Playoff Preview: Spirit Can Capture Second NWSL Championship Title with Win Over Top-Ranked Orlando Pride

Kansas City, Missouri (11/21/2024) – The Washington Spirit will face No. 1 ranked Orlando Pride on Saturday, November 23 in the NWSL Championship, presented by Google Pixel. The match begins at 8:00 p.m. EST at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri and will be broadcast nationally on CBS and Paramount+. Fans can also tune into the match on the Washington Spirit Radio Network by visiting WashingtonSpirit.com or the ESPN 630 website or app starting at 7:00 p.m. EST.

 

The Spirit

The Spirit vaulted to the NWSL Championship match for the third time in team history following an epic, come-from-behind performance against rival and reigning champion Gotham FC.

Rookies Makenna Morris and Hal Hershfelt — both 2024 NWSL first round draft selections and former Clemson Tigers — connected for the equalizing goal in the third minute of second half stoppage time. Hershfelt headed Morris’ free kick, rocketing the ball into the top left corner of the goal.

Hershfelt’s stoppage-time equalizer was her first career playoff goal. Across the Spirit’s most recent playoff runs in 2021 and 2024, a different player has scored each of the team’s eight goals.

Notably, Aubrey Kingsbury  was the hero of last week’s match, saving three straight penalty kick attempts, the first time that had been accomplished in NWSL playoff history.

The Spirit advanced in its fifth straight playoff match, the first time a team has advanced in five or more consecutive matches in NWSL history. Of these five matches, four straight were come-from-behind efforts.

On Saturday, the Spirit will meet the NWSL Shield winner, Orlando Pride, who has won all four of its regular season meetings against the Spirit over the last two seasons. Orlando is the only team to complete the league double over the Spirit in 2024. Prior to 2023, the Pride had managed four total wins in 16 all-time regular season meetings with Washington (4-6-6).

The NWSL Championship marks the first playoff meeting between the two sides. The two regular season meetings between Orlando and Washington came nearly six months apart — the first was a 2-3 goal fest at Audi Field, while the second was a 0-2 slog in the Florida rain. The Pride is the only team with a positive goal differential against the Spirit and the only team the Spirit has not beaten this season.

Orlando will face a Spirit side without both captain Andi Sullivan and Rookie and Midfielder of the Year, Croix Bethune, so expect a different feel in this match as compared to the previous two meetings this season. Furthermore, Trinity Rodman was absent from the second matchup between the two teams.

Ashley Hatch has featured prominently for the Spirit this postseason at the No. 9 position. She is now tied for fourth in NWSL playoffs history with 11 shots on goal. Additionally, she and Marta have scored nine and ten goals, respectively, in all-time Spirit v. Pride regular season history. These figures are the most goals a Spirit player has scored against a single opponent and, conversely, the most goals the Spirit has conceded to a single player.

The championship match will take place at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City. When playing at neutral sites, the Spirit has only lost in regulation once in seven matches (3-1-3). However, among the team’s three draws on neutral sites, two of those were penalty shootouts that the Spirit lost, including the 2016 NWSL Championship. The team’s most recent neutral site match came in 2021 when the Spirit lifted the NWSL Championship trophy at Lynn Family Stadium in Louisville, KY.

Six of the 11 extra-time matches in NWSL postseason history have involved the Spirit. Washington has advanced in five of its six extra-time matches while the only other team in league history to progress in multiple extra-time matches is Western New York (two in 2016), now the North Carolina Courage.

Finally, this match will set up the first NWSL Final between the top two seeds since 2019.

 

The Opponent

The No. 1-ranked Orlando Pride defeated No. 4 Kansas City Current, 3-2 in the semifinals. Like the Spirit, the Pride came from behind, however, its equalizer came only eight minutes following the Current’s opening goal. From that point on, the Pride never trailed.

Barbra Banda added a second half goal for her league-leading third goal of the playoffs. Team captain Marta capped off the Orlando scoring with an insurance goal in the 82nd minute, slicing through a number of Current defenders.

In the quarterfinals, the Pride defeated the Chicago Red Stars, 4-1. Orlando is the second team in NWSL history to score three or more goals in consecutive matches in a single postseason, along with North Carolina in 2019.

This season, Orlando nearly ran the table, going unbeaten through 23 games. The Pride’s only two losses came in subsequent weeks to Portland Thorns FC and Gotham FC. While the Pride finished six points ahead of the Spirit for full control of the No. 1 seed, both teams tied for 18 regular season wins — a new NWSL record.

For the Spirit, the last meeting against Orlando came six matches and less than two months ago. In that match, Marta scored the first Pride goal off a penalty kick after a Spirit handball in the box, while the second goal was a wonky deflection off a Spirit player. In that match, the Spirit was called for an NWSL record 22 fouls, while the Pride was called for only six.

Led by MVP candidate Barbra Banda up top, the Pride looks to be in top form. She scored the second-most goals in the NWSL this regular season (13), while her six game-winning goals and four braces tied single season NWSL records.

Additionally, Banda is the third player in NWSL history to score three goals over her first two NWSL postseason matches (Lynn Williams, Amy Rodriguez). Rodriguez (5 total goals) and Megan Rapinoe (3) are the only players to score in each of their first three playoff games. The Spirit backline led by Defender of the Year finalist Tara McKeown will look to keep Banda at bay on Saturday.

Orlando is the first shield winner to make the NWSL Championship in five seasons.

 

What’s On the Line

With a win, the Washington Spirit would capture its second NWSL title, becoming the fourth NWSL club to win multiple titles. It would also be the city of DC’s first championship since the club last won in 2021. Orlando would earn its first ever NWSL Championship with a win.

 

All-Time Series History

The Spirit owns a split 9-9-7 all-time record against the Orlando Pride with a +2-goal differential (36-34). Historically, regular season play has favored the Pride as the Spirit hold a slight losing record of 6-8-6 in those matches. This is the first playoff meeting between the sides and the third meeting this season.

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