Ok that’s enough grieving about the NWSL Championship. To help, the Washington Spirit announced that they’ve filled the President of Soccer Operations role by poaching Orlando Pride general manager, Haley Carter.

The President of Soccer Operations role at the Spirit was previously held by Mark Krikorian, who was largely responsible for the incredible pool of collegiate talents (Bethune, McKeown, Hershfelt, Wiesner, etc.). Carter, who was appointed as General Manager and Vice President of Soccer Operations at Orlando in 2023, had a similarly difficult job at the outset. The Pride were the NWSL’s most unserious team, and finished 10th of 12 teams at the time the season before she was hired.

In a short period of time, Carter helped transform the culture of the Pride in ways that were felt inside the organization, and eventually across the global landscape of women’s soccer. The Pride set ultra ambitious targets which were backed up by incredible player acquisitions, from the record-breaking transfer of Barbra Banda, to smart and sensible moves for Rafaelle and Emily Sams. The result was Orlando not just shedding their unserious label, but locking it in a safe and plunging it into the deepest depths of the ocean. In 2024 the Pride won both the NWSL Shield and NWSL Championship (ugh), becoming only the second ever club to do so in league history.

Carter’s story goes deeper than that, though. She was a goalkeeper at Navy throughout her college career, after which she joined the Marines, spending eight years in the service and enduring several deployments. As a Marine she continued playing soccer, representing the United States in the Women’s Military World Soccer Championships. After, she joined the Houston Dash from 2013-2016.

Perhaps most impressively—even more impressive than turning around the Orlando Pride—is her work with the Afghanistan Women’s National Team. She started as assistant coach of the team in 2016, and after a Taliban takeover, was part of a crew of ‘six women, some human rights lawyers, football coaches and a program director’ that helped 86 Afghan athletes escape the country. Seriously, it is a story well worth reading.

All this is perhaps why turning around the Orlando Pride was seemingly light work. Now, Carter heads into a different sort of challenge. Over the past two seasons the Spirit have been the NWSL’s most consistent team, finishing second in back-to-back seasons and reaching the NWSL Championship in back-to-back seasons as well. The task with the Spirit is not one of salvation, but of finding the bits to optimize (without destabilizing what’s working) that will help the club convert their many successes into trophies—particularly with the Concacaf Champions Cup and Women’s Club World Cup on the horizon.

Additionally, Carter is one of the most outspoken front office figures in the league. She was one of the only leadership figures to speak out when Barbra Banda was targeted by right wing outrage peddlers, detailed her displeasure with the removal of nearly 400 books from the U.S. Naval Academy’s library, and has also shared her thoughts on players leaving the NWSL for Europe.

Carter now heads to Washington, DC at an interesting time. Here in the District, Audi faithful started chanting “FREE DC” in the 51st minute of matches to push back on President Trump ordering a massive National Guard presence in the District. There’s also the development of a new stadium at the old RFK Stadium site, which is expected to become the new home of the Washington Commanders (and potentially Washington Spirit as well), which the President wants named after himself. Things here are decidedly very weird.

Anyway, this is an exciting move for the Washington Spirit. Carter’s methods have already proven to be successful, and she has the background and savvy to navigate the tricky obstacles ahead—including the re-signing of Trinity Rodman. With Carter hired as the President of Soccer Operations, Nathan Minion, who was the acting general manager after the departure of Krikorian, has been officially promoted to the role on a permanent basis.

Welcome, Haley!

Lead image courtesy of the Washington Spirit.