Spirit Dominate First Half Again en route to Win

The Washington Spirit scored three goals in the first 45 minutes of Friday night’s game against Seattle Reign FC en route to its third consecutive victory. 

The win came in front of a crowd of more than 11,000 on a picturesque evening at Audi Field in D.C. Washington now moves up to 2nd in the NWSL Standings with a game in hand on Kansas City, which sits two points back in third. 

In the opening 20 minutes, both sides sparred back-and-forth, with Seattle coming out as the aggressor in the first few minutes of the match. 

However, it was Washington which opened the scoring in the 21’ as Spirit rookie Midfielder Croix Bethune slotted her left-footed shot past the Reign goalkeeper to take a 1-0 lead. 

It was Bethune’s fourth goal of the season, which is second-most on the team. 

18 minutes later, Washington doubled its lead thanks to a foul drawn by Winger Trinity Rodman in the penalty box. Moments later, Midfielder Andi Sullivan powered home the low-driving penalty kick into the bottom left corner to make it 2-0. 

The Spirit wasn't done just yet. Just six days removed from scoring four first half goals in a win against Angel City, Washington scored three first half goals, with the third coming in the 45’. It was Bethune making her mark once again, this time adding to her league-leading assist total on a beautiful cross to the box which found the head of Forward Ouleymata Sarr at the near post to make it 3-0. 

It’s Sarr’s sixth goal of the season to lead Washington and now sits alone in third in the NWSL Golden Boot race. 

For Rookie Croix Bethune, she not only leads the league in assists with 8, but she has already broken the club record for assists in a season. After Friday night, she is now the quickest in league history to record 8 assists and moves to within 2 assists of matching the league record for assists in a season, with 15 games still to play.

Seattle got on the scoreboard just moments before the break on a beautiful cross from Phoebe McClernon at the near post which found the head of Veronica Latsko to make it 3-1 heading into the break. 

In the second half, neither side was able to find the finishing touch until the Reign scored in the 96’ on a beautiful strike by Emeri Adames, which was essentially the last kick of the match. 

Washington held on to win it 3-2 in a game that wasn’t that close. Once again, the Spirit dominated in the first half and cruised to victory. 

With the win, Washington moves up to 2nd in the NWSL standings with 24 points, just three back of Orlando in 1st and two points ahead of Kansas City, having played one more game than the Current as of May 25. 

Up next, Washington gets a week off before returning to action on June 8 against Utah.