Washington Spirit (2-8-4, 10 pts) at Chicago Red Stars (4-3-7, 19 pts)
2018 NWSL Regular Season
Toyota Park
Sunday, July 1 – 6:00 p.m. ET
#CHIvWAS | Live Stream
Boyds, MD (June 29, 2018) – The Washington Spirit will play the first of three straight road games on Sunday night against the Chicago Red Stars at Toyota Park. Kickoff is set for 6:00 p.m. ET and is available to stream on go90.
This will be the last match between the Spirit and Red Stars during the 2018 regular season, and only matchup at Toyota Park. In their first two meetings at the Maryland SoccerPlex, the sides played to a 1-1 draw on April 28 and Chicago won a 2-0 match on June 2.
During the first matchup with Chicago in April, Nigerian international Francisca Ordega scored a tap-in goal off a pass from Mallory Pugh in the fourth minute to put the Spirit ahead early. The goal pushed Ordega’s career-long scoring streak to three games.
Washington is coming off a tough 1-0 defeat against the Orlando Pride entering the final matchup against the Red Stars. On the other side, the Red Stars are coming in to Sunday’s match earning points in their last three games.
Washington’s back line, led by goalkeeper Aubrey Bledsoe and defenders Caprice Dydasco, Whitney Church, Estelle Johnson and Taylor Smith held opponents to only three goals in four games during the month of June. Bledsoe topped off the month with NWSL Player of the Week honors from the NWSL Media Association for Week 11 and 12, after earning back-to-back shutouts and adding to her league-leading 64 saves.
The Spirit defense will aim to limit the Red Star offense, led by Samantha Kerr (5 goals, 1 assist) and Sofia Huerta (4 goals, 2 assists). The two have combined to score six goals while playing at Toyota Park this season.
Washington will look toward Ashley Hatch (3 goals, 1 assist) and Ordega (3 goals), the Spirit’s leading scorers, to help break the club’s recent scoring slump. Andi Sullivan (1 assist) is only one of two players in the NWSL to play the full 90 minutes of every game for her team as a rookie this season.
The three-game stretch of road matches will continue with the Spirit traveling to Orlando to face the Pride on July 7, before heading to North Carolina for a midweek match on July 11 against the Courage.
The Spirit will return to the Maryland SoccerPlex on Saturday, July 21 when the Spirit host the Houston Dash at 7:00 p.m. ET. [TICKETS]
