In front of a sellout crowd the Spirit fall to Kansas City at home
- Mario Amaya
- Mar 24
- 4 min read
The Washington Spirit kicked off the 2025 NWSL season on the road with victories against the Orlando Pride in the Challenge Cup and against the Houston Dash in their first game of the season.
The Spirit were looking to start off their first game of the season at Audi Field Saturday night on the right foot. In front of a near sell out, 19,254 fans gathered to watch the Spirit's first home game of 2025 against the Kansas City Current. What was thought to be a celebration at home, turned into the nightmare for the Spirit as they would suffer their first of the season falling to the Current 2-0.
This is the first time since June of last year, that the Spirit had lost a game at home.
“It’s a long season,” Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury said. “But it hurts because it was at Audi.”
Looking to keep Rodman
Prior to the match Spirit owner talked to media and talked about doing everything in her power to keep star player Trinity Rodman, who is coming up on the final year of her contract.
“She’s an integral part of our success — meaning the Spirit as well as the NWSL.” Said Kang.
Rodman, was drafted by the Spirit in 2021, has become an integral part of the club winning the NWSL Championship back in 2021. She has also become an important part of the US Women's National Team, playing a big part of the national team winning a gold medal in last summer's Olympic games in Paris. The 22-year-old forward has expressed her interest in playing in Europe.
“I’m actually a globalist,” Kang responded. “... I think experiencing different styles, different leagues, it’s actually a good thing. So, we’ll see.”
The Game
The Spirit were hoping to have Croix Bethune available for this match, however she was not available for this march due to injuring her hip, causing a setback in her recovery. She was joined by fellow second year player Hal Hershfelt, who missed Saturday's match due to an ankle injury during the match against Houston last week.
Kansas City had the first big goal scoring opportunity of the match in the 18th minute when a long ball from Claire Hutton was looking for Temwa Chawinga, who was challenging for the ball with Kingsbury. Chawinga wins the ball and played it to herself the box, muscling Tara McKeown, she played a back pass to Debinha who settled the ball and took a shot. The ball hit the crossbar; Kingsbury collected the rebound.
The Spirit had a chance to open up the scoring in the 35th minute after an inswing cross from Mackenna Morris found McKeown inside the box. The Spirit Center back sent her header towards goal, Current goalkeeper Lorena got a hand to the ball and pushed the ball off the inside of the crossbar, keeping the ball from crossing the line.
The Spirit tested Lorena again at the start of the second half. A deflected shot landed the foot of Leicy Santos who got off a one-time shot, but Lorena was able to deny the Colombian international to open up the scoring.
In the 52nd minute Debinha sent a cross inside the area to Chawinga, who was able to her head to the ball and direction it to the goal of Kingsbury who was equal to it. However, referee Elijio Arreguin went to VAR, to review Chawinga's header bounced off the arm of Spirit center back Esme Morgan. After the review Arreguin determined that Morgan's arm interfered with Chawinga's header and awarded Kansas City a penalty.
“It’s a difficult one,” Morgan said. “I just jumped up to head the ball, and I feel like a natural motion is to jump with your arms. ... So I’m a little bit frustrated and upset about it. If I was in the same situation, I’d do exactly the same thing again.”
Lo'eau LaBonta stepped up to take the penalty and placed the ball into the right-hand side of Kingsbury to open up the scoring in the match.
Rodman who had come into the match right after the penalty and looked to have tied the game two minutes later, after slotting the ball pass Lorena with a short distance shot, however the goal was deemed invalid due to Rodman being offside. Arreguin upheld the decision after a video review of the goal.
In the 65th minute the Spirit were awarded a penalty when Alana Cook brought down Ashley Hatch inside the box, but for the third time in the game Arreguin would go to VAR to review the play. After another review, the referee overturned his original decision.
“The reaction of the team was good,” Spirit Coach Jonatan Giráldez said. “What I would like to know is a little more criteria about when you have to review, when you don’t have to review, why one action is a foul, the other is not a foul.”
Kansas City would seal their victory in the 97th minute. After a long ball from Hailie Mace from their own end landed at the feet of Chawinga, leaving the Spirit defense caught off guard. Last year's golden boot and reigning league MVP ran past Rebeca Bernal and charged towards goal. Kingsbury tried to get a hand to the ball, but she was not able to keep the ball which left Chawinga with an open net, insuring Kansas City secured all three points on the road.
With this result, Kansas City jumps to second place of the standings with four points, while the Spirit are tied in sixth place with three points.
The Spirit will play at home once again this week, as they welcome Bay FC to Audi Field. The game will take place on Friday March 28th, with kickoff scheduled for 8pm.
