2015 Washington Spirit season

The 2015 season was Washington Spirit's third season of existence in which they competed in the National Women's Soccer League, the top division of women's soccer in the United States.

Washington Spirit

2015 season
General manager	Chris Hummer
Head coach	Mark Parsons
Stadium	Maryland SoccerPlex
NWSL	4th place (semifinals loss)
Top goalscorer	League: Crystal Dunn (15)[1] All: Crystal Dunn (15)[1]
Highest home attendance	5,708 (Sept. 1 vs. Seattle Reign FC)
Lowest home attendance	1,267 (June 27 vs. Houston Dash)[2]
Average home league attendance	4,087[1]
Biggest win	Washington Spirit 3–0 Seattle Reign FC (Maryland SoccerPlex, Germantown, Maryland; July 18, 2015)
Biggest defeat	Seattle Reign FC 3–0 Washington Spirit (Moda Pitch at Memorial Stadium, Seattle, Washington; September 1, 2015)
Home colors Away colors
← 2014 2016 →
All statistics correct as of November 12, 2016.

Review

Building off 2014's playoff achievement, the Spirit added a few key contributors including midfielder Joanna Lohman (from Boston Breakers), defenders Megan Oyster (drafted out of UCLA) and Katherine Reynolds (from Western New York Flash), and Nigerian international Francisca Ordega (signed from Piteå IF). The season also served as the breakout year for Crystal Dunn who was awarded the 2015 NWSL Golden Boot Award, scoring 15 goals during the campaign.^[3]

The Spirit finished the 2015 season with a record of 8-6-6 and repeating their 4th place league position.^[4] The playoff result, again, ended in an away loss to Seattle in the semifinals.^[5]

At the conclusion of the season, Mark Parsons stepped down as head coach and general manager to take over as coach of the Portland Thorns FC.^[6]

Club

Roster

As of May 15, 2017^[7]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  USA Ashlyn Harris (FP) 2 DF  USA Katherine Reynolds 3 DF  USA Caprice Dydasco 4 DF  USA Megan Oyster 5 DF  USA Whitney Church 6 DF  USA Angela Salem 7 MF  USA Christine Nairn 8 MF  CAN Diana Matheson (FP) 9 FW  ESP Laura del Río 10 FW  USA Caroline Miller 11 DF  USA Ali Krieger (FP) 12 DF  NGA Josephine Chukwunonye 13 MF  POR Amanda DaCosta 14 FW  NGA Francisca Ordega

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 MF  USA Joanna Lohman 16 FW  USA Tiffany Weimer 17 MF  MEX Verónica Pérez (FP) 18 GK  USA Kelsey Wys 19 DF  USA Crystal Dunn (FP) 20 FW  AUS Hayley Raso 21 DF  USA Alex Singer 22 DF  MEX Arianna Romero (FP) 23 MF  USA Tori Huster 24 DF  USA Estelle Johnson 25 MF  NGA Ngozi Okobi 26 FW  ARG Estefanía Banini 28 DF  USA Jennifer Skogerboe* 30 GK  USA Lyndse Hokanson*

• (FP) = Federation player

* – denotes amateur call-ups

Team management

Owner	Bill Lynch
General Manager	Mark Parsons
Head Coach	Mark Parsons

Competitions

Regular season

Houston Dash v Washington Spirit

April 10, Fri 1	Houston Dash	2–0	Washington Spirit	Houston
20:30 EDT (UTC−04)	Lloyd 45+' Ohai 51' Masar  71'	Report[8]		Stadium: BBVA Compass Stadium Attendance: 6,012 Referee: Katja Koroleva

Washington Spirit v FC Kansas City

April 18, Sat 2	Washington Spirit	3–1	FC Kansas City	Germantown, Maryland
19:00 EDT (UTC−04)	Nairn 9', 65' Huster  27' Dunn 46' Salem  56'	Report[9]	O'Reilly 6' LePeilbet  64' Groom  95'	Stadium: Maureen Hendricks Field Maryland SoccerPlex Attendance: 4,136 Referee: Matthew Richardson

