On Tuesday, U.S. Women’s National (soccer) Team coach Emma Hayes announced a 26-player roster for two upcoming matches against the Women’s World Cup champions Spain. The USWNT, the No. 2 seed team, play the first game at 2:30 p.m. on Oct. 10 at Audi Field (and you can watch on TBS, HBO Max, Telemundo, Universo, and Peacock). The second starts at 7 p.m. on Oct. 13 at Subaru Park in Chester, Pennsylvania (and on TNT, HBO Max, Universo, and Peacock). Spain has only lost two of its last 27 matches since the 2024 Olympics, both times to England.
Since the USWNT played last in June, there have been changes in the league: Portland Thorns’ Olivia Moultrie and Gotham FC’s Emily Sonnett are both out with long-term injuries. And locally, Washington Spirit players Trinity Rodman and Tara Rudd have been called up for the matches, along with Bay FC goalkeeper Jordan Silkowitz, who hails from Northern Virginia. Utah Royals forward Jameese Joseph, from Greenbelt, has been called up for a pair of USWNT U-23 games.
“While we are very much looking forward to playing the World Cup champions, this camp will be about reestablishing connections after a long break, looking at a few players who haven’t been with us this cycle, and putting on the best performances we can in front of packed stadiums,” Hayes says in a statement on the U.S. Soccer website. That, along with preparing for next summer’s Women’s World Cup in Brazil.
Former Spirit player Ashley Sanchez, who has scored a historic 20 goals so far this year for the North Carolina Courage, has also been called up for the first time since early 2025. As for other Spirit players: Gift Monday is heading off with Nigeria’s team, Tamara Bolt has earned a call-up to Brazil’s national team, Gabrielle Carle will play for Canada, defender Esme Morgan for England, Sandy MacIver for Scotland, and both Sofia Cantore and Lucia Di Guglielmo for Italy.
And speaking of national teams, the USMNT plays Mexico on Oct. 3 and Canada on Oct. 6. After a disappointing end to their World Cup journey, the team’s new infusion of youth seems like a positive development.
The Spirit are currently sitting in third place in the NWSL standings out of 16 teams, with just Gotham and San Diego above them by 8 and 2 points, respectively. If the Spirit can keep that spot (or 1 through 4), they will snag a home playoff game. While the Spirit have been struggling in recent games (losing most of their home games since early August), they’ve set a record for attendance this year. The team surpassed 200,000 fans in a regular season for the first time in club history for a total of 205,367 fans at 13 home games. The Spirit has increased average home attendance since 2023 when they moved all their matches to Audi. This season, the team has an average of 15,797 fans per game with 16,857 on weekend matches.
As of this weekend, each NWSL team has four more games left, and Spirit have two home games left. They’ll face rival Gotham FC on Oct. 17 at 12:30 p.m. in the “District vs. Empire” rivalry match, which is also Girl Scout night and the first 5,000 fans through the gates will receive special Tara Rudd-themed building blocks. Then on Fan Appreciation Day, the Spirit play the Chicago Stars on Nov. 1 at 5:00 p.m.; the first 12,000 fans will receive hats designed by Rodman. Nov. 1 is also the league’s Decision Day, when we all find out who lands where in the standings, who plays who in the playoffs, and which teams get home playoff games.
Spirit midfielder and Colombian international Leicy Santos, who has been out with an injury, has extended her contract through the 2027 season. Earlier this year, Washington secured Rodman, Rudd, and Kate Wiesner to long-term deals.
In January, the DC Flight, the city’s first professional women’s volleyball team, will kick off its inaugural season at the Anthem—yes, like the music venue, which will serve as its home court for 13 games. The venue holds 3,000 fans. Led by head coach Deitre Collins–Parker, the Flight is D.C.’s fourth professional women’s team along with the Spirit, the Washington Mystics, , and (the USL Super League soccer team) DC Power. DC Flight is among four new expansion teams joining Major League Volleyball along with the Minneapolis Forge, NorCal Rumble, and a Los Angeles team.
On Wednesday night, the Mystics lost their second game in the WNBA Playoffs to Atlanta Dream, so our local team is out. But they put in a good fight. Onward!
