# 2015 Washington Spirit season

The 2015 season was Washington Spirit's third season of existence in which they competed in the National Women's Soccer League, the top division of women's soccer in the United States.

## Review

Building off 2014's playoff achievement, the Spirit added a few key contributors including midfielder Joanna Lohman (from Boston Breakers), defenders Megan Oyster (drafted out of UCLA) and Katherine Reynolds (from Western New York Flash), and Nigerian international Francisca Ordega (signed from Piteå IF). The season also served as the breakout year for Crystal Dunn who was awarded the 2015 NWSL Golden Boot Award, scoring 15 goals during the campaign.
The Spirit finished the 2015 season with a record of 8-6-6 and repeating their 4th place league position. The playoff result, again, ended in an away loss to Seattle in the semifinals.
At the conclusion of the season, Mark Parsons stepped down as head coach and general manager to take over as coach of the Portland Thorns FC.

## Club
### Roster

As of May 15, 2017
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | USA | Ashlyn Harris (FP) |
| 2 | DF | USA | Katherine Reynolds |
| 3 | DF | USA | Caprice Dydasco |
| 4 | DF | USA | Megan Oyster |
| 5 | DF | USA | Whitney Church |
| 6 | DF | USA | Angela Salem |
| 7 | MF | USA | Christine Nairn |
| 8 | MF | CAN | Diana Matheson (FP) |
| 9 | FW | ESP | Laura del Río |
| 10 | FW | USA | Caroline Miller |
| 11 | DF | USA | Ali Krieger (FP) |
| 12 | DF | NGA | Josephine Chukwunonye |
| 13 | MF | POR | Amanda DaCosta |
| 14 | FW | NGA | Francisca Ordega |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 15 | MF | USA | Joanna Lohman |
| 16 | FW | USA | Tiffany Weimer |
| 17 | MF | MEX | Verónica Pérez (FP) |
| 18 | GK | USA | Kelsey Wys |
| 19 | DF | USA | Crystal Dunn (FP) |
| 20 | FW | AUS | Hayley Raso |
| 21 | DF | USA | Alex Singer |
| 22 | DF | MEX | Arianna Romero (FP) |
| 23 | MF | USA | Tori Huster |
| 24 | DF | USA | Estelle Johnson |
| 25 | MF | NGA | Ngozi Okobi |
| 26 | FW | ARG | Estefanía Banini |
| 28 | DF | USA | Jennifer Skogerboe* |
| 30 | GK | USA | Lyndse Hokanson* |
* (FP) = Federation player
* – denotes amateur call-ups

### Team management

| Owner | Bill Lynch |
| General Manager | Mark Parsons |
| Head Coach | Mark Parsons |

## Competitions
### Regular season
#### Regular-season standings

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Seattle Reign FC | 20 | 13 | 4 | 3 | 41 | 21 | +20 | 43 | NWSL Shield |
| 2 | Chicago Red Stars | 20 | 8 | 9 | 3 | 31 | 22 | +9 | 33 | NWSL Playoffs |
| 3 | FC Kansas City (C) | 20 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 32 | 20 | +12 | 32 | NWSL Playoffs |
| 4 | Washington Spirit | 20 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 31 | 28 | +3 | 30 | NWSL Playoffs |
| 5 | Houston Dash | 20 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 21 | 26 | −5 | 24 | |
| 6 | Portland Thorns FC | 20 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 27 | 29 | −2 | 23 | |
| 7 | Western New York Flash | 20 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 24 | 34 | −10 | 23 | |
| 8 | Sky Blue FC | 20 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 22 | 28 | −6 | 22 | |
| 9 | Boston Breakers | 20 | 4 | 3 | 13 | 22 | 43 | −21 | 15 | |

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: September 7, 2015. Source: Match reports
| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| Stadium | A | H | A | A | A | H | A | H | H | H | A | H | H | H | A | H | A | A | A | H |
| Result | L | W | W | L | D | W | L | W | D | W | L | W | D | W | L | D | W | D | D | L |

