Washington Spirit decisively put an end to North Carolina Courage’s winning streak, defeating the home side 2-0 on Saturday night. Leicy Santos and Trinity Rodman both scored in the first half, but the Spirit had to rely on their defense to secure the win, as they were under frequent attack in the second.

The Spirit had a rocky first ten minutes while they struggled to connect passes, leading to a pair of early chances for Ashley Sanchez. Sandy MacIver stopped the first, and the second went wide before being whistled offside. They soon settled into the game, though, controlling possession by 61 percent and preventing the Courage from taking a single shot in the half.

“We needed to be a little bit more aggressive with penetrating runs and also some crosses,” Adrián González said, noting that they had not expected the Courage to play with five in the back line. “I think then the chances came.”

In the 37th minute, they finally capitalized on one of those chances. Kate Wiesner looped the ball overhead to Santos at the top of the box. Santos took a touch in the air to reposition the ball, then shot it home on the volley to put the Spirit ahead.

“What a goal! Fantastic. I wasn’t expecting that,” González said. “She has that magic, that unexpected.”

In first half stoppage time, they doubled their lead. Tara Rudd made a long pass overhead into the box. Rodman put on a burst of speed to get past her defender (despite a heavy shirt tug), positioning herself between the two centerbacks. Kailen Sheridan closed in, but similarly to what she did last week against Houston, Rodman slid the ball around the keeper just as she came out for it.

“We’re definitely just on the same wavelength at all times,” Rodman said of her connection with Rudd.

A second half adjustment by North Carolina put the Spirit solidly on the defensive. For the next 45 minutes, they had to weather 13 shots by the Courage, while managing only two of their own: a pair of chances for Rodman around the 65th minute.

The most threatening came shortly after the half began, when Sanchez made a free kick that appeared to have begun North Carolina’s comeback After Gabby Carle pulled her shirt along the edge of the box, Sanchez successfully called for a foul. Her free kick slipped past the wall and into the corner of the goal. A moment later, the referee was called over to review. VAR showed that Shinomi Koyama, moving with Rodman, had been within one yard of the wall when the kick was taken, invalidating it.

“The first minute of the second half, we started losing balls that maybe we shouldn’t, and the game started [to be] a little transitional, but, but yeah. We knew it would be tough today,” Gonzalez said. Despite being on the defensive for most of the second half, he spoke positively of his team’s performance.

“We are developing them also to be able to feel comfortable in those uncomfortable situations.”

Up next: The Spirit stay on the road, facing Gotham FC at Citi Field on Wednesday evening.

Three takeaways 

• Defensive strength. The Spirit were in one of those uncomfortable situations for the majority of the second half and deserve a lot of credit for how well they withstood it. Both centerbacks made a few big stops, and her one credited save belies the work MacIver put in to keep the clean sheet, once pouncing on a ball just as it left Sanchez’s foot. Despite this, González described box defending as an area where the team could still improve, particularly in positioning, being more physical, and creating more opportunities to clear the ball.
• Gift Monday gets the start. Washington’s leading goalscorer in 2025, Gift Monday, got just her second start of this season last night. González said that not only had Monday earned a start through her performance in training, her qualities were part of Washington’s tactical plan for this game. Her hold-up play could help them make runs underneath, while her skill in the air would help take advantage of the number of talented crossing players, like Rose Kouassi and Wiesner. More opportunities should be coming Monday’s way. Following up on last week’s dummy to create the game-winning goal, she forced one of the biggest saves of the night out of Sheridan.
• The Spirit show off their depth. One thing that helped the Spirit exert some control in the second half was the ability to bring on so many strong players from the bench. The triple sub of Sofia Cantore, Paige Metayer, and Deb Abiodun was particularly helpful. González described this as one of the team’s strengths: “I think it’s really positive now that we are bringing a lot of players, we are rotating, everyone is contributing and participating and bringing something. This is what we want.” Rodman, however, said the team needs to work on their communication when bringing substitutes into a difficult situation.

Box Score

NWSL Regular Season –  Game 13

North Carolina Courage 0
Washington Spirit 2 (Santos 37′, Rodman 45+3′)

Lineups

North Carolina Courage (523): Kailen Sheridan (C); Feli Rauch (Chioma Okafor 88′), Dani Weatherholt (Natalia Staude 81′), Maycee Bell, Uno Shiragaki; Ryan Williams, Shinomi Koyama (Carly Wickenheiser 88′), Riley Jackson; Ashley Sanchez, Ally Schlegel (Ivy Garner 81′), Evelyn Ijeh (Hannah Betfort 81′)

Washington Spirit (4141): Sandy MacIver; Kate Wiesner, Tara Rudd, Gabby Carle, Esme Morgan; Leicy Santos (Rebeca Bernal 83′), Andi Sullivan (C) (Deb Abiodun 67′), Hal Hershfelt; Trinity Rodman (Tamara Bolt 83′), Rose Kouassi (Paige Metayer 67′), Gift Monday (Sofia Cantore 67′)

Misconduct Summary

North Carolina Courage:  Jackson 76′
Washington Spirit:  None

Lead image courtesy of the Washington Spirit