The Washington Spirit pro team is not the only winning team within the Washington Spirit organization. The Washington Spirit Reserves, a member of the Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL), is on quite the winning streak of its own. The undefeated Reserves just clinched the Colonial Conference of the WPSL with a record of 9-0-1 (25 points). The Reserves begin their playoff campaign against Penn Fusion this Saturday July 23 at 6 p.m. in West Chester, PA.
“We have been putting in work for the past two months to get us in this position,” said Spirit Reserves head coach KJ Spisak. “After last year’s success in the W-League, we are hoping to continue that success in the WPSL. Saturday’s playoff game is an important step in achieving our goal.”
Last season in the now disbanded W-League, the Reserves defeated the Colorado Pride in Quebec, Canada to become the W-League Champions. With many of the W-League teams joining WPSL this year, the Spirit still consider this a title defense.
The Reserves team is comprised of top college players from throughout the country, as well as players such as midfielder Alli Murphy and goalkeeper DiDi Haracic who have been called up to the pro team as amateur call ups while national team players are away, but could still appear for the Reserves in the playoffs.
Another player, Reserves captain Maddie Huster, is the younger sister of the club’s NWSL team midfielder Tori Huster. This is the rising Wake Forest junior’s third year on team, and she’s very focused on the end goal.
“The Reserves are really excited for the challenge that Penn Fusion will bring this weekend,” said Huster. “We hope we can represent the club well!”
The Divisional tournament will take place at Penn Fusion Turf Field in West Chester, PA. The Reserves are slotted to play Penn Fusion this Saturday July 23 at 6 p.m. If they win, they will play at 4 p.m. Sunday against the winner between NYAC and fellow NWSL reserve team Boston Breakers Reserves.