Spirit advances to the knockout stages of the Concacaf W Championship in dominant fashion
- Mario Amaya
- 7 hours ago
- 5 min read
The Washington Spirit went into Wednesday night’s match against CF Monterrey Femenil with one main objective: to get to the semifinals of the Concacaf W Championship. The Spirit needed a draw to go through.
The Spirit did just that as they defeated Monterrey in a convincing fashion in front of their fans at Audi Field in Washington, D.C., with a final score of 4-0, finishing at the top of Group B, ahead of Gotham FC on goal differential.
“Yeah, we've prepared the game as you know, if it were a playoff game, because we know that, you know, we need to start playing with that kind of pressure, knowing that, yeah, that is going to come soon. And I think players have done a great job. From the beginning until the end, we had the chance to score a lot of goals and, you know, I think very dominant.” Said Spirit head coach Adrián González “I think we are closing, you know, this year, this competition as best as possible. In the first position and also with a great result, and also the feelings that we are, you know, very dangerous, especially attacking in different ways. I think today we've seen those. The results that we are just having because of what we built in the past, and that's difficult for the opponent to defend. So, I'm happy obviously because when we have a situation like this where you need to play also under pressure, the players are, I think, doing a great job, and that's a good sign that we are prepared. We are better every day.”
Rodman injury concern
Hours earlier, Trinity Rodman earned her first call-up to the US Women’s National Team in months; however, in the 37th minute, while attempting to make a challenge for the ball, Rodman got tangled up with Monterrey defender Daniela Monroy. Rodman took the brunt of the challenge and remained on the floor, and had to be subbed off the field, being helped up by Spirit trainers as she was unable to put any weight on her leg.
“It’s tough seeing someone go down no matter what team you’re on — especially someone like Trin,” said midfielder Croix Bethune, who scored the opening goal. “We still have a job to finish at the end of the day. The game continues, and of course we’re thinking about her.”
Rodman was spotted during halftime on crutches and her right knee taped up with ice. González did not offer a prognosis on Rodman’s injury and said that the 23-year-old forward would undergo scans on Thursday.
The scans later revealed that Rodman had suffered an ACL sprain and is currently rehabbing the injury with no timeline for her return.
The Game
For this game González decided to put his best line-up for this all-important game, including playing other players with national team callups such as Tara McKewon, Hal Hershfelt, and Bethune, all called up for the USWNT, as well as Esme Morgan who was called up by the English national team, Gabby Carle called up by Canada, Sophia Cantore called up by Italy and Rebeca Bernal called up by Mexico.
“We wanted to have the best lineup that was possible for the beginning, knowing that in the second half, we would have maybe rotations,” González said. “Right now, obviously, we are in a very important moment in the season. The season is ending, so we are running out of games, and we need to be able to prepare for the playoffs. So we are managing players’ loads, knowing that also very soon they are going to travel for the national team.”
For Bernal, this game had a special significance for her. Bernal spent the first eight years of her career playing for Monterrey, where she scored 65 goals in 274 appearances for Las Rayadas. She won a total of four league titles with Monterrey, three Apertura titles (2019, 2021, and 2024), as well as the 2024 Clausura title.
“It was a little weird on a personal level to face my old team,” said Bernal. “It was a little difficult, but we wanted to win. It was something we worked towards, we wanted to advance, and the team did their job, and happy we advanced to the final four.”
The Spirit opened up the scoring in the 6th minute, after a Rodman cross was punched away by Rayadas' goalkeeper Paola Manrique, but the ball would fall to Bethune, who would settle the ball and, with a low shot, put the ball past Manrique to give the Spirit the early lead.
The Spirit thought they had doubled their lead in the 27th minute when Rose Kouassi stole the ball and laid it back to Hershfelt, who placed the ball at the foot of Leicy Santos who shot the ball from distance, with Manrique making a stop, but the rebound was picked up by Gift Monday, but the ball was called back for a foul by Monday on Manrique.
Monterrey would have one of their few goalscoring chances of the game in the 50th minute when a Marcela Restrepo corner found an unmarked Ashlyn Fernandez inside the box, but her header would go wide of the goal.
Washington would double their lead in the 54th minute, when a pass from their own end of the field found Brittnay Ratcliffe, who darted towards the middle, taking on the Monterrey defense, playing a through ball to Kouassi inside the box, and the Ivorian international smashed the ball into the back of the net to further the Spirit’s lead.
The Spirit furthered their lead just three minutes later when a short Santos corner found Kouassi inside the box, as she slotted a pass across to Monday, who tapped the ball in to all but secure the win for the Spirit.
The Spirit secured their victory in the 66th minute when Bethune, after dribbling past several defenders, sparking uhh’s and ahh’s from the crowd, placed a pass in the direction of Kouassi. Kouassi would play the ball across goal to Ratcliffe, whose attempt in front of the goal was cleared out by a Monterrey defender. Ratcliffe was able to get to the rebound, but the ball would bounce off Valeria Del Campo as the ball crossed the goal line, with the officials deeming it an own goal.
With this result, Washington finished at the top of Group B with 10 points. They finished tied with points with Gotham FC, but finished atop the group due to a better goal differential of +15.
The Spirit will face Pachuca in May in the final four of the Concacaf W Championship. Washington now shifts its focus back to league play when it plays their final home game of the season, when they face the Orlando Pride Saturday afternoon.
