Second-Place Spirit Returns Home for Sunday Afternoon Meeting with Chicago Stars FC
NWSL Washington Spirit

Second-Place Spirit Returns Home for Sunday Afternoon Meeting with Chicago Stars FC

Published on August 30, 2025 under National Women's Soccer League (NWSL)
Washington Spirit News Release


Washington Spirit defender Gabrielle Carle with possession against Chicago Stars FC
Washington Spirit defender Gabrielle Carle with possession against Chicago Stars FC
(Washington Spirit)

Washington, D.C. - The Washington Spirit will return home this weekend after a two-win away trip to host Chicago Stars FC for its annual Pride match at Audi Field. Kicking off at 4 p.m. EDT on Sunday afternoon, the match will be broadcast nationally on CBS.

The Spirit

With last weekend's 3-2 road win over Bay FC, Washington jumped into second place on the NWSL table. The match, taking place at Oracle Park in San Francisco, saw a new NWSL record 40,091 fans in attendance. Entering Sunday's match, Washington is guaranteed to remain in second place due to favorable results in Friday night's contests.

The Spirit is currently on a three-match win streak against Chicago Stars FC in regular season play. This streak follows a previous nine-match regular season winless streak against the midwestern side. With a 10-11-7 all-time regular season record in the series, Washington can level the fixture's history with a win on Sunday.

In the first meeting between the sides this season in May, forward Rosemonde Kouassi scored her first career NWSL goal and Gift Monday her third en route to a 3-2 Spirit win in Illinois. Also in that match, former Spirit player Sam Staab tallied one of the Stars' two goals on the afternoon.

Though the Spirit ranks highly in many attacking categories like goals (T-2nd), assists (3rd) and big chances (4th), the side sits in the middle of the pack in shots (T-8th), shots on target (7th) and possession (7th). Making the most of the opportunities it creates, Washington has totaled 28 goals for this season, trailing only Kansas City's 34. The Spirit has scored multiple goals in three of its four league matches since returning from the July break, earning points in all four.

Following Sunday afternoon's match, the Spirit will remain home to host Vancouver Rise FC Academy in the club's first home match of the 2025-26 Concacaf W Champions Cup group stage on Wednesday, September 3 at 7 p.m. EDT. To conclude the homestand, Washington will host Seattle Reign FC in a regular season match on Sunday, September 7 at 4 p.m. EDT. Tickets to both matches are available here.

The Opponent

Chicago Stars FC enters Sunday's match looking for its first league win since mid-April. The side has lost six and drawn seven since its last victory, including drawing six of its last seven.

Despite its difficulty on the table, the Chicago attack has been in strong form lately, tallying three goals in each of its last two matches. In both matches, the Stars overcame multi-goal deficits to earn draws. In the first of the two, Stars goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher scored the equalizer, her first career goal, in stoppage time to save a point.

Last weekend, the team's leading scorer, Ludmila, notched a hat trick in a span of just ten minutes, increasing her tally to eight goals on the season. The trifecta set a new NWSL mark for fastest hat trick in league history.

Chicago has nine different goal-scorers on the year, at least one from each level of the field. Other than Ludmila, however, only forward Ally Schlegel and midfielder Shea Groom have scored more than once in 2025.

Though Stars FC still sits 13th out of 14 in the NWSL in goals scored this season, the side is sixth in assists and has shown the ability to quickly create chances on the attack lately. Of Chicago's 18 goals for, 15 have been assisted.

Following Sunday's match, Chicago will return home to host the Orlando Pride in its Lakefront Faceoff match on the campus of Northwestern University on Sunday, September 7.

All-Time Series History

The Spirit holds a 10-11-7 all-time regular season record against Chicago Stars FC with a -4 goal differential (30-34). With a win on Sunday, Washington can even up the 12-year series at 11 wins apiece.

Check out the Washington Spirit Statistics

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Images from this story

Washington Spirit defender Gabrielle Carle with possession against Chicago Stars FC
Washington Spirit defender Gabrielle Carle with possession against Chicago Stars FC
   



National Women's Soccer League Stories from August 30, 2025


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