On a cool Friday night at Audi Field, the Washington Spirit didn’t just win. They made a point.
In front of a sellout crowd, the Spirit dismantled the Kansas City Current 4-0, delivering one of their most complete performances of the season. They were clinical in the final third, controlled the tempo in midfield, and looked impenetrable at the back.
The breakthrough came in the 25th minute. Trinity Rodman whipped in a cross that found Leicy Santos, who guided it home. It was Rodman’s first assist of the season and Santos’ second goal, a sequence the two had nearly pulled off before the break in San Jose against Bay FC but could not quite finish.
“Once we got into our groove and got the goals going, it was gonna keep going,” Rodman said post match. “Going into the game, I think we knew that our spaces were going to be the wide channels, and that we didn’t want to take too many risks.
“We did a phenomenal job of attracting them, spreading them out to get wide, and then just picking out the right cross once we got there. Leicy didn’t get it last time, but she got it this time and she got two.”
Rodman doubled the lead early in the second half, marking her 100th appearance for the Spirit with her first goal of the season. It wasn’t spectacular, but it was classic Rodman: alert and decisive, finding the ball after Kansas City goalkeeper Lorena mishandled.
Santos struck again soon after, this time finishing a delivery from Sofia Cantore with the kind of calm that suggests her first wasn’t a one-off; it was something she practiced for.
Kansas City never recovered. By the time Claudia Martínez added a fourth in the 75th minute, Audi Field was buzzing, the result long decided.
“It definitely felt good. They’re a great team, so it was a real test for us, especially coming off a break when we hadn’t all been together,” Hal Hershfelt told reporters post match. “To put four away after struggling to finish this year was huge. It was reassuring and a reflection of the work we’ve been putting in, particularly in front of goal, just staying relentless.”
As for the Current, the loss exposed some real cracks. Perhaps if Washington’s goalkeeper Sandy MacIver had not saved former Spirit player Croix Bethune’s shot in a one-on-one, things could have been different. They also had a chance to level in the 41st minute when Debinha let one fly, but her ball couldn’t break through the Spirit’s back line either.
Heading into week six, last season’s Shield winners are well outside the playoff spots.
For the Spirit, this was more than three points. It was a statement to their fans and to themselves that, when they gel, they are overwhelming.
On top of everything else they are doing right, they have also got a new good-luck charm in the mix: José the Coyote, a plastic decoy they picked up in San Jose.
They beat Bay FC with José on their side, and he’s been everywhere since — at training, in the locker room, on the pitch post match, celebrating.
After the match, defender Rebeca Bernal walked out with him. “I am usually afraid of animals, but I love this one,” she said.
“I’ve never believed in a superstition more than this,” added Rodman with a giggle. “Really, big fan. It’s worked so far.”
Kansas City Current, Washington Spirit, NWSL, Women's Soccer