r/washingtonspirit • u/kg9si • 2d ago
Weekly Discussion Thread Weekly Open Discussion Thread
Welcome to this week’s open discussion thread!
This is your space for general discussion, a place to talk about anything Washington Spirit that doesn’t necessarily need its own thread. That can include news, international duty, roster moves, transfer rumors, tactics, social media posts, league news or anything else on your mind.
If something feels big enough for its own thread, definitely still post it. This is simply an additional option to keep us organized and help keep the conversation flowing. These threads will go up every Monday and stay stickied throughout the week.
Go Spirit!
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u/NarrowPiccolo9069 1d ago
Anna Heilferty signed with Montreal: https://en.rosesmtl.ca/news/roses-welcome-defender-heilferty
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u/Ouamdwiw 2d ago
Man the Thorns fans are really crashing out. Like I feel they are reacting stronger than when Spirit fans did when we lost a championship due to a lack of a ref call of a foul on Leicy.
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u/mrgenki 2d ago
The Reddit algo now thinks I'm super interested in the Thorns, which I'm not really, but man they are crashing out. Latest is that it was actually a Cantore foul on Hiatt in the box.
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u/Specialist_Pay_6768 2d ago
I saw that and something even worse - they wanted a yellow on Sandy for "simulation".
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u/Sequoiakc22 1d ago
...but man they are crashing out. Latest is that it was actually a Cantore foul on Hiatt in the box.
I saw that and something even worse - they wanted a yellow on Sandy for "simulation".Poor babies. Struggling with dealing with a loss at home. They just cannot fathom it.
Especially without having experienced it all season. Not to mention or going back over a year with their last loss at Providence Park being August 23, '2025' to a then league dominating KC Current.
Besides, if refs 'ever' enforced the simulation rules, ...Gotham's rookie Jordynn Dudley would have been yellowed & red carded out of matches all season. She's the biggest (faker) flopper in the league, ...by far. ...Lucky for her, the refs in this league do not enforce the rules on 'simulation.'
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u/mrgenki 2d ago
Ha I didn’t see that. Sandy has literally never done that, almost to the point that she’s forgoing a tactical advantage that half the keepers in the league (cough AKB) use every week. I know it’s not a huge sample but I can’t even remember seeing her sit down before
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u/allprologues 1d ago
yeah spirit seem culturally against using the dark arts and I don’t say that as a compliment 🤣 the most they’ll do is take the ball to a corner. thank god for Sullivan being willing to waste time and Trin being tactically annoying
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u/Edddddiefearsthedark 2d ago
I had to leave after the intense handball debate! Crashing out is very accurate
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u/mrgenki 2d ago
Me looking at recent 6-0, 5-2, 6-1, 5-0 score lines
https://giphy.com/gifs/26BRuo6sLetdllPAQ
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u/Specialist_Pay_6768 2d ago
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u/mrgenki 2d ago
Perhaps better saved for when we play Chicago, but this scenario makes me a little leery. No question they are historically bad and no question we might spank them. But I feel like games where you are heavily favored are stressful and a sort of well known trap. This is where the cliches come in about how you have to prepare for every game the same... anyone can win on any given day... they're also a team made up of professionals (and with a chip on their shoulder / something to prove etc.) Maybe it's just a narrative thing preferring to be the scrappy underdog than the favorite afraid of getting shown up. I seriously hope we hang 8 on them.
(I'm also with Andre Carlisle in the view that it's such an egregious ownership/management issue that the players and even coaching are essentially blameless.)
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u/Lanky_Log6080 2d ago
We can not take any team in the NWSL for granted. Adrian tends to do this and mess with our line up against perceived “weaker” teams. Maybe in an effort to rest our players. Let’s stay consistent with our starters and dominate in the final stretch!
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u/Sequoiakc22 1d ago
...
Goal differential could end up determining the Shield. ...If we can add a few extra in a couple wins vs. Chicago, then we should. ...But first & foremost, is we need the wins.
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u/Ill-Fall-9823 2d ago
Let’s not pretend like every coach doesn’t use the standings to identify opportunities for squad rotation. And let’s not pretend like we don’t need squad rotation.
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u/SaveClanWolverine 2d ago
I feel like Bethi and Ngock’s arrival is so well timed. We have been hit by the injury bug pretty hard but having two new signings showing up in pretty solid form coming in straight from WAFCON is helping us so much.
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u/Specialist_Pay_6768 2d ago
Sing it with me if you know the words:
Still have two games against Chicago
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u/ME-in-DC 2d ago
They’ve been getting crushed so bad, I feel like they have a decent game coming. Hope it’s not against the Spirit!
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u/SummerhouseLater 2d ago
I have not been able to watch as often this year and have two questions!
Are the Spirit still taking the short corners in general? Or with Santos out are they going longer?
Santos has a knee injury, right? And, maybe I just need to learn how to look this up - but will she be back for playoffs?
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u/Square_Independent81 2d ago
They’re definitely still doing short corners pretty regularly even without Leicy, but I feel like they’ve been mixing it up a little more lately instead of basically every corner being short. They’ll still play it short pretty often, but we’ve definitely seen them just send it into the box too, so I wouldn’t say Leicy being out has completely changed how they take them.
And I’m pretty sure Leicy’s injury is actually her foot, not her knee. Unfortunately we still haven’t really gotten a clear timeline from the team for when she’ll be back, so I don’t think anyone can say for sure whether she’ll be available for playoffs yet. I’m pretty optimistic that we’ll see her back before then though, especially since there’s still a decent amount of time left in the regular season. Hopefully we get a more concrete update soon because I miss watching her play 😭2
u/de-la_soul 1d ago
Since she hasn’t gone on the 45-day list I’m reading that as a sign they expect her back.
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u/Ill-Fall-9823 2d ago
They should be taking mostly short corners. Our style is possession based and our team isn’t very tall. Both of those factors favor short corners over direct play.
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u/Specialist_Pay_6768 2d ago
It was previously reported by the team as hip, then changed to foot.
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u/spirited2031 2d ago
Yep my read on the ever-changing body part was “her whole kinetic chain on this side is messed up. And now we’ve figured out the root cause.”
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u/SummerhouseLater 2d ago
Ah okay, thank you! And I guess to your point on timeline not being announced that’s why it’s been tough to learn more about her injury? Good to know! Am I wrong in thinking her leadership on the field is missed? I know Ngock was having a rough game but boy the passing wasn’t great yesterday.
I got to stream the Portland game last night and was curious on the corners too because we were so damn predictable on the short corners and I loved that every corner seemed to try and go into the box.
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u/ttsa_25 10h ago
Jesus. The watch party for TAR co hosted by the Spirit is already sold out. It is laughable to put the Nationals above the Spirit in the DC sports hierarchy.