Washington Spirit Clinch a Playoff Spot ☑️

Plus, Teaming Up with Becky Sauerbrunn is here!

September 30, 2025

Happy Tuesday, Hot Dogs!

Becky writes: We’re still workshopping our nickname for all you lovely TWG supporters out there. I fear Sam is quite set on keeping the moniker so if you’re not a fan, take it up with her! Her? You might be asking. Yeah, it’s Becky Sauerbrunn. I’ve temporarily taken over the newsletter to shamelessly plug my new podcast, Teaming Up with Becky Sauerbrunn, that launched yesterday. Sam is the content queen and I thought I should start carrying my weight and contribute to the stories we’re telling across the soccer community landscape. My first guest is Elizabeth Banks so, you know, no pressure. It’s been so enjoyable speaking with these guests and hearing their stories and what brought them to women’s soccer. And what I’ve come to find is that we all nerd out about stuff, and that nerdiness connects us in ways we don’t expect. I hope you’ll give a listen to Teaming Up and you’ll consider joining the Nerd Squad!

There’s a new episode of Good Vibes dropping today where Sam and I talk about the results from around the NWSL. The smell of playoffs is in the air and the teams are getting a good strong whiff of it. We’re in a critical part of the season and the performances this weekend reflect that. Most notably, we talk to a legend of the game, to the personification of a good vibe, as she makes her announcement to retire from the game at the end of the season. Then, on Thursday, Sam drops a Friendlies episode with Angel City’s Savy King. And if you missed the first episode of Mewis Squared last week I highly recommend you check that out! The content is contenting.

And that ends my temporary takeover of the TWG newsletter. My partner and I are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our baby and as first-time parents, we have absolutely no idea what to expect! I’ll be taking some time away as we figure it all out. I’m so thankful for this community and the support we’ve shown one another this year. Please keep showing up and being kind to one another. Until next time…

With love,
Becky

NWSL Matchday 22: Orlando Gets Back to Winning Ways, Washington Spirit Make the Playoffs 🎉 

San Diego 1-2 Orlando Pride

Eight minutes into an important test in San Diego, Mexican forward Lizbeth Ovalle (who briefly set a new women’s football transfer record when she signed with the Pride in August) scored her first goal for the reigning champions. That seismic strike (below) provided essential momentum for the Pride, who sealed a sorely needed 2-1 win against San Diego, finally breaking a nine-game winless run. Twenty-year-old Brazilian Dudinha also scored her first NWSL goal for San Diego, and while it was a stunning strike, it wasn’t enough for the home side to collect any points. 

Gotham 3-0 Portland Thorns

Gotham is heating up ahead of the playoffs. These two teams entered the weekend third and fourth in the standings, but the Bats outplayed the three-time champions at home with goals from Midge Purce, Rose Lavelle (assisted by Jaedyn Shaw) and Katie Stengel. That’s the first goal in two years for Midge, and Lavelle (who also collected an assist in the win) now has five goal contributions from her last five games. Portland still finished the weekend in playoff contention, but dipped down to sixth ahead of a west coast test against Bay FC next weekend.

More: Alyssa Naeher's six saves against Kansas City weren't enough to limit the league-leaders in Chicago’s 4-1 loss to the Current. With that, the Stars became the first team officially eliminated from the 2025 NWSL playoffs.

Washington Spirit 4-0 Houston Dash

Spirit forward Gift Monday set a new NWSL record with the fastest-ever hat-trick scored from the start of a match as she sent three past Houston in the first 36 minutes at Audi Field. Italian forward Sofia Cantore added some second-half flourish with a beautiful back-heel goal to seal a resounding win for the second-place Spirit, who’ve officially clinched a playoff berth.

  • Sam's Take 🗣️: It's perfect timing for the Spirit to be firing on all cylinders like this. Between the hat-trick, back-heel goal, two assists from Trinity, and Croix Bethune out there looking as dangerous as ever... the Spirit are ramping up for the playoffs and I would not want to play against them.

📬 Enjoying The Women’s Game? Check out our other MiB newsletters:

🐦‍⬛ The Raven: Our Monday and Friday newsletter where we preview the biggest matches around the world (and tell you where/how to watch them) and recap our favorite football moments from the weekend.

🔍 The Correspondent: Rory Smith’s thoughts on the world of soccer, culture, food, and how they all connect – every Thursday.

🇺🇸 USMNT Only: Your weekly update on the most important topics in the U.S. men’s game, all leading up to next year’s World Cup.

Meanwhile, in England and Europe 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

West Ham 0-4 Chelsea

Sunday in Dagenham, the Blues kept their perfect record intact with a fourth-straight win to start the new season in a 4-0 rout of West Ham. USWNT winger Alyssa Thompson collected her first Chelsea start since transferring to the London giants from Angel City, as part of a victory that saw four goals from four different players.

  • Sam's Take 🗣️: I was at this game in person! Seeing Chelsea in real life is always a treat, and between Alyssa's start, Cat Macario's skill in and around the box, Aggie Beever-Jones' free kick golazo, and watching Sam Kerr live, I was in spectator's heaven. Chelsea are a really special squad, with depth beyond belief and a relentless attack. Their dominance in the WSL is not going anywhere anytime soon.

OL Lyonnes 6-1 PSG

The undisputed giants of French football handed their rivals a devastating 6-1 defeat in their first meeting of the new season. With USWNT players on either side, pride of Colorado Lindsey Heaps was the first of the Americans to score, but Illinois-born midfielder Korbin Shrader stole the show as she put three goals past her former club all within the space of 15 minutes. 

