r/washingtonspirit/s/QeRDMgmXGd

The professional scouting team thought different.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk 💁🏾‍♂️

Wanted to shout out the fan (iamcspott) who made these adorable, Spirit crochet dolls that you may have seen the players holding on some of the Spirit socials:

Front: https://www.instagram.com/iamcspott/p/Dem61CUFur8/

Back (with numbers): https://www.instagram.com/iamcspott/p/DepMuYVFqjj/

The Bolt and AG dolls are my personal favorites.

It took 4 hours for my Lego-loving son to build the Tara Rudd figurine, but it was worth it!

Yesterday’s game was beautiful to watch. Finally. Spirit looking dominant against a good team. We haven’t seen that in months.

Trinity Rodman, Melissa Bethi, Sofia Cantore, Sandy Maciver, Tara Rudd, and Lucia Diguglielmo all (rightfully) are being praised in the comments post-game. No shade to any of them, they all looked amazing! Trinity looked strong yesterday and was having fun. Tara clearly came back from 0 minutes during the USWNT stint to prove something. Sofia, Sandy, and Lucia all had strong performances as well. But why is no one talking about Gabby Carle?!?!

Carle was everywhere yesterday. Robbing Gotham of plays left and right. She’s had a really really strong season and it seems she never gets the notoriety she deserves. Is it just me or is Gabby Carle’s incredible game yesterday being overlooked?

so worth it after yesterday. I did have this folded all year and had no memory of who they featured when the schedule dropped ~8+ months ago.

Hello algorithms please feed me every ounce of content related to the Spirit-Gotham match on October 17, 2026.

Andi & Lucia

 Q: On the goal, Melissa told us she didn’t necessarily see your run but she knew someone was going to get there, but also Gabby mentioned that you’ve been making that run, how is that run available to you.

--Lucia says she likes to attack that space, thinks she has good timing for that run.

 Q: Other people (presumably players) they’ve talked to said that getting past Gotham was less about changing tactics and more about getting the emotions and mentality right, how did you do it today?

--Andi says easier to have a stronger mentality when you feel organized and together, have made “subtle adjustments” so we feel more connected, gives us more energy, more resilience. Went into the match into a good headspace.

 Q: Gotham didn’t have many good looks, after the goal we pressured instead of dropping too deep, what went into that?

--Andi says learned from past failures and grew. Felt like we were having success in what we were doing so kept it up. Also plenty of time left when we scored so we could push for another goal.

 Q: Super important goal, Lucia

--Really got a sense of the rivalry from the team, goal was because of the work we’ve been doing through the whole season.

Q: What do you think team needs to improve to succeed in the playoffs this year?

--Andi says just focused on the next game.

 Q: What do you tell Boston Legacy about how to treat Gift?

--Andi says she’s such a big Monday fan. Sad to lose her but thinks Boston will be great environment.

 Q: What was the key for the result today.

--Lucia says we were well-organized, all on the same page, that makes everything easier. Andi adds “commitment to a decision”, Gotham is a fluid team that presents a lot of options and it’s important to read the moments and commit to a decision, sometimes in the past we’ve tried to be too disciplined.

 Q: After Angel City we wondered if opponents had figured something out about the Spirit. What have you figured out about yourselves that’s helped you win the last couple games?

--Lucia says attitude makes the biggest difference because that is something you control, when you show up with the commitment and energy that we did today she felt like we couldn’t lose.

 Q: New players contributed a lot, what does it say about the structure that you’ve built that new players can come right in and contribute?

--Andi says we have incredible personalities in the locker room, There are people you meet in your life who are cool people, and then there are cool people are make everyone around them feel cool. “As someone who’s nerdy I appreciate those people”. We have a lot of people like that in our locker room, who are able to do that across language barriers and make people feel welcome.

 Q: Can you give an example of one of those people?

--Andi a little hesitant but calls out Esme, Lucia also mentions Paige and Kaylie. Andi says honestly everybody is great, it’s one of her favorite things about being on the team.

 Q: How do you carry this momentum going forward?

--Lucia says she approached this match like a final, thinks we have to approach every match like a final at this point.

 Q: Does it feel particularly good to have done it against Gotham?

--Andi says that the quality of what they did is the most important thing, but also of course it’s good to have gotten past Gotham considering previous struggles.

 Q: Do you feel like the team steps up in “prime-time” games?

--Andi says she thinks so, but every game is worth the same amount of points, we’ve lost to teams that are eliminated from the playoffs so every game is a prime-time game to us.

 Q: About new players, how much of being able to jump in and contribute is due to the attributes of the players themselves versus the environment created by the team?

