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Washington, D.C. (11/08/2024) – The Washington Spirit will face Bay FC on Sunday, November 10 in the club’s quarterfinals, presented by Fanatics Sportsbook. The match begins at 12:30 p.m. EST at Audi Field in Washington, D.C. and will be broadcast nationally on ABC. Fans can also tune into the Washington Spirit Radio Network by visiting WashingtonSpirit.com or the ESPN 630 website or app starting at 12 p.m. EST.
The Spirit
The Washington Spirit’s most recent match was the final contest of the 2024 regular season. The Spirit defeated the North Carolina Courage, 1-0, off a jaw-dropping, outside-the-box goal from Ashley Hatch. Also of note, Tara McKeown played the full 90 minutes, cementing her Iron Woman status for the season.
The victory helped the Spirit secure the No. 2 overall seed in the NWSL Playoffs, providing home-field advantage for a potential semifinal match. This seed is tied for the highest regular season finish in club history, matching the club’s finish in 2016.
Hatch’s game-winning effort raised her goal tally on the season to seven. She joins Lynn Williams as the only players in NWSL history to score seven or more goal in five straight regular seasons.
With a record of 18-6-2 (56 points), the Spirit shattered club records for wins (18, previous best – 12), points (56, previous best – 39), goals (51, previous best – 36) and goal differential (+23, previous best – +9) in the 2024 season. The Spirit enters the playoffs having won five straight home matches for the first time in club history. Additionally, the Spirit’s 18 wins are tied with Orlando for the most in a single season in NWSL history.
Makenna Morris has contributed to at least one goal in each of her four career regular season starts, the second player in NWSL history to do so (Nadia Nadim). Since late September, Morris has contributed to five goals (4 goals, 1 assist) in regular season play as only Gotham FC’s Esther González (6) had more in that time. She enters Sunday’s match having recently earned both her first Rookie of the Month and Best XI honors.
Look for the Washington Spirit home crowd – earning the apt moniker of “Rowdy Audi” – to play a pivotal role in Sunday’s match. Nine of the 12 most attended Spirit home contests have come in the 2024 season, with Sunday’s quarterfinal, presented by Fanatics Sportsbook, on track to sell out.
Finally, a potential key to victory for the Spirit will be striking first. Not only did the Spirit lead the NWSL with 30 first half goals this season, but it owned an undefeated 15-0-1 record when scoring first in matches this season.
The Opponent
Bay FC took care of business last week, defeating the last-place Houston Dash, 3-2, in the team’s final regular season match. The victory was propelled by the performance of Bay FC star Racheal Kundananji’s brace, the first in the club’s history. Bay FC is one of six playoff teams that enter the playoffs coming off a victory – only Chicago and North Carolina lost last week.
Bay FC entered last weekend needing to win to control its destiny in making the 2024 NWSL Playoffs. The team did just that, becoming only the second expansion side in NWSL history to qualify for postseason play in its first season. Additionally, the team’s 11 wins on the season set a new NWSL record for wins by an expansion club in its inaugural season.
Bay FC finished seventh on the NWSL Table powered by an 11-14-1 (34 points) record. Like the Spirit, Bay FC tended to avoid draws throughout the 2024 campaign – both sides were two of just three teams to record two or fewer draws this season.
In its last seven matches, Bay FC owns an even 3-3-1 record. The team collected 16 points in its final eight away matches of the regular season (W5, L2, D1), tied for the second-most in the NWSL since the beginning of June (Orlando – 17). Bay FC also scored 13 away goals in those eight matches, tied with Gotham FC for the most away goals in the league during that period.
That said, Bay FC enters the playoffs with the worst goal differential of any playoff-eligible team. Its -10 goal differential comes in stark contrast to the Spirit’s +23.
It is no secret this Bay FC side runs its offense through Kundananji and FC Barcelona expat Asisat Oshoala. At least one of Kundananji (2 goals, 2 assists) or Oshoala (4 goals) has been involved in each of Bay FC’s last seven goals (excluding own goals). Overall, at least one of Kundananji and Oshoala were involved in 16 of the club’s 29 goals (excluding own goals) during the regular season.
What’s On the Line
The winner of Sunday’s match will advance to the NWSL Semifinals and face the winner of No. 3 NJ/NY Gotham FC vs. No. 6 Portland Thorns FC. If the Spirit advances, the semifinal match would be played at Audi Field on either Saturday November 16 at 12 p.m. EST or Sunday, November 17 at 2 p.m. Should Bay FC advance, the West Coast club would again be on the road as the lower seed.
All-Time Series History
The Washington Spirit owns a 2-0-0 regular season record against Bay FC, sweeping the regular season series in the California-based club’s inaugural season. Across the two matches, the Spirit scored five goals while allowing just one – only Gotham FC had a better goal differential (+6) when playing Bay FC this season.
All five Spirit goals were scored by different players. Rookies Hal Hershfelt and Croix Bethune both scored their first career goals back in March against Bay FC, then Morris, Trinity Rodman and Ouleye Sarr tacked on a goal apiece against the expansion side in July. During that match, Morris became the first player in Spirit history to score a goal, record an assist and draw a penalty kick. She did so in her first career start.
Bay FC head coach Albertin Montoya previously served as the Spirit’s interim head coach in 2022, while Bay FC assistant Angela Salem held an assistant coach position on the Spirit’s staff in 2022 and 2023.
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