After pushing through five games without a loss, the Washington Spirit had its recent surge extinguished during a 1-0 loss to the Chicago Red Stars on Friday night at Segra Field.
The teams had a few missing faces, with several star players preparing for the Tokyo Olympics. For the Spirit, Kelley O’Hara and Emily Sonnett joined the U.S. national team. The Red Stars were without Alyssa Naeher, Julie Ertz and Tierna Davidson.
The gap left by those players was something the Spirit had anticipated going into the matchup. Washington had possession for most of the game but was still shot down by the Chicago defense on every opportunity.