Sky Blue FC v Washington Spirit

April 26, Sun 3	Sky Blue FC	1–3	Washington Spirit	Piscataway, New Jersey
18:00 EDT (UTC−04)	Freels 62' (Nadim)	Report[10]	Dunn 6' (Ordega) 40' (unassisted) Nairn 48' (Ordega)	Stadium: Yurcak Field Attendance: 953 Referee: Farhad Dadkho[11]

Seattle Reign FC v Washington Spirit

May 2, Sat 4	Seattle Reign FC	3–1	Washington Spirit	Seattle, Washington
22:00 EDT (UTC−04)	Yanez 36' (Mathias) Mathias 48' (Little) Fishlock 75' (Little)	Report[12]	Lohman 63' (Dunn)	Stadium: Memorial Stadium Attendance: 2,703 Referee: Karen Abt

Portland Thorns FC v Washington Spirit

May 9, Sat 5	Portland Thorns FC	2–2	Washington Spirit	Portland, Oregon
22:00 EDT (UTC−04)	Shim 28' Van Hollebeke  34' Long 51'	Report[13]	Dunn 3' Ordega 14'	Stadium: Providence Park Attendance: 14,236 Referee: Elvis Mahmutovic

Washington Spirit v Sky Blue FC

May 16, Sat 6	Washington Spirit	1–0	Sky Blue FC	Germantown, Maryland
19:00 EDT (UTC−04)	Ordega 92+' (Dunn)	Report[14]		Stadium: Maureen Hendricks Field Maryland SoccerPlex Attendance: 3,095[15] Referee: Margaret Domka[16]

Western New York Flash v Washington Spirit

May 23, Sat 7	Western New York Flash	3–2	Washington Spirit	Rochester, New York
19:00 EDT (UTC−04)	Williams 11' (Spencer) Mewis 35' (Becky Edwards) Spencer 57' (Edmonds) Mewis 60'	Report[17]	Nairn 22' (penalty) Oyster 32' Dunn 55' (Nairn) Nairn 63'	Stadium: Sahlen's Stadium Attendance: 2,110 Referee: Elvis Mahmutovic[18]

Washington Spirit v Portland Thorns FC

May 30, Sat 8	Washington Spirit	2–1	Portland Thorns FC	Germantown, Maryland
19:00 EDT (UTC−04)	DaCosta 26' (unassisted) Dunn 28' (unassisted) Johnson 61'	Report[19]	Anonma 18' (Long) Long 57' Williamson 61' Farrelly 71' Jackson 72'	Stadium: Maureen Hendricks Field Maryland SoccerPlex Attendance: 3,519 Referee: Farhad Dadkho[20]

Washington Spirit v Boston Breakers

June 6, Sat 9	Washington Spirit	1–1	Boston Breakers	Germantown, Maryland
19:00 EDT (UTC−04)	DaCosta 64' (unassisted) Nairn 58'	Report[21]	Evans 65' (unassisted) Kallman 91+'	Stadium: Maureen Hendricks Field Maryland SoccerPlex Attendance: 3,081 Referee: Levi Rippy[22]

Chicago Red Stars v Washington Spirit

June 20, Sat	Chicago Red Stars	abandoned	Washington Spirit	Lisle, Illinois
20:00 EDT (UTC−04)		Report[23]		Stadium: Village of Lisle-Benedictine University Sports Complex
Note: rescheduled for August 16

Washington Spirit v Houston Dash

June 27, Sat 10	Washington Spirit	1–0	Houston Dash	Germantown, Maryland
19:00 EDT (UTC−04)	Dunn 56' (unassisted)	Report[24]	Pereira  55' Brush  78'	Stadium: Maureen Hendricks Field Maryland SoccerPlex Attendance: 1,267[2] Referee: Matthew Franz[2]

FC Kansas City v Washington Spirit

July 3, Fri 11	FC Kansas City	3–0	Washington Spirit	Kansas City, Missouri
20:00 EDT (UTC−04)	Avebuch 27' (unassisted) Groom 53' (Silva) Bogus 65' (Robinson)	Report[25]	Johnson  26'	Stadium: Swope Soccer Village Attendance: 2,079 Referee: Tori Penso

