April 19, 2024 – National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL)
Washington Spirit News Release
Washington Spirit in action
(Washington Spirit)
Washington, D.C. – The Washington Spirit will face Gotham FC in a black out of Audi Field. The match kicks off at 1 p.m. EDT at Audi Field in Washington, D.C. and will be nationally broadcast on CBS – the first NWSL match on CBS this season.
The Spirit
Most recently, the Spirit picked up three points via a 3-1 road victory versus the Houston Dash. Scoring three second half goals, the Spirit erased a first-minute lead by Houston. The two-goal victory marked the first time on the road in team history and the first time since a 2-0 home victory in June 2017 that the Spirit defeated Houston by more than one goal. The Spirit has now won three straight matches for the first time since 2021 and earned the club’s first three-game regular season win streak since the last two games of 2021 and first of 2022. The nine points through four matches are the second-most at this stage of a season in team history behind only 2016 (10).
Rookies Hal Hershfelt and Croix Bethune shined. Scoring the equalizer last Friday, Hershfelt became the first rookie in Spirit history to score two or more goals in the first four matches of the season. The only other player to score two or more goals in their first four games with the Spirit was Diana Matheson in the NWSL’s inaugural year of 2013. When Bethune netted a beautiful cross from Gabby Carle, the first-year starter joined Hershfelt in accomplishing this accolade.
The duo scored in the same match for the second time this season, after doing so in the team’s home opener on March 23. The only other pair of teammates to score in the same match twice this season are Kansas City’s Bia Zaneratto and Vanessa DiBernardo.
This will be the 37th meeting between Washington and Gotham FC across all NWSL competitions, the second most-played match in league history (Thorns vs. Reign – 38 meetings). The Spirit has lost only one of its eight regular season home matches against Gotham FC (W5, D2) since July 2016. Last season, the Spirit earned a 1-2-1 record against Gotham FC (all competitions), with the team’s sole victory coming in the 2023 UKG NWSL Challenge Cup.
Last week, Interim Head Coach Adrián González took part in the first-ever all-Spanish head coach matchup in NWSL history. History will repeat itself only one week later as González will go head-to-head with Gotham FC Head Coach Juan Carlos Amorós.
Notably,…