# 2016 Washington Spirit season

The 2016 season was Washington Spirit's fourth season, competing in the National Women's Soccer League, the top division of women's soccer in the United States.

## Review

Building off the successes of the previous two playoff appearances the Spirit hired former Sky Blue FC manager, Jim Gabarra to replace Mark Parsons.
The Spirit would see their most successful season to date in 2016, being league leaders in the standings throughout most of the season. Only in the final week would the Spirit's loss at Chicago Red Stars finalize them as league runners-up.
Returning to the playoffs, the Spirit earned their first post-season victory in a revenge effort against Chicago Red Stars, who just a week earlier denied them the league title. The match was sent into extra time where Francisca Ordega scored the game-winner in the 111th minute. Advancing to the final for the first time in club history, the Spirit faced Western New York Flash in Houston, Texas.
The 2016 NWSL Final played to a 1–1 draw in regulation, and finished 2–2 at the end of extra time; both Spirit goals scored by Crystal Dunn. Going into penalties, Western New won 3–2 with only Christine Nairn and Katie Stengel slotting their penalties.

### National Anthem Protest

The week prior to a match with the Spirit, Seattle Reign FC and U.S. women's national soccer team player Megan Rapinoe knelt during the national anthem in a game on September 5, 2016, explaining that her decision was a "nod to Kaepernick and everything that he's standing for right now". Anticipating Rapinoe's protest, Spirit owner Bill Lynch, moved the national anthem's performance ahead of the Spirit-Reign match without warning or notice to occur before the players' appearances on the pitch. Jeff Plush, the league's commissioner, was present at the game and told reporters that he was unaware of Lynch's plans and disagreed with the act of moving the anthem's performance. The Spirit's players issued a joint statement also disagreeing with Lynch's decision to move the anthem without first consulting the team's players or coaches.

## Club
### Roster

The first-team roster of Washington Spirit.
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 | CAN | Stephanie Labbé (FP) |
| 3 | DF | USA | Caprice Dydasco |
| 4 | DF | USA | Megan Oyster |
| 5 | DF | USA | Whitney Church |
| 6 | DF | CAN | Shelina Zadorsky (FP) |
| 7 | MF | USA | Christine Nairn |
| 8 | MF | CAN | Diana Matheson (FP) |
| 10 | MF | ARG | Estefania Banini |
| 11 | DF | USA | Ali Krieger (captain) (FP) |
| 12 | FW | USA | Katie Stengel |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 14 | FW | NGA | Francisca Ordega |
| 15 | MF | USA | Joanna Lohman |
| 17 | FW | USA | Cali Farquharson |
| 18 | GK | USA | Kelsey Wys |
| 19 | FW | USA | Crystal Dunn (FP) |
| 20 | FW | USA | Cheyna Williams |
| 22 | DF | USA | Alyssa Kleiner |
| 23 | MF | USA | Tori Huster |
| 24 | DF | CMR | Estelle Johnson |
| 57 | FW | ESP | Laura del Rio |
* (FP) = Federation player

### Team management

| Owner | Bill Lynch |
| General Manager | Jim Gabarra |
| Head Coach | Jim Gabarra |
Source:

## Competitions
### Preseason

On January 26, the Washington Spirit announced its preseason schedule.

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

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Portland Thorns FC | 20 | 12 | 5 | 3 | 35 | 19 | +16 | 41 | NWSL Shield |
| 2 | Washington Spirit | 20 | 12 | 3 | 5 | 30 | 21 | +9 | 39 | NWSL Playoffs |
| 3 | Chicago Red Stars | 20 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 24 | 20 | +4 | 33 | NWSL Playoffs |
| 4 | Western New York Flash (C) | 20 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 40 | 26 | +14 | 32 | NWSL Playoffs |
| 5 | Seattle Reign FC | 20 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 29 | 21 | +8 | 30 | |
| 6 | FC Kansas City | 20 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 18 | 20 | −2 | 26 | |
| 7 | Sky Blue FC | 20 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 24 | 30 | −6 | 26 | |
| 8 | Houston Dash | 20 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 29 | 29 | 0 | 22 | |
| 9 | Orlando Pride | 20 | 6 | 1 | 13 | 20 | 30 | −10 | 19 | |
| 10 | Boston Breakers | 20 | 3 | 2 | 15 | 14 | 47 | −33 | 11 | |

#### 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 11, 2016. 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 | H | A | A | H | H | A | A | H | H | H | H | A | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | A |
| Result | W | W | W | D | W | L | D | W | L | W | W | W | L | W | W | W | W | W | L | L |
| Position | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |

### NWSL Playoffs
## Squad statistics

Source: NWSL
Squad statistics are of regular season only
| N | Pos | Player | GP | GS | Min | G | A | PK | Shot | SOG | SOG% | Cro | CK | Off | Foul | FS | YC | RC |
| 10 | F | Estefania Banini | 13 | 9 | 888 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 23 | 12 | 52% | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | Whitney Church | 11 | 7 | 610 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | DF | Crystal Dunn | 13 | 12 | 1142 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 37 | 14 | 38% | 2 | 0 | 13 | 8 | 26 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | Caprice Dydasco | 12 | 12 | 1080 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 43% | 4 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 0 |
| 17 | DF | Cali Farquharson | 16 | 8 | 561 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 20% | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | DF | Tori Huster | 19 | 19 | 1665 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 4 | 31% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 15 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | DF | Line Jensen | 3 | 2 | 141 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | DF | Estelle Johnson | 11 | 11 | 990 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 57% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | DF | Alyssa Kleiner | 17 | 12 | 1115 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 40% | 2 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 8 | 1 | 0 |
| 11 | DF | Ali Krieger | 15 | 14 | 1267 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 33% | 3 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 0 |
| 1 | GK | Stephanie Labbe | 8 | 8 | 720 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | MF | Joanna Lohman | 20 | 17 | 1535 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 30 | 14 | 47% | 1 | 0 | 1 | 27 | 15 | 1 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | Diana Matheson | 12 | 9 | 800 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 8 | 67% | 0 | 25 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 0 |
| 7 | MF | Christine Nairn | 20 | 18 | 1619 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 37 | 13 | 35% | 9 | 85 | 2 | 7 | 21 | 1 | 0 |
| 14 | FW | Francisca Ordega | 13 | 7 | 629 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 12 | 67% | 0 | 0 | 8 | 10 | 13 | 1 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | Megan Oyster | 15 | 15 | 1340 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 0 |
| 2 | FW | Katie Stengel | 19 | 10 | 928 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 20 | 10 | 50% | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | FW | Cheyna Williams | 17 | 8 | 779 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 9 | 45% | 0 | 0 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 1 | 0 |
| 18 | GK | Kelsey Wys | 12 | 12 | 1080 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | DF | Shelina Zadorsky | 11 | 10 | 911 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0% | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| Team total | Team total | Team total | 20 | — | 19800 | 30 | 16 | 2 | 249 | 109 | 44% | 27 | 116 | 48 | 139 | 165 | 13 | 0 |
| N | Pos | Goal keeper | GP | GS | Min | GA | GA/G | PKA | PKF | Shot | SOG | Sav | Sav% | YC | RC |
| 1 | GK | Stephanie Labbe | 8 | 8 | 720 | 7 | 0.88 | 0 | 1 | 71 | 30 | 24 | 80% | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | GK | Kelsey Wys | 12 | 12 | 1080 | 14 | 1.17 | 2 | 2 | 163 | 75 | 61 | 81% | 0 | 0 |
| Team total | Team total | Team total | 20 | — | 1800 | 21 | 1.05 | 2 | 3 | 234 | 105 | 85 | 81% | 0 | 0 |

## Transfers
### In

| No. | Pos. | Player | Transferred from | Fee/notes | Date |
| 12 | FW | Katie Stengel | FC Bayern Munich | Signed | December 30, 2015 |
| 20 | FW | Cheyna Williams | Florida State | 2016 NWSL College Draft - 1st Round | January 19, 2016 |
| 17 | FW | Cali Farquharson | Arizona State | 2016 NWSL College Draft - 2nd Round | January 19, 2016 |
| 1 | GK | Stephanie Labbé | KIF Örebro | NWSL Player Allocation and trade for DaCosta | February 2, 2016 |
| 6 | DF | Shelina Zadorsky | Vittsjö GIK | NWSL Player Allocation | February 2, 2016 |
| 22 | DF | Alyssa Kleiner | Portland Thorns FC | Trade for Reynolds | February 2, 2016 |
| 14 | DF | Line Jensen | Fortuna Hjørring | Signed | July 13, 2016 |

### Out

| No. | Pos. | Player | Transferred to | Fee/notes | Date |
| 17 | MF | Verónica Pérez | Canberra United | | September 17, 2016 |
| 12 | DF | Josephine Chukwunonye | Vittsjö GIK | Waived | December 22, 2015 |
| 25 | FW | Ngozi Okobi | Vittsjö GIK | Waived | January 6, 2016 |
| 2 | DF | Katherine Reynolds | Portland Thorns FC | Trade for Kleiner | February 2, 2016 |
| 16 | FW | Tiffany Weimer | FC Kansas City | Waived | March 31, 2016 |
| 22 | DF | Arianna Romero | Seattle Reign | NWSL Distribution Draft | March 31, 2016 |
| 20 | FW | Hayley Raso | Portland Thorns FC | Waived | April 11, 2016 |
| 22 | MF | Amanda DaCosta | Chicago Red Stars | Trade for draft pick and Labbé | April 16, 2016 |
| 28 | DF | Jennifer Skogerboe | FC Slovácko | | |

## Honors and awards
### NWSL Yearly Awards
#### NWSL Team of the Year

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

#### NWSL Player of the Month

| Month | Player | Month's Statline | Ref. |
| July | Estefanía Banini | 4 goals; Spirit 4-1-0 in July | |

### NWSL Weekly Awards
#### NWSL Player of the Week

| Week | Result | Player | Ref. |
| 13 | Won | Estefanía Banini | |

#### NWSL Goal of the Week

| Week | Result | Player |
| 2 | Won | Ali Krieger |
| 13 | Won | Estefanía Banini |
| 16 | Won | Christine Nairn |