May 5, 2023 – National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) – Washington Spirit News Release
Washington, D.C. – The Washington Spirit will face San Diego Wave FC on Saturday afternoon in both sides’ sixth match of the 2023 regular season. The match kicks off at 1 p.m. EDT at Audi Field in Washington, D.C. and will broadcast nationally on CBS for fans across the United States. International viewers can stream the match on NWSLSoccer.com as well.
The Spirit
The Spirit is coming off a 1-1 road draw against Chicago, making the side one of two teams (alongside Portland Thorns FC) that remains unbeaten through the first five games of the regular season. In that match, defender Sam Staab broke the NWSL record for consecutive regular season starts, making her 73rd in a row. This week, Staab was named to the NWSL’s Best XI of the Month.
Forward Ashley Hatch began the scoring last weekend, executing a penalty kick in the 29th minute for her fourth goal of the season. Hatch has converted all five of her penalty kick attempts during her Spirit career and is now tied with Kansas City’s Debhina and Portland’s Sophia Smith as the top scorer this season. This is Hatch’s third consecutive season scoring three or more goals within the first five games of the NWSL regular season. Two of Hatch’s five career penalty kicks with the Spirit have come this season, both in road matches. She and NJ/NY Gotham FC’s Midge Purce (who has scored two penalties in just as many away matches this season) are the first NWSL players since 2016 to score two road penalties in the first five games of a season.
The Spirit’s last match against San Diego – also at Audi Field – resulted in a 4-3 victory, with the game-winning goal coming off a penalty by Hatch in the 10th minute of second half stoppage time. Both Amber Brooks and Alex Morgan notched braces in that game, making it the highest scoring regular season NWSL game in Audi Field history. This victory was the second time the Spirit has won a regular season match when conceding three or more goals – the team was 1-30-4 prior to that.
Goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury’s 80% save percentage is tied for second-best in the NWSL. Comparatively, Wave FC keeper and reigning NWSL Goalkeeper of the YearKailen Sheridan has allowed a ninth-best 68.18% save percentage. Sheridan has faced only two more shots than Kingsbury, while the two have made the same number of saves, including the same number of saves inside the box.
Notably, the Spirit still owns the best big…