2021 Washington Spirit season explained

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

See main article: 2020 Washington Spirit season.

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

^[2]

Management and support staff

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

Competitive

NWSL Challenge Cup

See main article: 2021 NWSL Challenge Cup.

Results

NWSL

See main article: 2021 National Women's Soccer League season.

Playoffs

Transfers

Transfers in

Date	Position	No.	Name	From	Fee/notes	Ref.
December 24, 2020	MF	6
January 26, 2021	MF	16				[4]
June 23, 2021	DF	25			Free	[5]

Transfers out

Date	Position	No.	Name	To	Fee/notes	Ref.
August 18, 2020	MF	10
November 2, 2020	FW	20			Waived
November 12, 2020	GK	21				[6]
November 12, 2020	FW	6
December 24, 2020	MF	8				[7]
December 30, 2020	DF	5				[8]
January 7, 2021	FW	18			Free	[9]
July 8, 2021	DF	4		Real Betis	Wavied	[10]

NWSL Draft picks

See main article: 2021 NWSL Draft.

Round	Selection	Player	Nat.	Position	College	Ref.
1	2		United States		Washington State
1	8		United States		USC
2	19
3	29
4	39

Player statistics

Top scorers

width=40	Place!	width=40	Pos.!	width=40	No.!	width=150	Name!	width=80	!	width=80	!	width=80	!	width=80	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

width=40	Place!	width=40	Pos.!	width=40	No.!	width=150	Name!	width=80	!	width=80	!	width=80	!	width=80	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

width=40	Place!	width=40	Pos.!	width=40	No.!	width=150	Name!	width=80	!	width=80	!	width=80	!	width=80	Total
1	GK	1	Aubrey Bledsoe	2	8	1	11
Total				2	8	1	11

Disciplinary

Pos.	No.	Name							Total
GK	1		0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
FW	2		0	0	4	0	0	0	4	0
DF	3		0	0	1	1	0	0	1	1
DF	4		1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
DF	5		1	1	0	0	1	0	2	1
DF	6		1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
FW	10		0	0	3	0	0	0	3	0
MF	12		0	0	2	1	0	0	2	1
DF	16		1	0	2	0	1	0	4	0
MF	19		0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
DF	21		1	0	1	0	0	0	2	0
DF	23		1	0	3	0	0	0	4	0
MF	26		0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
FW	33		0	0	2	0	0	0	2	0
Total			6	1	24	2	2	0	32	3

External links

• Washington Spirit

Notes and References

1. Web site: The 2021 NWSL Challenge Cup Set to Begin on April 9, 2021 . nwslsoccer.com . February 19, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210219042258/https://www.nwslsoccer.com/schedule . February 19, 2021 . February 1, 2021.
2. Web site: Roster – Washington Spirit . September 11, 2021.
3. News: Coaching Staff - Washington Spirit . https://web.archive.org/web/20190623062649/https://washingtonspirit.com/coaching-staff/ . June 23, 2019 .
4. Web site: Small . Jordan . Washington Spirit sign Swedish international Julia Roddar to a multi-year contract . washingtonspirit.com . February 18, 2021 . January 26, 2021.
5. Web site: Washington Spirit Sign Defender Karina Rodriguez to a One-Year Deal. NWSLsoccer.com . August 14, 2021 . June 23, 2021.
6. News: Racing Acquires Rights to Heath, Press in Expansion Draft . 13 November 2020 . Racing Louisville FC . 12 November 2020 . January 24, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210124082432/https://www.racingloufc.com/news_article/show/1132557 . dead .
7. Web site: Orlando Pride Acquires Pair of First round draft picks, Allocation Money and Meggie Dougherty Howard . www.orlandocitysc.com.
8. Web site: Yates . Dominique . Racing Louisville FC signs defender Brooke Hendrix . . February 19, 2021 . December 30, 2020.
9. Web site: Bromley . Ben . Adrien Perez, Jessie Scarpa, and more: Freedom Kicks for 7 January 2020 . Black and Red United . SB Nation . February 19, 2021 . January 7, 2021.
10. Web site: Spirit waive Natalie Jacobs, add Taylor Aylmer and Morgan Goff . July 8, 2021 .