Washington Spirit’s first game of 2026 is days away, and the big question this year is: can the third time be the charm? After two second-place regular season finishes and two Championship-matches lost, can the Spirit not just repeat their success but improve upon it?

In 2025, Washington Spirit had a reputation for one of the deepest benches in the NWSL, particularly in the attacking group, as well as for versatility and set piece strength. They finished second in the regular season and in goals scored, despite some early defensive struggles. Though the offseason had some unexpected player movement, their strengths should largely stay unchanged this year.

Adrián González, entering his first full season as head coach, said the team used the offseason to rest and reflect and that they’re “very excited” to begin the next campaign with tonight’s match against Portland Thorns FC.

Challenges ahead

With two new expansion teams joining the league, this will be the longest NWSL season yet, featuring 30 regular season games between March and November. The Spirit will also need to balance that with both knockout stage of the 2025-26 Concacaf W Champions Cup and, potentially, a run in the 2026-27 tournament. For a team that has struggled with consistent player availability for the past two seasons — last year they often had enough unavailable players to make their own Starting XI, and does everyone remember the all-rookie midfield of the 2024 playoff run? — health will need to be a major focus this year.

Thankfully, González has reported that the team is in good health going into the season, and President of Soccer Operations Haley Carter told Hey Spirits that player availability is a key objective for the medical and performance teams. She emphasized player rotation, working to minimize the impact of travel, and improving both physical and mental durability of the players.

On the field, the Spirit have a couple of issues they will be focused on cleaning up from last year. First is their defense. While the team was near the top of the table all year, they allowed a high number of goals and defensive errors, especially in the early season. They were 9th of 14 in goals allowed and tied for first in own goals. Washington’s weak goal-area defending improved after the mid-season break, but it remains an obvious area of improvement if they want to compete for this year’s shield.

The second area of improvement lies at the other end of the pitch: in creating and finishing chances. While the Spirit’s attackers are fierce and numerous, they can sometimes lack creativity, allowing smart defenses to limit their chances from common angles. This was on full display during the 2025 playoff run, when the Spirit twice dominated games but struggled to put up the goals to match their performance. This is an area where the loss of Croix Bethune could hurt the Spirit, and without many new attackers, the team will largely need to rely on increasing chemistry and developing returning attackers to improve their precision in front of goal.

Predictions

Making it to the NWSL Championship match two years in a row is really, really hard. To pull it off, the Spirit had to finish in second in the regular season (both times!) to earn two rounds of home matches and rely on penalty save heroics from Aubrey Kingsbury (again, both times). So forgive me when I say I have some doubts about their ability to not just make it back but bring home the title this year. They’ve improved in health and had even more time to work on tactics and chemistry, but it’s not clear that they’ve made the personnel upgrades to win it all.

Still, this is an incredibly talented team who I fully expect to be competing for both Shield and Championship this year. They may not end up with either, but it would be a shock if they finish outside of the top four.