2021 Washington Spirit season

Washington Spirit

2021 season
President	Ben Olsen
Head coach	vacant
Stadium	Maryland SoccerPlex Audi Field Segra Field
NWSL	3rd
NWSL Playoffs	Champions
Challenge Cup	Group stage
Top goalscorer	League: Ashley Hatch (10) All: Ashley Hatch (11)
Home colors Away colors
← 2020 2022 →

The 2021 Washington Spirit season was the club's 11th season of existence and its ninth in the National Women's Soccer League, the top division of women's soccer in the United States.

The season began with the 2021 NWSL Challenge Cup on April 9, 2021 followed by a 24-match regular season. The regular season concluded on October 31, 2021.^[1] The Spirit made its first playoff appearance in five years on November 7, 2021, taking down the defending league champion North Carolina Courage in a quarterfinal match at Audi Field. On November 14, Washington took down two-seed OL Reign in Tacoma to advance to the 2021 NWSL Championship Game in Louisville, KY. The following Saturday, November 20, the Spirit earned its first league title with a 2-1 win over the Chicago Red Stars after extra time.

Background

The 2020 season was the Washington Spirit's seventh season. The season was slated to begin on April 18, 2020 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ultimately, the NWSL season was cancelled due to the pandemic. The club participated in the NWSL Challenge Cup and the NWSL Fall series which were held in lieu of the regular season. The Challenge Cup was held behind closed doors at the neutral venue of Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman, Utah. The Spirit reached the Quarterfinals of the Challenge Cup and finished in third place in the Fall Series. Combined across all matches, the Spirit had the second best record of matches played during the 2020 season.

Club

Roster

As of September 11, 2021.^[2]

No.	Pos.	Player	Nation
1	GK	Aubrey Bledsoe	United States
2	FW	Trinity Rodman	United States
3	DF	Sam Staab	United States
5	DF	Kelley O'Hara	United States
6	DF	Emily Sonnett	United States
7	MF	Saori Takarada	Japan
8	FW	Averie Collins	United States
9	DF	Tegan McGrady	United States
10	FW	Ashley Sanchez	United States
11	MF	Jordan DiBiasi	United States
12	MF	Andi Sullivan	United States
13	FW	Bayley Feist	United States
14	DF	Paige Nielsen	United States
16	MF	Julia Roddar	Sweden
17	FW	Kumi Yokoyama	Japan
18	GK	Devon Kerr	Canada
19	MF	Dorian Bailey	United States
20	FW	Mariana Speckmaier	Venezuela
21	MF	Anna Heilferty	United States
23	DF	Tori Huster	United States
24	MF	Chinyelu Asher	Jamaica
25	DF	Karina Rodriguez	Mexico
27	FW	Tara McKeown	United States
28	DF	Morgan Goff	United States
30	DF	Camryn Biegalski	United States
31	GK	Sydney Schneider	Jamaica
33	FW	Ashley Hatch	United States

Management and support staff

Role	Name[3]
Manager	Vacant
Technical Staff Coach	Kris Ward
Goalkeeping coach	Paul Crichton
High Performance Director	Michael Minthorne

Non-competitive

Competitive

NWSL Challenge Cup

Standings

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	NJ/NY Gotham FC	4	2	2	0	5	3	+2	8	Qualification for the Championship
2	North Carolina Courage	4	2	1	1	9	8	+1	7
3	Orlando Pride	4	1	2	1	3	3	0	5
4	Washington Spirit	4	1	1	2	3	4	−1	4
5	Racing Louisville FC	4	0	2	2	4	6	−2	2

Results

NWSL

Standings

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Portland Thorns FC	24	13	5	6	33	17	+16	44	NWSL Shield
2	OL Reign	24	13	3	8	37	24	+13	42	Playoffs – Semi-finals
3	Washington Spirit (C)	24	11	6	7	29	26	+3	39	Playoffs – First round
4	Chicago Red Stars	24	11	5	8	28	28	0	38
5	NJ/NY Gotham FC	24	8	11	5	29	21	+8	35
6	North Carolina Courage	24	9	6	9	28	23	+5	33
7	Houston Dash	24	9	5	10	31	31	0	32
8	Orlando Pride	24	7	7	10	27	32	−5	28
9	Racing Louisville FC	24	5	7	12	21	40	−19	22
10	Kansas City	24	3	7	14	15	36	−21	16

