Washington, DC – Trinity Rodman picked up exactly where she left off last season and played the hero for Washington as they were able to defeat the OL Reign 1-0 at home on Sunday night.
It was a landmark week for the Spirit as GK Aubrey Kingsbury would make her 100th club appearance, but also the Spirit were celebrating finding a permanent home. It was announced that they would be at Audi Field full time now, sharing it with D.C United and the D.C Defenders of the XFL. The Spirit were previously only part time at Audi while also having their home games at Segra field in Leesburg, VA.
The home team took their time to show their now permanent home any life as it was all Reign in the first half. Kingsbury would be busy on her landmark game with near constant pressure of her goal in the first half. The biggest of the chances falling to Jess Fishlock. Fishlock’s header appeared to be a can’t miss chance but the then diving Kingsbury had other ideas and would keep the score 0-0. the Reign would finish the first half out shooting the Spirit 11-3, 11 of the shots from the Reign would be on target as the Spirit sputtered and didn’t register a single shot on target.
Spirit manager Mark Parsons must’ve lit a fire under the team at half time because the second half was a completely different Spirit team that took the field. In only the 54th minute it’d be former NWSL Rookie of the Year Trinity Rodman to produce a moment of brilliance as she received the ball at the halfway line from a throw in and would travel the remaining length of the pitch and then fire off a pinpoint shot in the bottom of the net. That type of magic is something fans in Washington are becoming used to as she had almost done this in the first half but that time, she pulled it back for the pass.
The remaining thirty-five minutes would the Jess Fishlock vs. Aubrey Kingsbury match as Fishlock would continually cut through the Spirit defense and play an fabulous ball to one of her teammates just for Kingsbury to be equal to every chance. It’d be Kingsbury and the Spirit who would win and get the clean sheet and all three points.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE SPIRIT?
From winning the NWSL title in 2021 to a season that never felt like it got off the ground in 2022 there was a lot of question marks about what Spirit team would show up in 2023. Returning most of the vital pieces from the title winning team has been a huge help and hopefully so will be new manager Mark Parsons. Parsons had coached the Spirit during their first three seasons so he’s no stranger to this city or this club. The Spirit will hope to go 2-0-0 on April 1st, against Racing Louisville at 3PM.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR OL REIGN?
The 2022 season saw the Reign finding great success, finishing the regular season top of the table before not being able to execute in the playoffs. A loss to the Spirit is obviously a disappointment but should raise any red flags as this team should be very competitive for the rest of 2023, especially is Jess Fishlock continues to play like that.