🥤 Olipop power everything we do here at The Women’s Game. You can use code TWG20 for 20% off your first order at drinkolipop.com/TWG20.

Goals of the Weekend, Presented by New Balance 💥

Score Tickets to FIFA World Cup 26™ with Verizon 🏆

FIFA World Cup 26™ starts in just 255 days and this is your chance to experience it in all its North American glory, thanks to our friends at Verizon. They’ve teamed up with David Beckham and an all-star roster of talent to launch Verizon Ultimate Access for FIFA World Cup 26™. Verizon customers will have access to thousands of free FIFA World Cup 26™ tickets, once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to win “Golden Tickets” for access on the field during game play, meet and greets and more on the road to the tournament. Come make football memories that will last a lifetime.

Upcoming Games to Get Excited About 🗓️

Manchester United vs. Chelsea (Friday, 2:30 p.m. ET, ESPN+) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

On the fifth matchday of the WSL season, the two top-ranked sides will face an interesting early test at Leigh Sports Village outside of Manchester. While Chelsea have four wins from four games so far in 2025, Manchester have three wins and one draw—a 0-0 stalemate against reigning champions of Europe, Arsenal. 

Manchester City vs. Arsenal (Saturday, 7 a.m. ET, ESPN+) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Two of the WSL’s strongest teams will also face an early test in the new season this weekend. Arsenal—who were named Team of the Year at the recent Ballon d’Or ceremony after collecting their second-ever UWCL trophy last season—have yet to fully find their stride, with two wins and two draws from four games ahead of this test. The Gunners are currently in fifth, while City rank third after collecting three wins and one loss (against Chelsea) in their first four games.

  • Sam's Take 🗣️: Lots of Arsenal fans joked that their tie against Aston Villa last weekend handed Chelsea the WSL title. I know that sounds crazy, but last season Chelsea didn't lose a single game in the WSL. To compete with them, you'd imagine that Arsenal can't afford to drop any points at all. The stoppage time goal that they conceded could be haunting them come next May... what do you think? Join us on Discord and let me know if you think it's way too early to say.

Washington Spirit vs. San Diego Wave (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, ESPN) 🇺🇸

The second-place Washington Spirit will host the formerly second-place San Diego Wave in a test of two of the league’s more elite teams, just ahead of the postseason. While the Spirit clinched their playoff spot last weekend, San Diego are now in seventh, but tied on points with sixth-place Portland, after a six-game winless run (two draws, four losses). Still, they remain strong contenders to make the postseason.

Gotham FC vs. Seattle Reign (Sunday, 4 p.m., NWSL+/Paramount+) 🇺🇸

Kansas City ran away with this year’s Shield, but the teams below them in the playoff positions are neck and neck. With four games to go, Gotham and Seattle are both looking like postseason contenders, and are in third and fourth with just one point between them ahead of Sunday’s meeting.

The 2025 Women's Game Survey Is Here 🫵🙏

One of the things we love most about The Women’s Game is getting to be part of this incredible community that cares so deeply about the sport, especially the women’s side. We want to keep improving our coverage, and that’s where you come in. Our 2025 Survey is your chance to tell us what you want to see, what stories in women’s football matter most, and how we can help bring this soccer community even closer together.

Every year, your voices in our annual survey help us understand what matters most to you, and how we can make this community even stronger. From the pods, to the newsletters, to the live shows and everything in between, your feedback truly shapes what we do.

It only takes a few minutes to complete, but it helps us create something even better, together. We’d be so grateful for your time... and honestly, who doesn’t like answering questions about themselves?

To thank you, a lucky few who take the survey will win free gear from the new TWG and GVFC collection from our store. It’s the least we can do.

News and Notes 🗞️

  • A Women in Football study that polled 759 individuals across the game found that 80% of women working in football have experienced discrimination in the past 12 months. Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor commented on the survey results, saying, “I’m not surprised.”

  • After months of hoping, Afghanistan’s Women’s Refugee team will participate in its first international tournament as part of the newly announced, “FIFA Unites: Women’s Series,” taking place in the UAE this October.

It’s TWG Trivia Time 🤔

This week’s question: Gift Monday’s hat-trick is the first one scored by a Washington Spirit player since 2015. Which player scored that 2015 trio of goals?

Respond to this email (or reply here) for a chance to win a coveted TWG patch.

Last week’s answer: In 2013, the first-ever Concacaf Player of the Year was awarded to Alex Morgan.

Congrats to Becky Peterson, who was the first person to respond with the correct answer. Becky, the patch is in the mail!

Moment of Joy 🤸

Noah writes: Hey all, love the pod so much and excited for the new ones starting up! 

Just want to thank you all for your coverage. The pod is such a good format and you all do a great job with everything. You all have different styles/ways of analyzing and communicating the information so it compliments really nicely! 

Full disclosure I am a trans person that listens and it gives me chills listening to some of my favorite players take time to talk about what’s going on. I know it’s not an easy topic to cover, but a lot of us (trans people) are pretty scared right now and it’s hard so it really means a lot. 

Anyway, here’s a book store recommendation for Becky. It’s a little outside Portland in Camas, Wash. Looks like they don’t have a website but here’s their Instagram.

Thanks again for all you three do!

Cheers,
Noah

Sam writes: Hey Noah! Thanks so much for writing in and acknowledging the coverage. Understandably, we got a lot of messages last week. Hearing from you makes it all worth it and is a great reminder that we are all in this together. I passed your recommendation for Bookish on to Becky! Sending love, Sam.

📝 Want to be featured in next week’s TWG newsletter? Send Sam an email! All your questions, comments, and dog (or wedding) photos can be sent to [email protected]

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