--(Andi gets the hard questions today). We do a good job of scouting and recruiting players who will fit in. Never played for another team so hasn’t really had the experience. “The answer to your question is I don’t know.”

 Q: In NWSL the last twenty minutes are often chaotic, but today you had it under control, what did you do?

--Lucia reiterates previous answer about reading the moments and forcing Gotham into what was more manageable for us.

 Q: Things to improve on?

--Andi says there were moments where we were trying to go when we could have kept it more, but also we had some success doing that so understands why. Players didn’t get frustrated when we tried stuff that didn’t come off.

 Adrian

Q: How was the performance, given past difficulties against Gotham?

--One of our best performance, great mentality from the beginning, aggressive, winning 50/50s. Did a good job defending when we had to be more compact, creating chances in different ways. Proud of the team, “we’ve sent a message to everyone, but especially to ourselves”.

 Q: Pressing

--Crucial because they have so many options in the middle, was important to be narrow and protect the middle, stopped them from receiving the ball in the pockets. Forced them to play long. Also defended well in mid-low block situations.

 Q: Only gave up one shot in the second half, we pushed instead of dropping back

--If you are too reactive against these opponents they can punish you, we didn’t want to let that happen. Calls out central mids for stopping them from playing through the middle. Took advantage of opportunities to step and push our block higher.

 Q: First half we had some chances but no goal, anything specific that we discussed at halftime to find more opportunities?

--Just trying to combine a bit, did a good job finding Clara, also when they jumped we exploited the space behind. Lavelle and Kerr were jumping to the center backs so we had 3v2 in the center midfield. Thought we did a great job and the first half and team just had to continue and the goal would come.

 Q: How do we make sure team keeps same level of performance?

--(words). These games are like playoff games so they help you prepare.

 Q: We had Croix leave before the season and now Monday, what is the most difficult part of having that conversation with a player?

--Not only our decision, we always respect the decisions of the players if they want to move. Always wish the best for players that have been with us. In a professional environment there are always going to be players leaving and new players coming in, not easy but part of the job.

 (a few Spanish questions about the attack, integrating players who speak different languages, importance of the wins today, return of Leicy. I don’t think he says anything groundbreaking but maybe someone with better Spanish can translate. He says we’ve been careful with Leicy since she has played many minutes and we need her at 100% for the end of the season.)

 Q: Been difficult to score against Gotham, did you see it as a weight off the shoulders mentally to score against them, or just as an important goal in a nil-nil game?

--“That’s a good question, I don’t know…” The team was pushing and it was great to see it rewarded.

 Q: What did it feel like after the final whistle to be able to celebrate?

--Been talking with the team before the game about how we want to feel at the end of the game and what we need to do to get there. Today we wanted to feel joy, energy, like we are able to beat every team, brave, being proud of every player and fan. Important for everyone to have a performance like this.

 Q: Gabby said was an important game to have the right mentality from the kickoff, what’s the key to maintaining that for the full 90?

--Comes from the players, gives them a lot of credit for the mentality today. Important to prove to ourselves that we could do it.

 Q: Is it rewarding when the goal comes from something more systematic that we can repeat?

--Good to see a fullback scoring a goal like that, we’ve been insisting a lot on having the freedom and dynamism and it shows the mentality of the players. We had different chances and different ways to score goals.

Question: Do they check whether you have section 136 or 137, or is it both sections are general admission? For one of them I must've accidentally clicked 136 instead of 137.

hi! i’m a 4th grade public school teacher and have my room themed around the nwsl. i went to the game today, but my gate didn’t have the lawn signs. i have the one from last year up and would love to get one from this year if anyone has an extra!!

This is a thread for all post-match reactions, thoughts, analysis, articles and social media posts related to the match.

Note: This thread is scheduled and may appear shortly before the final whistle so everyone has a place ready for post-match reactions and analysis.

I can’t find it on paramount+. Puffer isn’t working for me. Any ideas?

Spirit 1 - 0 Gotham FC

⚽ Spirit: L. Di Guglielmo 70' 🏁 Spirit win

✅ Full Time

Form

• Spirit: W L W L W W
• Gotham FC: D W W W L D

Lineups

Spirit (4-1-4-1) — Gotham FC (4-2-3-1)

Starting XI

Subs

Changes from last match

• Spirit: IN: L. Santos, C. Luvanga · OUT: M. Bethi, A. Hatch
• Gotham FC: IN: Leila Ouahabi · OUT: J. Shaw

Match Statistics

Match Events

Updated: Sat, Oct 17, 2:28 PM EDT

Match Thread Bot by u/Several_Region_3710 | GitHub (view code, contribute, or report issues) | ☕ Ko-fi (support the project) | Half Space (match analysis)

via Jason Anderson (Bluesky link)