Washington Spirit v Seattle Reign FC

July 18, Sat 12	Washington Spirit	3–0	Seattle Reign FC	Germantown, Maryland
19:00 EDT (UTC−04)	Da Costa 46' (Del Rio) Dunn 69' (Matheson) Nairn 83' (unassisted) Reynolds  31' Del Rio  66'	Report[26]	Corsie  20'	Stadium: Maureen Hendricks Field Maryland SoccerPlex Attendance: 5,413[27] Referee: Christopher Spivey[28]

Washington Spirit v Chicago Red Stars

July 25, Sat 13	Washington Spirit	1–1	Chicago Red Stars	Germantown, Maryland
19:00 EDT (UTC−04)	Dunn 83' (unassisted)	Report[29]	Press 31' (unassisted) Hemmings  74'	Stadium: Maureen Hendricks Field Maryland SoccerPlex Attendance: 5,100 Referee: Brandon Artis[30]

Washington Spirit v Houston Dash

August 1, Sat 14	Washington Spirit	3–1	Houston Dash	Germantown, Maryland
19:00 EDT (UTC−04)	Dunn 28' (unassisted) 36' (Matheson) 46+' (Nairn)	Report[31]	McDonald 74' (Ohai)	Stadium: Maureen Hendricks Field Maryland SoccerPlex Attendance: 1,267[32] Referee: Matthew Franz

Boston Breakers v Washington Spirit

August 8, Sat 15	Boston Breakers	2–1	Washington Spirit	Boston, Massachusetts
19:00 EDT (UTC−04)	King 12' (Mewis) Simon 38' (unassisted) Simon  30' Ezurike  79' McCaffrey  90'	Report[33]	Matheson 49' (unassisted) Oyster  33' Salem  85'	Stadium: Soldiers Field Soccer Stadium Attendance: 4,137 Referee: Danielle Chesky

Washington Spirit v Western New York Flash

August 12, Wed 16	Washington Spirit	1–1	Western New York Flash	Germantown, Maryland
19:00 EDT (UTC−04)	Matheson 16' (unassisted)	Report[34]	Williams 90' (unassisted)	Stadium: Maureen Hendricks Field Maryland SoccerPlex Attendance: 4,101[35] Referee: Tori Penso[36]

Chicago Red Stars v Washington Spirit

August 16, Sun 17	Chicago Red Stars	1–2	Washington Spirit	Lisle, Illinois
20:30 EDT (UTC−04)	Tancredi 82' (Mautz) Lomnicki 44'	Report[37]	Oyster 3' (Nairn) Dunn 90+2' (unassisted)	Stadium: Village of Lisle-Benedictine University Sports Complex Attendance: 2,470 Referee: Levi Rippy[38]
Note: rescheduled from June 20, 2015

FC Kansas City v Washington Spirit

August 27, Thu 18	FC Kansas City	0–0	Washington Spirit	Kansas City, Missouri
20:00 EDT (UTC−04)		Report[39]	Huster 53' Okobi 76' Matheson 79'	Stadium: Swope Soccer Village Attendance: 2,492 Referee: Randall Kelley[40]

Portland Thorns FC v Washington Spirit

August 30, Sun 19	Portland Thorns FC	3–3	Washington Spirit	Portland, Oregon
21:00 EDT (UTC−04)	Morgan 53' (Sanderson) Heath 71' (Penalty) Taylor 80' (Morgan) Long  67' Williamson  86'	Report[41]	Ordega 6' (Dunn) Dunn 46+' (Nairn) 81' (Unassisted) Matheson  17'	Stadium: Providence Park Attendance: 21,144[42] Referee: Ekaterina Koroleva[43]

