Andi Sullivan is a longtime Washington Spirit player, having been with the team since she was drafted to Washington in 2018. She’s a leader, beloved teammate, USWNT player, vocal advocate, and all around good person – and now she’s going to be a Mom. Sullivan broke the news to her teammates in a team meeting by sharing a photo of her and her partner, Drew Skundrich, holding photos of an ultrasound.

Video of the moment has gone a bit viral across multiple platforms. One, because Sullivan is a well-known figure throughout women’s soccer, and because it’s rare and great to be able to microdose pure elation. Several Spirit players went absolutely bonkers in the most genuine and delightful of ways. Let’s review.

5) Esme Morgan Frozen in Time

As the camera pans around the room to capture several celebrations ranging from rambunctious to modest, we’re blessed to have a singular throughline in which to ground ourselves, courtesy of Esme Morgan. The news prompts her to cover her lower face with both palms, and just stay like that for a while. It’s not until the very end when the commotion simmers that she drops them from her face to join in applause. Given everything going on, , which we’ll get to, we needed this.

I firmly believe if this was a scene directed by Martin Scorsese he would have instructed someone to do exactly what Morgan is doing. With so much going on the audience needs an anchor that makes it safe to wander around the rest of the scene. In addition to it being a heartfelt reaction, it is also key to the rest of the video. Absolute cinema.

4) Makenna Morris’ Old Soul Claps of Approval

Prayerfully, as a future old Black man this one might be my personal favorite. It’s a fresh remix of a classic that the current world doesn’t give us enough opportunities to use. That’s why seeing a genuine one, from 22-year-old Makenna Morris, is special. There’s raw exuberance and delight in this reaction, but within a confined space. Enthusiastic claps join a slight bend of the knees, and finishes with a facial expression full of joy and pride for someone else.

That last part is important, this is not a reaction that’s ever a celebration of self, it is only elicited through a connection to another. This is also why I love it so much, it can be hard for writers or players themselves to tell you what a teammate means to them, through this reaction we can more fully understand.

3) Hal Hershfelt Simply Cannot Believe It

Perfect expression. Hal is stunned, verklempt, flabbergasted, absolutely gobsmacked at the news. I have three young nieces, all under 5, who sometimes ask me to read them a book of emotions. It’s not really a book, just pages of different emotions with a photo of someone doing their best to recreate the pinnacle of that page’s emotion. I’m very tempted to print out this screenshot of Hal and paste it into the book under ‘SURPRISED’. Sorry to whoever the person is in the book, but this is so much better.

This was the end of an elongated “Ohhh myyy goooood” from Hal, punctuated perfectly with both hands slowly clasping behind her head, and a look of pure astonishment on her face. If I’d just been given one of my dream cars (Alfa Romeo 4C or all black 1982 Chevrolet Corvette) I imagine I’d make a similar face. Instead, Hal is feeling this on behalf of Andi’s news, which is so much better than delight over a machine that drinks dinosaur juice and will one day rust away. There’s a lesson in there that I will think about later.

2) Trinity Rodman’s Ecstatic Lasso

Honestly iconic. Trinity Rodman goes through a variety of celebrations but this initial one is the best, and it feels perfectly in line with everything we know about her as a player and teammate. I’ve been guilty of wanting Rodman to be more selfish on the pitch, but while she loves to delight Audi and produce viral moments with her patented Trin Spin™, she’s always loved helping her teammates shine. It’s why she doesn’t seem to mind being asked to do a marathon’s worth of defensive work, or looks for opportunities to assist before putting her head down and going God Mode the way only a select few players can.

And in true Trinity Rodman fashion, the celebration is unrestrained, with a pinch of unhinged. I’m not sure where the lasso came from, and it doesn’t matter because it works. Rodman has told us postgame that she doesn’t really ever know what she’s going to do to celebrate a goal. She’s curled up and gone to sleep, taking Steph Curry’s ‘night night‘ celebration a few steps further, she’s also hit TikTok dances, sprinted half the pitch gesturing for Magic Johnson to throw her an alley-oop and dunking anyway, strutted, and engaged in a ‘just business’ handshake with a teammate – and they all work.

So when she whips out an invisible lasso to celebrate a pregnancy announcement, that works too.

1) Andi Sullivan Feeling the Love

Andi Sullivan has had a particularly difficult past few years. She’s been a leader of the team through previous ownership and its coddling of abusers, went supernatural during the 2021 run to the club’s first NWSL championship, endured a tough period with the USWNT (often wrongly being singled out as a weak link), and in the midst of a season in which she got to shed all that and get back to doing what she does best, she tore her ACL against Orlando a month before the playoffs.

This is part of the reason why her teammates celebrated as hard and as genuinely and raucously as they did. It’s also perfect that Andi got to absorb this outpouring of love and emotion for a personal milestone rather than a professional one, because it speaks directly her impact extending well beyond the pitch. Any win for Andi Sullivan is a win for the good guys, and we need to celebrate the absolute shit out of them.