The Washington Spirit casually strolled out to the practice field at the expansive Maryland SoccerPlex, laughing and chit-chatting as they began to kick the ball around on the overcast morning. As a bare-bones team of coaches and assistants — four, to be exact — set up cones and poles for drills, Crystal Dunn, the Golden Boot winner for the National Women’s Soccer League this season, chased after Boyd, the groundsman’s dalmatian mix, who was having the time of his life faking out the MVP candidate.
The scene was reminiscent of a rec-league kick around. Even when coach Mark Parsons officially called the practice into session and the focus level increased, the atmosphere was still relaxed, even cheerful.
But make no mistake about it: There are a lot more than bragging rights on the line, both for the Spirit and for women’s soccer as a whole.
On Sunday the Spirit will play in the biggest game in team history, a semifinal showdown against the Seattle Reign in the NWSL playoffs. Meanwhile, the NWSL itself sits on the precipice of groundbreaking territory for a women’s pro soccer league in the United States: A fourth year.
Despite their laid-back vibe, the Spirit are taking both of these things very seriously. Just last weekend, they lost to the Reign on their home field in front of a sell-out crowd of over 5,000, ruining the chance for the Spirit to host the semifinal game. So revenge is certainly on the team’s mind, particularly since Seattle — which finished the regular season in first place the past two years — stopped them in the semifinals last year.
“I think we’re just focused, and so freaking hungry,” Parsons told me after the practice on Wednesday. “We just played them, and we lost, and they ruined our home record. So there’s a lot of fuel; there’s this real grit and focus.”
While much of the country’s focus was on the Women’s World Cup this summer — the tournament drew record-shattering television ratings in the United States — the Spirit were putting together their best season yet. That’s in spite of the tumult the World Cup left them with: Their two best players, Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger, joined the U.S. Women’s National Team for World Cup play, while Dunn became the last woman cut from the national team roster, a huge letdown for the rising star.
But Dunn, who scored 15 goals this season and is seemingly a lock to make it onto the USWNT for the Olympics next year, took her disappointment at missing the Women’s World Cup and fueled it into her summer with the Spirit. During practice, she was clearly the most vocal and energetic of all of her teammates — pushing them, praising them, and always cracking jokes.
“It’s so hard to always want to be focused all the time,” said Dunn, who occasionally tries to keep tape over her mouth to stay silent during warm-ups, but never lasts more than a minute. “You have to have fun — you’re playing with your best friends.”
Fun aside, Parsons and Dunn are determined to make the Spirit one of the best teams, year in and year out, in the league; thankfully they’ll have a chance to do that in the fourth season and beyond. The NWSL is the third pro women’s soccer league in the United States. The first, the Women’s United Soccer Association, was founded in 2000 and began play in 2001, hoping to capitalize on the success of the 1999 Women’s World Cup team. It folded after its third year, approximately $100 million in debt. The Women’s Professional Soccer League was founded in 2009, but folded in 2012 amidst controversy and legal battles.
But the NWSL has some advantages over the previous leagues. It is supported by U.S. Soccer, which pays the salaries of the USWNT players; and it has learned from the previous leagues by taking things slow — the venues and salaries are modest, giving the teams time to build a fan base and grow organically.
It also helps that the league was already in place when the USWNT won the World Cup this summer, so it could immediately capitalize on that success. The NWSL has seen record attendance since the U.S. women topped Japan, and the Spirit have certainly reaped the benefits, with multiple sell-out games at home — despite the fact that the Maryland SoccerPlex is located nearly an hour outside of Washington, D.C. and there is no simple way to get there via public transportation.
I want this league around for little girls that I coach right now.
The Spirit players are all willing to go above and beyond in terms of community outreach and publicity because they have such an investment in making sure the NWSL is given the proper time to build into one of biggest women’s sports leagues in the world.
“I want this league to stick around,” Spirit midfielder Tori Huster said. “My sister is in college and I want this league to be here for her. I want this league around for little girls that I coach right now that I’m telling, ‘Come to our games because you’ll have an opportunity to play one day.’”
There are a lot of improvements that need to take place for the NWSL to not only exist, but thrive. Right now only a handful of games are broadcast on television through a deal with FOX Sports (the Spirit’s semifinal against the Reign will broadcast on FOX Sports 1 on Sunday night) while the majority of the games are streamed live on YouTube. This arrangement is barely satisfying to hardcore fans, who rue the shaky connection and poor commentary on the YouTube streams, and is no way to attract new fans.
The modest player salaries are hardly liveable for those not on the national team, ranging from $6,842 to $37,800 per season. There is barely any publicity for the league amongst popular sporting properties — scores don’t even regularly run on the ticker on either ESPN or Fox Sports — unless it’s for something bad, such as Alex Morgan’s tweet about bed bugs in team hotels this summer. And with only nine teams, the league is still too small, meaning teams face each other over and over again throughout the season.
But it’s certainly possible that the NWSL will continue to grow its audience and work out some of the kinks — as long as it has time.
“How many times did I get asked the question ‘are you going to be around for a fourth year?’ But at some point we don’t even think about that, it’s not even a consideration for us,” league commissioner Jeff Plush told SB Nation, while citing non-concrete plans in the works for team expansions, sponsors, and TV contracts. “The future is really bright for us, it’s just knuckle down and continue to do the hard work.”
Right now, the Spirit aren’t thinking about a fourth season, small salaries, or the sustainability of a women’s soccer league in the United States. They’re just thinking about beating Seattle. The team is expecting a tough game — both squads are excellent possession teams, and both USWNT goalies (Hope Solo for the Reign; Harris for the Spirit) will be on the field. But inspired by their newfound fans and successful season, the Spirit feel ready to get the upset.
“We can win this year, there’s no doubt. We’ve beaten all of the playoff teams, we have that ability.” Parsons said. “If I’m right, then nothing will stop us on Sunday. I feel that the hunger will be stronger than ever.”