Washington Spirit vs. C.F. Monterrey Femenil: Champions Cup preview, time, and how to watch
Any fan of the Washington Spirit knows that this team thrives on drama. They’ve created some for themselves once again, with tonight’s match against C.F. Monterrey set to determine their fate in the Concacaf W Champions Cup.
After dominating their first two matches in the group stage, the Spirit tied NJ/NY Gotham FC two weeks ago, setting the stage for tonight’s competition. Washington can still top Group B with a win or advance with a draw, but a loss will end their tournament hopes.
You can read more about the Concacaf W Champions Cup in our tournament preview, get ready for tonight’s match here, and chat with us in the comments during the game!
The opponents
Monterrey, also known as Rayadas, are having something of an odd year. After winning both the Clausura and Apertura in 2024, they finished fourth in Clausura 2025 and are sitting in sixth place in the ongoing Apertura. (How much this change in fortune was impacted by longtime captain Rebeca Bernal’s departure to Washington is open to speculation.)
The Champions Cup offers Rayadas the chance to succeed in a different format, and they’re doing their best to take it. Over their first three matches, they’ve put in two dominant wins, equaling the Spirit on goal differential, and lost to Gotham by just one goal. Expect them to be highly motivated and playing their best talent in Buzzard Point tonight.
Projected starting XI
With NWSL games on the Saturdays bookending tonight’s, the Spirit will be in heavy rotation mode. The high stakes of tonight’s game, though, combined with the fact that they’ve already locked up second place in the league, mean they’re likely to play more of their traditional starters than in past Concacaf matches.
MacIver
Carle – Sylla – Bernal – Metayer
Hershfelt – Stainbrook – Santos
Ratcliffe – Monday – Kouassi
For today’s starting lineup prediction, I’ve used the availability from last Saturday’s match against NC Courage and favored players who didn’t play a full 90 in that game. In addition to these players, I would be surprised not to see Croix Bethune, Trinity Rodman, and Tara McKeown take the field at some point.
Standings
Here’s how Group B is looking heading into tonight’s game.
| Team | MP | W | D | L | Pts | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NJ/NY Gotham FC | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 6 |
| Washington Spirit | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 11 |
| C.F. Monterrey | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 11 |
| Vancouver Rise FC Academy | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | -11 |
| Alianza FC | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | -17 |
Location: Audi Field, Washington, DC
Kick-off time: 6:15 p.m. ET
Available streaming: Paramount+, ESPN Deportes
We haven’t seen a lot of Stainbrook lately so it’ll be interesting to see how she does tonight. I think we will eek out a 1-0 win.
This is one of the biggest games in club history, and I hope the lineup decisions and the crowd turnout reflect that! But I’m not getting my hopes up. Let’s just get the win and lock up first place.
I think the team is taking the game very seriously, but with the way Concacaf has been marketing these, I’m not too confident about crowd size.
And that Trinity injury didn’t look great.