After going down early to an Olimpico, Washington Spirit surged to a 2-1 victory against Utah Royals FC in the NWSL semifinals Saturday afternoon, qualifying for their third consecutive Championship match.

Utah let the Spirit know early that they wouldn’t be pushed around the way Portland was last week. They started with the ball and shrugged off Washington’s attempts to regain it until they could force a corner in the 2nd minute. Cloé Lacasse placed the corner kick at the near post where it bounced past Clara Luvanga and Sandy MacIver and into the goal to put the underdogs up early.

“Even when we got scored on right away, I wasn’t worried. I was confident in the group,” Andi Sullivan said. Indeed, the Spirit got to work on their equalizer right away, responding to the goal with a series of corner kicks and shots of their own.

In the 8th minute, Luvanga won the ball in midfield and fought off Royals defenders to keep it until she could find an open channel to Trinity Rodman on the wings. Rodman drove to the endline then cut back toward the goal for Sofia Cantore, who was close enough to force the ball over the line with a quick backheel.

The Spirit controlled the ball for much of the rest of the half but were unable to find their go-ahead goal. despite eight more shots and the ever-present threat of Luvanga to Utah’s backline. For their part, the Royals only looked truly dangerous on their well-organized set pieces, when they were able to pack the box and create chaos.

Adrián González credited his team’s ability to keep pushing after going down a goal so early, describing the mentality as, “trying to be very focused on what we have to do, no matter if we score or we concede, because the game is long.”

“When you are playing these types of games, you need to take care of those details… you don’t have time to regret,” he said.

Their ongoing pressure paid off early in the second half. On a Washington attack, the Royals won the ball back, but the pass back to their keeper was slow, allowing Luvanga to intercept it. Mandy McGlynn closed in on her, but Luvanga stayed calm and made a perfectly timed move to chip the ball over her into the goal.

After scoring her fourth goal in just seven total matches with the Spirit, Luvanga was heaped with praise post-match. MacIver called her technical skill and decision-making on the goal itself as “world-class, really,” while González described her overall impact on the team’s performance.

“She puts a lot of pressure on center backs, keepers, and that is very contagious. Everyone who is behind, they follow her, and obviously it puts a lot of doubts and nerves on the opponent team,” he said, adding that she gave Washington “a big shot of energy.”

The Royals sought to recover but still struggled to create chances in open play, eventually ceding more of the ball to the Spirit, despite their need for another goal to keep their first playoff run alive. As the game wore down, Washington were largely effective at controlling the ball and managing the game to keep themselves out of danger, with Rodman often taking the lead in taking the ball to the corner and shielding it to run down the clock.

The final whistle blew with the Spirit in possession and ready to celebrate with their crowd of 19,365 fans. After two straight Championship losses in a row, they’d won the chance to compete for a third in their home stadium. As they prepare for that match, Rodman said the team won’t be making any big changes.

“I think we’ve come into the playoffs really strong, I think, the opposite of overthinking,” she said. “We’ve just been playing; we’ve just been fighting.”

Up next: Washington will play in the NWSL Championship in Buzzard Point on Saturday, Nov. 21. Their opponent will be the winner of today’s semifinal match between Gotham FC and the Kansas City Current.

Three takeaways 

• Playing at home. The week preceding this match was marked by uncertainty about whether the Spirit would get to play this game at home, Audi Field having been reserved for a Division III college football game between the Merchant Marines and Coast Guard Academies. In the end, it was decided to host the football game just three and a half hours after the semifinal kicked off, with lines for both games painted on the field in different colors. It was unsightly and, according to Esme Morgan, “a little disorientating,” but the players generally focused on their happiness to have been able to play at home in front of their typical crowd. “These fans understand us, and they respect big plays,” Sullivan said. “For me, when I was walking out in the walk-out, just thinking about my rookie season and thinking about this [level of fandom] is something that has been built… makes me proud.”
• A third Championship campaign. Washington may go into the final game next weekend with a bit of trepidation — they lost in both 2024 and 2025 with a 1-0 score — but getting to play this one in front of that home crowd makes it feel different. “I have chills when you say it,” Sullivan said. “Preseason, you talk about wanting to be in the final and wanting to win the championship, and then you have to let that go.” Rodman agreed that the team has been focused on the present during the year but can finally start focusing on their Championship hopes. “I definitely think we have more bite and more fight and more passion than we did last year going into the final.”
• Andi Sullivan. Captain Andi Sullivan’s performance has been an essential part of the Spirit’s playoff campaign so far. In both the quarter- and semifinal matches, her passing accuracy has been excellent, and on Saturday, she won all eight of her duels, made six defensive contributions, and was never dribbled past. Always ready to compliment Sullivan, González said, “represents a lot of the values that we want to have as a team, as a club, on and off the field.” Morgan similarly called her “an amazingly composed presence,” while Rodman noted that Sullivan was emotional after the game, about to play in her first of three finals matches, having missed the previous two due to injury and maternity leave. Rodman called Sullivan the “glue” of the Spirit and said, “She brings something on the field that not a lot of players bring.”

Box Score

NWSL Playoffs –  Semifinals

Washington Spirit 2 (Cantore 8′, Luvanga 56′)
Utah Royals FC 1 (Lacasse 2′)

Lineups

Washington Spirit (433): Sandy MacIver; Tara Rudd, Lucia Di Guglielmo, Gabby Carle, Esme Morgan; Mélissa Bethi, Leicy Santos (Monique Ngock 74′), Andi Sullivan (C); Trinity Rodman, Clara Luvanga, Sofia Cantore (Tamara Bolt 74′)

Utah Royals FC (4231): Mandy McGlynn; Tatumn Milazzo, Kate Del Fava, Nuria Rábano, Moriya Miyabi (Kameron Simmonds 81′); Madison Hammond (Cece Delzer 52′), Ana Tejada, Jamese Joseph (Brecken Mozingo 81′); Paige Cronin (C) (Mina Tanaka 63′), Cloé Lacasse, Kiana Palacios

Misconduct Summary

Washington Spirit:  Rodman 90+4′
Utah Royals FC:  Tanaka 71′

Lead image courtesy of the Washington Spirit