Preview: Washington Speir

Washington, DC (05.09.2025) -The Washington Spirit will take to the street to make a two-game defeat this weekend and to accept the New Name Chicago stars FC on Saturday afternoon at the Seatgeek Stadium. The match will start at 12:50 p.m. ET and is broadcast on ABC and stream on ESPN+.

The spirit

While the spirit has overcome an extensive list of injuries during the first quarter of the regular season, the team has seen the reintroduction of some familiar faces in the past few weeks.

Two weeks ago, the NWSL midfielder and rookie of the year performed for the first time in over eight months in over eight months. Last week striker Rosemonde Kouassi made for the first time since the NWSL championship 2024, supported the first half on Monday and the establishment of a quick attack threat to the sidelines.

Striker Ashley Hatch has four goals and an assist and remains the team’s attacking heartbeat. She contributed to at least five goals in each of her eight NWSL regular seasons, a brand that only another player in the history of the league, the former Courage team college from Hatch, Jess McDonald. Although Hatch scored four goals in the first four games of the season, the recent production of the Spirit of Gift Monday and Esme Morgan came, which was responsible for the team’s last four goals.

After three consecutive clean leaves between March 28th and April 19, the Spirit title has approved seven goals in the last two games. This weekend, the team will return to its dominant defensive methods that a Star team scores with the fewest goals in the league this season (3).

The early street form of the mind is one of the best in the NWSL history, since the team emerged as the winner in each of its first three games outside of home (March 14th in Houston, April 12 in Louisville, April 19 in Orlando). This year’s team is only a victory when it comes to only becoming the second team in the league story that begins one season by winning each of his first four away games (North Carolina won his first five in 2018). The game of this weekend in Chicago and May 23 in Seattle are the next two away competitions of the mind.

The opponent

Despite the current position of the team at the end of the Ligabian, Chicago Stars FC has had a strong defensive performance against Gotham FCS powerful attack on third place. Goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher recorded her 50th season with five parades in New Jersey on Sunday and made her the second player in the history of the league to reach the milestone after the former spirit player Nicole Barnhart. The midfielder Bea Franklin is also an outstanding part of the defensive metrics and recently won 14 duels in a single match that the most of a star player in a regular season game since September 2019.

With just three goals for and a goal from -11 in seven games, Chicago is the last in the NWSL in both categories and is looking for his first points on the home grass on Saturday this season. Both the stars and the spirit fought at home in 2025 and held a combined 1-6-0 record.

Chicago will continue to be Mallory Swanson without a superstar striker, who recently announced her pregnancy. In 2024, Swanson scored seven goals and four templates in 25 regular season games, which led the then red stars in goal contributions and supported the team on the return to the NWSL playoffs.

All-time series history

The stars of the Washington Spirit and Chicago FC have been on 33 times since the foundation of the NWSL in 2013, the second most common game facility in ghost history. The teams played in all possible NWSL competitions: regular season, playoffs, challenge cup, autumn series and summer cup. Washington has an easy advantage in all competitions with 13 wins, 12 defeats and eight draws, although Chicago is a record of 11-9-7 in regular history.

Last season, the Spirit played a 4-2 win in Bridgeview and a 2-0 victory at home in both regular season games against the stars. The most remarkable match in the 12-year history of Chicago-Washington game came in November 2021 when the spirit won its first NWSL championship with a 2-1 extension victory over the Red Stars.

The match on Saturday will be the first time that these pages are aligned. You will meet again on Sunday, August 31, on the Audi Field. Kickoff is planned for 4 p.m. You can grab your tickets HERE.