Results

Playoffs

Transfers

Transfers in

Date	Position	No.	Name	From	Fee/notes	Ref.
December 24, 2020	MF	6	Emily Sonnett	Orlando Pride	Trade for Meggie Dougherty Howard	[4]
January 26, 2021	MF	16	Julia Roddar	Göteborg	Free	[5]
June 23, 2021	DF	25	Karina Rodriguez	UCLA Bruins	Free	[6]

Transfers out

Date	Position	No.	Name	To	Fee/notes	Ref.
August 18, 2020	MF	10	Rose Lavelle	Manchester City	Free
November 2, 2020	FW	20	Cheyna Matthews	Racing Louisville	Waived
November 12, 2020	GK	21	Katie Lund	Racing Louisville	Draft	[7]
November 12, 2020	FW	6	Katie McClure	Racing Louisville	Draft	[7]
December 24, 2020	MF	8	Meggie Howard	Orlando Pride	Trade for Emily Sonnett	[4]
December 30, 2020	DF	5	Brooke Hendrix	Racing Louisville	Free	[8]
January 7, 2021	FW	18	Jessie Scarpa	KIF Örebro	Free	[9]
July 8, 2021	DF	4	Natalie Jacobs	Real Betis	Wavied	[10]

NWSL Draft picks

2021 Washington Spirit Draft Picks
Round	Selection	Player	Nat.	Position	College	Ref.
1	2	Trinity Rodman	USA	FW	Washington State
1	8	Tara McKeown	USA	FW	USC
2	19	Anna Heilferty	USA	FW	Boston U
3	29	Sydney Schneider	JAM	GK	UNC Wilmington
4	39	Mariana Speckmaier	VEN	FW	Clemson

Player statistics

Top scorers

Place	Pos.	No.	Name	CC	NWSL	NWSL Playoffs	Total
1	FW	33	Ashley Hatch	0	10	1	11
2	FW	2	Trinity Rodman	1	6	1	8
3	FW	10	Ashley Sanchez	1	4	1	6
4	MF	12	Andi Sullivan	0	2	1	3
5	FW	17	Kumi Yokoyama	1	0	0	1
	DF	3	Sam Staab	0	1	0	1
	DF	14	Paige Nielsen	0	1	0	1
	MF	23	Tori Huster	0	1	0	1
	DF	27	Tara McKeown	0	1	0	1
	MF	16	Julia Roddar	0	1	0	1
	MF	26	Taylor Aylmer	0	1	0	1
	DF	5	Kelley O'Hara	0	0	1	1
6			Own Goal	0	1	0	1
Total				3	29	5	37

Assist leaders

Place	Pos.	No.	Name	CC	NWSL	NWSL Playoffs	Total
1	FW	2	Trinity Rodman	1	5	1	7
2	MF	12	Andi Sullivan	0	3	0	3
3	DF	4	Natalie Jacobs	1	1	0	2
	MF	23	Tori Huster	0	2	0	2
	MF	26	Taylor Aylmer	0	2	0	2
	FW	27	Tara McKeown	0	2	0	2
	DF	3	Sam Staab	0	1	1	2
4	DF	5	Kelley O'Hara	0	1	0	1
	MF	19	Dorian Bailey	1	0	0	1
	MF	16	Julia Roddar	0	1	0	1
Total				3	18	2	23

Clean sheets

Place	Pos.	No.	Name	CC	NWSL	NWSL Playoffs	Total
1	GK	1	Aubrey Bledsoe	2	8	1	11
Total				2	8	1	11

Disciplinary

Pos.	No.	Name	CC		NWSL		NWSL Playoffs		Total
GK	1	Aubrey Bledsoe	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
FW	2	Trinity Rodman	0	0	4	0	0	0	4	0
DF	3	Sam Staab	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	1
DF	4	Natalie Jacobs	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
DF	5	Kelley O'Hara	1	1	0	0	1	0	2	1
DF	6	Emily Sonnett	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
FW	10	Ashley Sanchez	0	0	3	0	0	0	3	0
MF	12	Andi Sullivan	0	0	2	1	0	0	2	1
DF	16	Julia Roddar	1	0	2	0	1	0	4	0
MF	19	Dorian Bailey	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
DF	21	Anna Heilferty	1	0	1	0	0	0	2	0
DF	23	Tori Huster	1	0	3	0	0	0	4	0
MF	26	Taylor Aylmer	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
FW	33	Ashley Hatch	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	0
Total			6	1	24	2	2	0	32	3

References

External links

• Washington Spirit