### NWSL Playoffs
## Squad statistics

Source: NWSL
Key to positions: FW – Forward, MF – Midfielder, DF – Defender, GK – Goalkeeper
| N | Pos | Player | GP | GS | Min | G | A | WG | Shot | SOG | Cro | CK | Off | Foul | FS | YC | RC |
| 26 | FW | Estefania Banini | 4 | 4 | 308 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | DF | Josephine Chukwunonye | 2 | 1 | 55 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | Whitney Church | 16 | 15 | 1364 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | MF | Amanda DaCosta | 17 | 7 | 646 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | Laura del Rio | 11 | 8 | 698 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 16 | 1 | 0 |
| 19 | FW | Crystal Dunn | 20 | 19 | 1711 | 15 | 3 | 6 | 84 | 48 | 3 | 0 | 35 | 20 | 26 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | Caprice Dydasco | 6 | 1 | 196 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | DF | Tori Huster | 17 | 13 | 1177 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 12 | 3 | 0 |
| 24 | DF | Estelle Johnson | 19 | 18 | 1685 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| 11 | DF | Ali Krieger | 8 | 8 | 655 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | MF | Joanna Lohman | 17 | 15 | 1216 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 15 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | Diana Matheson | 9 | 7 | 633 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 0 |
| 10 | FW | Caroline Miller | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | MF | Christine Nairn | 20 | 19 | 1701 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 42 | 20 | 2 | 73 | 2 | 9 | 19 | 2 | 0 |
| 25 | FW | Ngozi Okobi | 4 | 0 | 67 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 14 | FW | Francisca Ordega | 13 | 11 | 996 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 27 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 16 | 21 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | Megan Oyster | 20 | 20 | 1800 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 9 | 3 | 0 |
| 20 | MF | Hayley Raso | 8 | 1 | 182 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | Katherine Reynolds | 18 | 18 | 1611 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| 6 | MF | Angela Salem | 15 | 12 | 981 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 7 | 10 | 2 | 0 |
| 21 | DF | Alex Singer | 5 | 3 | 274 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | DF | Jennifer Skogerboe | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | FW | Tiffany Weimer | 4 | 0 | 38 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| N | Pos | Goal keeper | GP | GS | Min | W | L | T | Shot | SOG | Sav | GA | GA/G | Pen | PKF | SO |
| 1 | GK | Ashlyn Harris | 9 | 9 | 810 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 126 | 60 | 47 | 12 | 1.333 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 18 | GK | Kelsey Wys | 11 | 11 | 990 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 121 | 51 | 35 | 16 | 1.455 | 0 | 1 | 3 |

## Transfers
### In

| No. | Pos. | Player | Transferred from | Fee/notes | Date |
| 2 | DF | Katherine Reynolds | Western New York Flash | Trade for Angeli | October 21, 2014 |
| 6 | DF | Angela Salem | Western New York Flash | Trade for Angeli | October 21, 2014 |
| 15 | MF | Joanna Lohman | Boston Breakers | Signed | October 22, 2014 |
| 13 | MF | Amanda DaCosta | Liverpool L.F.C. | Signed | October 24, 2014 |
| 22 | DF | Arianna Romero | Houston Dash | Trade for Cross | December 2, 2014 |
| 4 | DF | Megan Oyster | UCLA Bruins | 2015 NWSL College Draft – 2nd Round | January 19, 2015 |
| 3 | DF | Caprice Dydasco | Pali Blues | 2015 NWSL College Draft – 3rd Round | January 19, 2015 |
| 5 | DF | Whitney Church | Penn State Nittany Lions | 2015 NWSL College Draft – 4th Round | January 19, 2015 |
| 26 | FW | Estefanía Banini | Colo-Colo | Signed | January 22, 2015 |
| 24 | DF | Estelle Johnson | Western New York Flash | Trade for Pressley | February 24, 2015 |
| 9 | FW | Laura del Río | Bristol City W.F.C. | Signed | March 12, 2015 |
| 14 | FW | Francisca Ordega | Piteå IF | Signed | March 24, 2015 |
| 12 | DF | Josephine Chukwunonye | Rivers Angels F.C. | Signed | June 11, 2015 |
| 20 | FW | Hayley Raso | Brisbane Roar | Signed | June 11, 2015 |
| 25 | MF | Ngozi Okobi | Delta Queens F.C. | Signed | June 23, 2015 |

### Out

| No. | Pos. | Player | Transferred to | Fee/notes | Date |
| 6 | MF | Lori Lindsey | N/A | Retired | August 14, 2014 |
| 24 | FW | Lisa De Vanna | Melbourne Victory | | September 3, 2014 |
| 28 | DF | Jordan Angeli | Western New York Flash | Trade for Reynolds and Salem | October 21, 2014 |
| 4 | MF | Yael Averbuch | FC Kansas City | | November 7, 2014 |
| 12 | DF | Niki Cross | Houston Dash | Trade for Romero | December 2, 2014 |
| 3 | DF | Toni Pressley | Western New York Flash | Trade for Johnson | February 24, 2015 |
| 10 | MF | Caroline Miller | | Waived | May 28, 2015 |
| 21 | DF | Alex Singer | Avaldsnes IL | Waived | June 17, 2015 |
| 9 | FW | Renae Cuéllar | | | |
| 15 | DF | Robyn Gayle | | | |

## Honors and awards
### NWSL Yearly Awards
#### NWSL Most Valuable Player

| Player | Result | Ref. |
| Crystal Dunn | Won | |

#### NWSL Golden Boot

| Player | Result | Goals | Ref. |
| Crystal Dunn | Won | 15 | |

#### NWSL Team of the Year

| Team | Position | Player | Ref. |
| Best XI | Defender | Crystal Dunn | |
| Second X1 | Defender | Ali Krieger | |

#### NWSL Player of the Month

| Month | Player | Month's Statline | Ref. |
| August | Crystal Dunn | 6 Goals; 1 Assist; Spirit 2–13 in August | |