The 2016 season was Washington Spirit's fourth season, competing in the National Women's Soccer League, the top division of women's soccer in the United States.
Review Building off the successes of the previous two playoff appearances the Spirit hired former Sky Blue FC manager, Jim Gabarra to replace Mark Parsons.
The Spirit would see their most successful season to date in 2016, being league leaders in the standings throughout most of the season. Only in the final week would the Spirit's loss at Chicago Red Stars finalize them as league runners-up.
Returning to the playoffs, the Spirit earned their first post-season victory in a revenge effort against Chicago Red Stars, who just a week earlier denied them the league title. The match was sent into extra time where Francisca Ordega scored the game-winner in the 111th minute. Advancing to the final for the first time in club history, the Spirit faced Western New York Flash in Houston, Texas.
The 2016 NWSL Final played to a 1–1 draw in regulation, and finished 2–2 at the end of extra time; both Spirit goals scored by Crystal Dunn. Going into penalties, Western New won 3–2 with only Christine Nairn and Katie Stengel slotting their penalties.
National Anthem Protest The week prior to a match with the Spirit, Seattle Reign FC and U.S. women's national soccer team player Megan Rapinoe knelt during the national anthem in a game on September 5, 2016, explaining that her decision was a "nod to Kaepernick and everything that he's standing for right now". Anticipating Rapinoe's protest, Spirit owner Bill Lynch, moved the national anthem's performance ahead of the Spirit-Reign match without warning or notice to occur before the players' appearances on the pitch. Jeff Plush, the league's commissioner, was present at the game and told reporters that he was unaware of Lynch's plans and disagreed with the act of moving the anthem's performance. The Spirit's players issued a joint statement also disagreeing with Lynch's decision to move the anthem without first consulting the team's players or coaches.
Club
Roster The first-team roster of Washington Spirit.
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(FP) = Federation player
Team management
Source:
Competitions
Preseason On January 26, the Washington Spirit announced its preseason schedule.
Regular season
Regular-season standings
Results summary
NWSL Playoffs
Squad statistics Source: NWSL
Squad statistics are of regular season only
10FEstefania Banini 13 9 888 5 1 0 23 12 52% 3 0 1 1 17 0 05DFWhitney Church 11 7 610 0 0 0 0 0 — 1 0 0 3 2 0 019DFCrystal Dunn 13 12 1142 2 5 0 37 14 38% 2 0 13 8 26 0 03DFCaprice Dydasco 12 12 1080 0 2 0 7 3 43% 4 0 1 8 6 1 017DFCali Farquharson 16 8 561 0 0 0 10 2 20% 0 0 4 5 3 0 023DFTori Huster 19 19 1665 1 1 0 13 4 31% 0 0 0 14 15 0 027DFLine Jensen 3 2 141 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 0 0 0 0 024DFEstelle Johnson 11 11 990 0 0 0 7 4 57% 0 0 0 3 1 0 022DFAlyssa Kleiner 17 12 1115 1 1 0 5 2 40% 2 0 1 10 8 1 011DFAli Krieger 15 14 1267 1 0 0 6 2 33% 3 6 1 5 5 2 01GKStephanie Labbe 8 8 720 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 0 0 0 0 015MFJoanna Lohman 20 17 1535 4 1 0 30 14 47% 1 0 1 27 15 1 08MFDiana Matheson 12 9 800 4 0 1 12 8 67% 0 25 2 3 9 1 07MFChristine Nairn 20 18 1619 3 3 1 37 13 35% 9 85 2 7 21 1 014FWFrancisca Ordega 13 7 629 2 1 0 18 12 67% 0 0 8 10 13 1 04DFMegan Oyster 15 15 1340 0 0 0 3 0 0% 0 0 0 12 6 2 02FWKatie Stengel 19 10 928 4 1 0 20 10 50% 1 0 5 5 4 0 020FWCheyna Williams 17 8 779 3 0 0 20 9 45% 0 0 9 10 9 1 018GKKelsey Wys 12 12 1080 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 0 0 1 0 06DFShelina Zadorsky 11 10 911 0 0 0 1 0 0% 1 0 0 8 4 2 0Team total 20 — 19800 30 16 2 249 109 44% 27 116 48 139 165 13 0
1GKStephanie Labbe 8 8 720 7 0.88 0 1 71 30 24 80% 0 018GKKelsey Wys 12 12 1080 14 1.17 2 2 163 75 61 81% 0 0Team total 20 — 1800 21 1.05 2 3 234 105 85 81% 0 0
Transfers
In
No.Pos.PlayerTransferred fromFee/notesDateSource 12 FC Bayern MunichSigned 20 Florida State2016 NWSL College Draft - 1st Round 17 Arizona State2016 NWSL College Draft - 2nd Round 1 KIF ÖrebroNWSL Player Allocation and trade for DaCosta 6 Vittsjö GIKNWSL Player Allocation 22 Portland Thorns FCTrade for Reynolds 14 Fortuna HjørringSigned
Out
No.Pos.PlayerTransferred toFee/notesDateSource 17 Canberra United 12 Vittsjö GIKWaived 25 Vittsjö GIKWaived 2 Portland Thorns FCTrade for Kleiner 16 FC Kansas CityWaived 22 Seattle ReignNWSL Distribution Draft 20 Portland Thorns FCWaived 22 Chicago Red StarsTrade for draft pick and Labbé 28 FC Slovácko
Honors and awards
NWSL Yearly Awards
NWSL Team of the Year Team Position Player Ref. Second XI Defender Ali Krieger Second X1 Forward Crystal Dunn
NWSL Player of the Month
Month Player Month's Statline Ref. July Estefanía Banini 4 goals; Spirit 4-1-0 in July
NWSL Weekly Awards
NWSL Player of the Week
Week Result Player Ref. 13 Estefanía Banini
NWSL Goal of the Week
Week Result Player Ref. 2 Ali Krieger 13 Estefanía Banini 16 Christine Nairn
See also 2016 National Women's Soccer League season
References
Match reports (preseason)
Match reports (regular season)
Notes
External links