Washington Spirit v Seattle Reign FC

September 5, Sat 20	Washington Spirit	1–2	Seattle Reign FC	Germantown, Maryland
19:00 EDT (UTC−04)	Matheson 37' (pen.) Johnson  80' Raso  88'	Report[44]	Fishlock 15' Rapinoe 25' Veje  54' Little  77'	Stadium: Maureen Hendricks Field Maryland SoccerPlex Attendance: 5,708 Referee: Brandon Artis

Regular-season standings

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Seattle Reign FC	20	13	4	3	41	21	+20	43	NWSL Shield
2	Chicago Red Stars	20	8	9	3	31	22	+9	33	NWSL Playoffs
3	FC Kansas City (C)	20	9	5	6	32	20	+12	32
4	Washington Spirit	20	8	6	6	31	28	+3	30
5	Houston Dash	20	6	6	8	21	26	−5	24
6	Portland Thorns FC	20	6	5	9	27	29	−2	23
7	Western New York Flash	20	6	5	9	24	34	−10	23
8	Sky Blue FC	20	5	7	8	22	28	−6	22
9	Boston Breakers	20	4	3	13	22	43	−21	15

Source: NWSL
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(C) Champions

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
20	8	6	6	31	28	+3	30	6	3	1	17	8	+9	2	3	5	14	20	−6

Last updated: September 7, 2015.
Source: Match reports

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Stadium	A	H	A	A	A	H	A	H	H	H	A	H	H	H	A	H	A	A	A	H
Result	L	W	W	L	D	W	L	W	D	W	L	W	D	W	L	D	W	D	D	L

Updated to match(es) played on September 7, 2015. Source: Match reports
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

NWSL Playoffs

Seattle Reign FC v Washington Spirit

September 13, Sun semifinal	Seattle Reign FC	3–0	Washington Spirit	Seattle, Washington
18:30 PDT (UTC−07)	Mathias  52' Yanez 25' (Rapinoe) Rapinoe 75' (Little) Bullock 90'	Report[45]		Stadium: Moda Pitch at Memorial Stadium Attendance: 5,021 Referee: Christopher Spivey

Squad statistics

Source: NWSL^[1]

Key to positions: FW – Forward, MF – Midfielder, DF – Defender, GK – Goalkeeper

N	Pos	Player	GP	GS	Min	G	A	WG	Shot	SOG	Cro	CK	Off	Foul	FS	YC	RC
26	FW	Estefania Banini	4	4	308	0	0	0	7	3	0	0	0	3	3	0	0
12	DF	Josephine Chukwunonye	2	1	55	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	2	0	0
5	DF	Whitney Church	16	15	1364	0	0	0	4	3	0	0	0	4	3	0	0
13	MF	Amanda DaCosta	17	7	646	3	0	1	6	4	0	1	2	8	6	0	0
9	FW	Laura del Rio	11	8	698	0	2	0	15	6	0	0	3	5	16	1	0
19	FW	Crystal Dunn	20	19	1711	15	3	6	84	48	3	0	35	20	26	0	0
3	DF	Caprice Dydasco	6	1	196	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0
23	DF	Tori Huster	17	13	1177	0	0	0	11	4	1	0	0	15	12	3	0
24	DF	Estelle Johnson	19	18	1685	0	0	0	5	1	0	0	0	12	3	3	0
11	DF	Ali Krieger	8	8	655	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	2	1	6	0	0
15	MF	Joanna Lohman	17	15	1216	1	0	0	17	9	0	0	4	10	15	0	0
8	MF	Diana Matheson	9	7	633	3	2	0	10	5	1	0	6	2	6	2	0
10	FW	Caroline Miller	2	0	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
7	MF	Christine Nairn	20	19	1701	5	4	0	42	20	2	73	2	9	19	2	0
25	FW	Ngozi Okobi	4	0	67	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	1	0
14	FW	Francisca Ordega	13	11	996	3	2	1	27	17	1	0	8	16	21	0	0
4	DF	Megan Oyster	20	20	1800	1	0	0	5	1	0	0	0	8	9	3	0
20	MF	Hayley Raso	8	1	182	0	0	0	3	1	1	0	1	4	4	1	0
2	DF	Katherine Reynolds	18	18	1611	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	14	4	1	0
6	MF	Angela Salem	15	12	981	0	1	0	7	3	0	13	1	7	10	2	0
21	DF	Alex Singer	5	3	274	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0
28	DF	Jennifer Skogerboe	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
16	FW	Tiffany Weimer	4	0	38	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0

N	Pos	Goal keeper	GP	GS	Min	W	L	T	Shot	SOG	Sav	GA	GA/G	Pen	PKF	SO
1	GK	Ashlyn Harris	9	9	810	3	2	4	126	60	47	12	1.333	1	1	1
18	GK	Kelsey Wys	11	11	990	5	4	2	121	51	35	16	1.455	0	1	3

Transfers

In

No.	Pos.	Player	Transferred from	Fee/notes	Date	Source
2	DF	Katherine Reynolds	Western New York Flash	Trade for Angeli	October 21, 2014	[46]
6	DF	Angela Salem	Western New York Flash	Trade for Angeli	October 21, 2014	[46]
15	MF	Joanna Lohman	Boston Breakers	Signed	October 22, 2014	[47]
13	MF	Amanda DaCosta	Liverpool L.F.C.	Signed	October 24, 2014	[48]
22	DF	Arianna Romero	Houston Dash	Trade for Cross	December 2, 2014	[49]
4	DF	Megan Oyster	UCLA Bruins	2015 NWSL College Draft – 2nd Round	January 19, 2015	[50]
3	DF	Caprice Dydasco	Pali Blues	2015 NWSL College Draft – 3rd Round	January 19, 2015	[50]
5	DF	Whitney Church	Penn State Nittany Lions	2015 NWSL College Draft – 4th Round	January 19, 2015	[50]
26	FW	Estefanía Banini	Colo-Colo	Signed	January 22, 2015	[51]
24	DF	Estelle Johnson	Western New York Flash	Trade for Pressley	February 24, 2015	[52]
9	FW	Laura del Río	Bristol City W.F.C.	Signed	March 12, 2015	[53]
14	FW	Francisca Ordega	Piteå IF	Signed	March 24, 2015	[54]
12	DF	Josephine Chukwunonye	Rivers Angels F.C.	Signed	June 11, 2015	[55]
20	FW	Hayley Raso	Brisbane Roar	Signed	June 11, 2015	[55]
25	MF	Ngozi Okobi	Delta Queens F.C.	Signed	June 23, 2015	[56]

Out

No.	Pos.	Player	Transferred to	Fee/notes	Date	Source
6	MF	Lori Lindsey	N/A	Retired	August 14, 2014	[57]
24	FW	Lisa De Vanna	Melbourne Victory		September 3, 2014	[58]
28	DF	Jordan Angeli	Western New York Flash	Trade for Reynolds and Salem	October 21, 2014	[46]
4	MF	Yael Averbuch	FC Kansas City		November 7, 2014	[59]
12	DF	Niki Cross	Houston Dash	Trade for Romero	December 2, 2014	[49]
3	DF	Toni Pressley	Western New York Flash	Trade for Johnson	February 24, 2015	[52]
10	MF	Caroline Miller		Waived	May 28, 2015	[60]
21	DF	Alex Singer	Avaldsnes IL	Waived	June 17, 2015	[61]
9	FW	Renae Cuéllar				[62]
15	DF	Robyn Gayle

Honors and awards

NWSL Yearly Awards

NWSL Most Valuable Player

Player	Result	Ref.
Crystal Dunn	Won	[63]

NWSL Golden Boot

Player	Result	Goals	Ref.
Crystal Dunn	Won	15	[64]

NWSL Team of the Year

Team	Position	Player	Ref.
Best XI	Defender	Crystal Dunn	[65]
Second X1	Defender	Ali Krieger	[66]

NWSL Player of the Month

Month	Player	Month's Statline	Ref.
August	Crystal Dunn	6 Goals; 1 Assist; Spirit 2–13 in August	[67]

See also

• 2015 National Women's Soccer League season