Washington Spirit (1-1-0) at Seattle Reign FC (1-0-0)
Memorial Stadium
Wednesday, 10 pm EDT
Series: Spirit lead, 2-1-0
The Spirit travel west for the first mid-week game of the season against the only club they carry a winning record against. That shouldn’t matter much Wednesday night, partly because both teams turned over large chunks of their rosters, but also because the Spirit played Saturday in Washington while the Reign have been sitting home in Seattle the last week and a half. The Spirit also carry some injuries with Crystal Dunn having pushed her limits on the weekend and Robyn Gayle also carrying a slight injury. Tiffany Weimer did not make the trip and is still awaiting her Spirit debut. For the Reign, 1st Round pick Amanda Frisbie is out so her pro debut will wait for another day.
What to watch for: If the Spirit are going to have much luck scoring they are going to have to be patient and creative in order to breach Keelin Winters and Jess Fishlock, who were a dominating tandem in the Reign’s opening victory against the Breakers. If Dunn and Diana Matheson can stretch the width of the field the Spirit could find success against the Seattle outside backs. On the other side, Gayle and Ali Krieger will have their work cut out for them against Megan Rapinoe and Kim Little.
