April 11, 2024 – National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL)
Washington Spirit News Release
Washington Spirit forward Trinity Rodman and midfielder Andi Sullivan
(Washington Spirit)
Houston, Texas – The Washington Spirit will face the Houston Dash in both sides’ fourth match of the 2024 NWSL regular season. The match kicks off at 8 p.m. EDT at Shell Energy Stadium in Houston, Texas and will broadcast on Prime.
The Spirit
Most recently, the Washington Spirit defeated Utah Royals FC on Women’s Empowerment Day at Audi Field. The 2-1 victory saw two first-half goals from Andi Sullivan and Ouleye Sarr, marking the 20th consecutive game in which the Spirit has not lost when leading at halftime dating back to October 2017. Sullivan’s penalty kick goal was the Spirit’s first non-Ashley Hatch PK goal since October 1, 2022, while Sarr’s goal marked her first NWSL career score off a header.
The biggest milestone of the match, however, did not come from a goal but an assist. Trinity Rodman’s assist setting up Sarr’s header made Rodman the Spirit’s all-time regular season assist leader with 12. She broke a tie with Spirit legends Crystal Dunn and Diana Matheson. Rodman has also recorded 17 assists in all NWSL competitions since her NWSL debut in 2021, more than any other player in the league in that time, ahead of Carson Pickett (15) and Houston’s María Sánchez (14).
Friday’s matchup marks the first meeting between Houston and Washington since August of 2023, when the teams finished in a 1-1 draw. Both matches of 2023 resulted in ties. The all-time series history is also tightly contested with the Spirit owning an all-time record of 9-8-7 versus the Houston Dash. The 24 total regular season matches against the Dash is the fifth-most matchups against a single club in Spirit history.
As the series record indicates, these matches have been extremely competitive with the all-time goal differential swinging in favor of Houston by one goal (27 Spirit goals, 28 Dash goals). On the road, the Spirit fares worse, owning a 2-4-5 record. However, the Spirit is 3-4-5 at Shell Energy Stadium, winning a “home” matchup that was played at the Dash’s home venue due to scheduling conflicts.
The Spirit is looking for its first three-match winning streak in a single regular season since winning its last four matches of 2021 leading into the NWSL Championship triumph. However, Washington has managed just three regular season road wins since the start of the 2022 season (D12, L8).
The Spirit returns…