The Washington Spirit host OL Reign today as two of the NWSL’s very best teams kick off their regular season campaigns. For the Spirit, it’s a big day: players will get their 2021 championship rings, and the team has put in a ton of work to celebrate last year’s incredible accomplishment. However, before all that kicks off, Washington faces a team that most pundits see as their biggest challengers for this year’s crown, and the Reign will certainly want to spoil the party after the Spirit ended their playoff hopes last year.
Key player: Ashley Sanchez
So thinking about that playoff game last year, it was settled by some tremendous work in goal by Aubrey Kingsbury, and by a moment of utter genius from Sanchez, turning possession from no angle on the touchline and a crowd of Reign defenders around her into one of the all-time great NWSL goals.