Washington and Utah share the spoils thanks to a late tying goal

Entering their match-up on Wednesday night, both the Washington Spirit and the Utah Royals were looking for their first wins of the 2026 NWSL Season. The Spirit entered this match looking to get their first win of the year after getting their first points of the year, after their comeback from behind draw on the road against Racing Louisville last week, while Utah started the season with back-to-back losses against the Kansas City Current and the San Diego Wave, and were looking to get their first points of the year.

In a game where the home team held control until the final 20 minutes, both the Spirit and Royals could not be separated, ending the game in a 1-1 draw in front of more than 9,000 fans at Audi Field in Washington, DC.

"I'm not like 'Oh man! like we're...but it is frustrating, of course," Hal Hershfelt said after the match, play-acting a dramatic overreaction. "Our play each game has gotten better: statistically, when it comes to how much possession we keep and everything, but like, it's just that final moment for us. Either we're conceding a goal when we're only one up...we even said it in the [post-game] breakdown: A one-goal lead is not enough in this league. You don't know what the hell is going to happen in each game, day in and day out. So, I feel like for us, getting that second goal would have changed the entire game."

The Game

Rebeca Bernal and Sofia Cantore celebrate Bernal's first NWSL goal. Photo Credit: Washington Spirit

The Spirit opened up the scoring in the 18th minute off a corner kick, the ball was deflected off a Utah defender, and the ball rolled to Trinity Rodman, recovering the ball outside the box and laying off to Sofia Cantore. The Italian international created space for herself and shot the ball from the top of the box; Cantore's shot bounced off a defender, and the ball was redirected towards goal. The ball found its way to Rebeca Bernal inside the six, as she headed the ball towards goal, with the ball ending up in the top of the net for Bernal's first career NWSL goal.

"The play unfolded very quickly, and—given my perspective—I wasn't sure if the goal was mine or Sofía [Cantore]'s, since I ended up inside the net myself." Said Bernal about the play that led to the goal."So, just to be safe—whether it was mine or not—I celebrated; after all, it was a goal for the team. Later, once I saw the replay, I confirmed that it was indeed mine—a reward for my effort, and for being able to help the team."

The Spirit nearly doubled their lead just a few minutes after a Deb Abiodun through ball found Rodman, but Rodman's shot went over the bar and out of play. This game was a significant one for Rodman as she made her 100th NWSL appearance and became the youngest player in NWSL to get to that mark at 23 years old.

"I’m happy for her. Sometimes we forget just how young she is," said Spirit head coach Adrián González "reaching 100 league appearances is a real achievement—something very significant—and I hope she goes on to reach many more and can continue helping us out."

Utah had a chance to tie the game close to the end of the 1st half, when a Brecken Mozingo free kick bounced to Ana Tejada, who shot the ball one-time towards the goal. Washington goalkeeper Sandy Maclver got a hand to the ball, as the shot hit the crossbar and out of play.

"In this league, we know with 1-0, it's not enough, because you are playing with fire," said González. "Every team can score. And today, again, bad luck at the end. But we need to keep insisting."

Abiodun and Rodman connected once again, as Rodman laid the ball off to Cantore, leaving her one-on-one with Mia Justus, but the Utah goalkeeper was able to keep the ball away from goal and keep the game close.

Claudia Martinez would have a chance to further the Spirit's lead after a Rose Kouassi cross was cleared short by Kameron Simmonds. The ball fell to the young Paraguayan, who shot the ball towards goal, but Simmonds was able to put her body in front of the shot and avoid Martinez, getting her first NWSL goal.

"I thought she played really well," said Spirit defender Esme Morgan. "She made a couple of great saves against Trin. She has really good feet too, so she's a talented keeper. It was frustrating to see her manage to sort of stick her leg out and block a couple of our opportunities, but I'm sure we'll get the better of some keepers in the near future."

Cantore and Rodman would connect once again on the counter, as Rodman laid the ball off to Martinez in front of goal, but her shot would go wide of the mark.

In the 83rd minute, a miscommunication on a throw from Maclver, which was intended for Lucia Di Guglielmo, the ball skipped between the Italian defender and Tara Rudd and was picked up by Cece Delzer who ran into the box with the ball playing the ball to Mina Tanaka who beat the mark of Bernal and slotted the ball into an open net to tie the game late.

"We are kind of keeping teams in the game right now, so they feel like they have momentum, when they really shouldn't feel like that," said Rudd. "Just going forward, [the aim is] trying to get as many chances as we can from the start of the game so they can't get themselves involved in the end."

With this result, Washington now stands in 13th place in the NWSL standings with 2 points, while Utah is in 15th place in the standings with 1 point.

The Spirit has a short turnaround as they now travel to Denver, CO, for a first-ever meeting with one of NWSL's new expansion sides, the Denver Summit. The match will take place at Empower Field at Mile High Stadium, in the capital of Colorado, on Saturday, March 28th, with kickoff scheduled for 2 pm EST.