With the Washington Spirit’s 2026 Home Opener days away and both Audi Field and the ladies getting ready to take on the Portland Thorns there is going to be excitement and a new energy that is going to be brought to the squad in the 2026 season.
The franchise is one of the top-tier organizations in the NWSL, as under the ownership of Michele Kang they have been able to break records in both attendance and within the NWSL History Books.
In terms of attendance numbers, the team since making Audi Field has seen a tremendous growth in attendance surpassing the 150,000 in total regular-season attendance in 2024 as they’ve been able to average 15,000 fans per match in 2025.
Some of the achievements the team has been able to see thus far include a 2021 NWSL Championship, a 2024 NWSL Final Appearance and a 2025 NWSL Final Appearance.
The core of the team that made it to the NWSL Championship has returned and they are combining the veteran presence that they have with new faces that according to 2025 NWSL Defender of the year Tara Rudd are, “They got great personalities and they bring something new to the backline and to the team in general, and they are adapting well to the team.”
Rudd along with Head Coach Adrián González were able to sit down with the media on Zoom to talk about the upcoming 2026 Season, update things as to how the offseason was and talked about a wide variety of subjects.
Tara putting together some impressive stats with the Spirit including the fact that she has logged 9,716 minutes played with the team, along with 7 total goals and 7 assists.
Rudd being a part of the 2026 SheBelieves Cup, also got to be named as the the NWSL Best XI Honors on November 19.
Some of the things that Tara had talked about in the Zoom information session is how the team is going to play to a high standard, and having the intensity and focus brought as a group in the starting phases of the game. Also a goal for her this season is that, “I had really hoped to be more of a vocal leader and carry the tactics that coaches give me going into the matches.”
As for some of the things that she hopes to see from the team this season Rudd had this to say, “There is a ton of refining and being more clinical and not rush as much and getting more players in the box and creating more chances.”
On the defensive side of the game the reigning 2025 NWSL Defender of the year gave this analysis,”When it comes time for defense it is all about being locked in the whole game. The emphasis is starting the game the right way and executing that from the start of the game
Rudd is going to be a gigantic part of the team in the upcoming NWSL season as she was a part of seven clean sheets.
There is going to be a change for the Spirit in the goalkeeping position as recently Aubrey Kingsbury is going to become a Mom. According to Coach González the team is going to see Sandy MacIver in the goalkeepers’ position coming into the year, though they are hoping to develop Sara Wojdelko and Kaylie Collins as well
Thus far MacIver she has been able to put together a perfect 25-26 Championship Cup Group Stage 4 Clean Sheets and made eight total saves during that time.
Sandy getting the call to the Scotland Women’s National Team for the World Cup qualifiers, while appearing in six total appearances with the team. In addition she was able to keep clean sheets in each of the team’s four 2025-26 Concacaf W Champions Cup Group stage matches
Coach González shared a wide range of thoughts during the team’s zoom information session including how he really wanted to empthaize how he and team hoped to get better and improved every day and how he hoped he can get the team to be one that is unpredicible in the NWSL
For González, there are a wide range of emotions for the team as they were so close to winning the NWSL Championship but also a great deal pride in being able to see his team build on a legacy of winning and getting to those championship moments.
The biggest goal for he and the team is the fact that, “We are going to treat each match and practice as a final, that is the way we are going to train and prepare.”
An intriguing topic that Coach González talked about during the Zoom was how the team is going to be more supportive of Trinity Rodman and some of the approaches he and the team may have when it comes time for having her on the team this season.
Coach had this to say on that topic:
“The impact that Trinity has on the team and at the end of the day we hope to help her with being unpredicible as possible. The challenge there is to have more options with her on the right and left and having different options to attack and keep improving. She helps the team a lot and she has the physicality . For me we don’t rely on just one player we know how important she is we have a team that -we have a lot of strengths collectively and we have a lot of options attacking wise and that is going to help her. “
Something that is going to be new for the team in the upcoming season is the fact that the Captain’s Armband is now going to be not just one person either.
When it comes time for the Captain’s situation Coach González had this to say:
We are going to have more one captain, we are going to have a leadership group and have different players so that the team can see different points of view things are going to be seen soon.
More than one player in the role and wearing the armband and there is going to be a more broader approach when it comes time to the way that is going to be viewed. The biggest thing is that it is going to be more than one player that is going to do be within our leadership group.”
It’ll be only days away till the Spirit and the fanbase get to see the team in action at Audi Field and face the Portland Thorns.
The Thorns so far have been the more dominant team against the Spirit as the Washington D.C. NWSL team only winning five of the 30 total matchups thus far.
Momentum is starting to swing in favor of the Spirit though with the ladies winning two of the last three matches as of August 2025.
This is going to be a rematch of the 2025 NWSL Playoff semis that was played on November 15, 2025, as goals from Croix Bethune and Leicy Santos helped to propel the team to the next round.
The team is going to have to see how the offense is going to be now without Bethune as she is now a part of the Kansas City roster, but are going to have Santos returning after playing with the Colombia Women’s National Team.
Santos put together some impressive numbers with the squad stats wise logging 2,200 minutes to go along with four goals and four assists.
The match between the Spirit and the Thorns is scheduled for 8pm with fans wanting to watch the action can do so on the Prime streaming network.
For more information on the Washington Spirit fans are encouraged to click on the link seen here: