WASHINGTON — “Championship Bound” lit up the giant screens overlooking a raucous Audi Field crowd following the Washington Spirit‘s 2-1 win over the Utah Royals on Saturday in the NWSL playoff semifinals. Those words have become commonplace for Washington in the past three years.
The Spirit have appeared in the past two NWSL Championships, both ending in 1-0 defeats. However, this playoff run feels different. The 2026 NWSL Championship will be played at Audi Field, home of the Spirit. Washington is now the just the third team to host the NWSL Championship in their home venue in the predetermined-venue era.
A NWSL Championship would also be another feather in the cap for owner Michele Kang who became controlling owner in 2023. She was in attendance on Saturday to witness her team punch their ticket to the final. Kang also owns the Women’s Super League club London City Lionesses and OL Lyonnes in the French Premiere League.
Washington and Kang made waves this offseason when they re-signed Trinity Rodman to a lucrative three-year extension. Keeping a star of the wattage of Rodman was another signal of intent by Spirit ownership. Rodman and Kang shared a joyous moment together on the pitch at the end of the game.
“She does so much for us,” Rodman shared in the post-match news conference.
Kang was a minority owner when the Spirit last won a NWSL Championship in 2021. That was Rodman’s debut season. Kang has since helped transform the club into being a standard bearer within the NWSL.
Including the 2021 run, the Spirit are now unbeaten in eight total postseason home games (including two penalty-kick shootouts). They are also the first team to reach five NWSL Championships.
A win next Saturday night will see them join the rarified air of the 2019 North Carolina Courage as the only two teams to capture a NWSL Championship at home.
“I would be lying to say that we haven’t thought about the fact that we could potentially be playing a final here,” Rodman told reporters after last weekend’s quarterfinal win. “I think, yeah, it makes us work 10 times harder.”
Neither the final result this Saturday nor the fact the match itself was played at Audi Field were foregone conclusions.
The visiting Royals looked intent on flipping the script and pulling off another road upset against a higher-ranked seed after knocking off No. 2 seed San Diego Wave FC last Friday night.
Jimmy Coenraets’ side drew first blood when Cloé Lacasse netted a historic goal directly off a corner. It marked the earliest playoff goal in NWSL history (1:57) and was the first Olimpico in NWSL playoff history.
However, no NWSL team has conceded the first playoff goal and won or advanced more than Washington, and it did not take long for the home side to answer back.
Six minutes later, Sofia Cantore scored the equalizer (her first playoff goal) off a Rodman assist. Rodman’s three playoff assists represents a new club record.
The Spirit maintained momentum in the second half. Clara Luvanga proved to be a handful again with her direct and vertical play.
Her 56th-minute goal sealed the game for the Spirit when she baited Utah goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn off her line. Saturday’s game was just her seventh with the club since joining in September. The Tanzania forward has collected four goals and three assists in those seven games, including two goals and two assists in these past two playoff games. Per Opta, she becomes just the third NWSL player to score the winning goal in each of her first two playoff games.
Washington was able to hold off the Royals through the end of normal time and celebrate with its supporters. However, the game was perilously close to not being hosted at Audi Field at all.
It was another show of strength from the Spirit ownership group, given the venue issues that forced Gotham FC to play Sunday’s semifinal against the Kansas City Current at a 5,000-seat capacity stadium due to poor field conditions at Sports Illustrated Stadium.
American football lines striped across Audi Field on Saturday, a visual reminder of the scheduling turmoil that played out before Saturday’s noontime kickoff.
The 46th edition of the Secretaries’ Cup — a Division III college football game between the United States Merchant Marine Academy and the United States Coast Guard Academy — was initially set to be played at Audi Field at noon local on Saturday. Audi Field is owned by the D.C. government and operated by D.C. United Holdings.
As reported by The Athletic, Spirit leadership was actively engaged with the D.C. United front office even before the Spirit booked their place in the semifinals. The NWSL club even proposed to buy out the college football game. A sponsor, Lafayette Federal Credit Union, stepped up to subsidize the cost, officially confirming the Spirit’s noontime kickoff with the Secretaries’ Cup commencing at 4:30 p.m. local.
“When you have great ownership and a leader that can get you through some tough times and makes the impossible possible, then you end up with a situation like today,” Spirit CEO Kim Stone told ESPN minutes after the final whistle on Saturday. “It was the right thing for the players and it was the right thing for the fans. And we got there through great partnership with D.C. United, the Secretaries’ Cup, and many others that were involved. It wasn’t us alone that pulled this off today. The win, yes, was us, but the rest of hosting here was a lot of people. It just shows that when you have collaboration, what’s possible.”
Securing sponsorship deals like the ones that made Saturday’s game at Audi Field possible was part of Kang’s long-term plans for the club when she fully acquired it three years ago. The Spirit had previously played at the Maryland SoccerPlex in Boyds, Maryland, and Segra Field in Leesburg, Virginia, before moving into Audi Field permanently in 2023.
However, the team’s initial move did not provide an overnight bump in attendance. In 2021, the team played six regular-season games at Audi Field and attracted an average crowd of just over 4,000 fans.
Kang’s continuous investment helped spur a rabid home fanbase over time, and Audi Field has since become their spiritual home with six straight playoff sellouts of 19,000-plus fans.
Spirit head coach Adrián González saluted the crowd in his post-match press conference.
“We just want to say thank you again because we are very powerful when we play here, and we play very connected with them,” he said.
Washington will now return to this venue in one week’s time, potentially 90 minutes away from lifting an NWSL Championship in front of their home supporters and achieve the lofty goals Kang set.
