Last year the NWSL schedule dropped on January 25, instead of February as it had the year before. This year they’ve spoiled us, and have released it a whole three days earlier. At least we’re moving in the right direction.

Anyway, thanks to the ‘schedule footprint’ announcement – which seemingly serves as a ‘please stop yelling at us we’re working on it’ maneuver the league has made an annual thing – we’ve known the Spirit’s first game for a couple weeks. The Spirit get to play in the now single-match Challenge Cup that’s supposed to be between the NWSL Shield and NWSL Championship winners. Painfully, Orlando won both last season so the league decided to run back the NWSL Championship. The Challenge Cup will see Washington Spirit head to Florida to face Orlando Pride on Friday, March 7 @ 8pm ET on Amazon Prime, one week before the regular season gets underway.

That game won’t count toward the regular season but will be an immediate chance at retribution, and a trophy. After that, your Washington Spirit’s regular season schedule looks like this:

You may have noticed a very fun thing at the very bottom of this table: It’s the return of Decision Day! The final matchday of the regular season, Sunday, November 2, will feature a barrage of seven games, potentially across two time blocks (3pm & 5pm ET), and likely across several broadcast partners. Hopefully the broadcasters agree to some form of whiparound show but all that is a concern for later. Having a decision day back in one of the most chaotic leagues on the planet is indescribably good news.

Quick Bits:

• Spirit Season Opener: Friday, March 14 (@ Houston Dash)
• Spirit Home Opener: Saturday, March 22 (v. Kansas City Current)
• 4 Back-to-Back Home Matches
  • Saturday, March 22 (v. Current) | Friday, March 28 (v. Bay FC)
  • Saturday, April 26 (v. Gotham) | Friday, May 2 (v. Angel City)
  • Sunday, August 31 (v. Chicago) | Sunday, September 7 (v. Seattle)
  • Sunday, September 28 (v. Houston) | Sunday, October 5 (v. San Diego)
• 7 Games on Network Television
  • CBS – Saturday, April 26 [1pm, v. Gotham]
  • ABC – Saturday, May 10 [12:50pm, @ Chicago]
  • CBS – Sunday, June 15 [4pm @ Portland]
  • ABC – Sunday, August 3 [12:30pm, v. Portland]
  • CBS – Saturday, August 23 [4pm, @ Bay FC]
  • CBS – Sunday, August 31 [4pm, v. Chicago]
  • CBS – Saturday, October 18 [12:30pm, v. Orlando]
• Final Home Game: Saturday, October 18 (v. Orlando)
• Final Regular Season Game: Sunday, November 2 (@ Utah)

Image courtesy of Washington Spirit