The NWSL Championship is finally here. The No. 3 Washington Spirit and No. 4 Chicago Red Stars will kick off at 12 p.m. ET on Saturday at Lynn Family Stadium in Louisville, Ky.

The parallels between the teams are plentiful. Washington and Chicago haven’t met since Aug. 1, and yet their seasons have followed a similar pattern to get to this point. Each team lost seven of their first 18 games and then dominated the last six weeks of the regular season, winning 11 games apiece. Then, they each came out on top of semifinal upsets to reach the championship game.

There’s a lot to unpack with this matchup, so let’s dive in.

Season overviews

We’ll start with Washington. The Spirit won just six of their first 18 matches, most coming under former coach Richie Burke, who was fired in August after multiple players accused him of emotional abuse. Shortly after his departure, the Spirit had to forfeit two games for violating COVID-19 protocols.

In the first two weeks of September, Kelley O’Hara led a change in the team’s mindset and, under interim head coach Kris Ward, the Spirit didn’t lose a single game over the next six weeks.

Washington finished the season with nine of their 11 victories as clean sheets. They proceeded to defeat the North Carolina Courage 1-0 in the quarterfinals and claim a 2-1 upset win over No. 2 OL Reign in the semis.

Now, the Spirit are back in the final for the first time since 2016 and the second time in franchise history. Tori Huster is the only remaining player from that 2016 squad, but she will sit out Saturday with an injury sustained during the quarterfinal.

The Best! Congrats @ash_hatch33 and @trinity_rodman on making the Best XI First Team Presented by MasterCard

— Washington Spirit (@WashSpirit) November 17, 2021

Similar to the Spirit, the Red Stars won seven of their first 18 matches before going unbeaten in five of their last six games. They didn’t have nearly the same level of off-field turmoil that Washington did, but they had obstacles of their own, coming primarily in the form of injuries to key players.

They lost star midfielder Julie Ertz to a season-ending injury in their first game of the season, a 5-0 loss to the Portland Thorns. A couple of months later, starting goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher went down in the United State’s women’s national team’s Olympic semifinal loss to Canada and was sidelined for the rest of the season. Naeher’s USWNT teammate, Casey Krueger, has also been out for weeks due to illness. Mallory Pugh and Kayla Sharples missed the Red Stars’ semifinal game due to the NWSL’s COVID-19 protocol, but will return for the final after clearing protocol. Kealia Watt exited the semifinal early with a knee injury and was also ruled out for Saturday.

Despite the string of injuries, the Red Stars defeated No. 5 NJ/NY Gotham FC 1-0 in the quarterfinal sand then shut out the No. 1 Thorns 2-0 to reach their second-ever league championship game.

Rolling into Championship Week with 2️⃣ of the best around!

Congrats to @sarahlgorden on making the @nwsl Best XI First Team and @malpugh making the Best XI Second Team, both presented by @mastercard!

🔗 https://t.co/zdSuBpXDAo pic.twitter.com/JqvnnQcETI

— Chicago Red Stars (@chicagoredstars) November 17, 2021

Regular season matchups

The Spirit and Red Stars have met three times this season, with Chicago getting the better of Washington 2-0-1.

The first meeting was a 1-1 draw on June 19. Both teams were quiet in the first half. The Spirit were without 2021 Golden Boot winner Ashley Hatch after she went down with an injury in the 35th minute.

Each team switched into gear for the second half, generating multiple chances until Spirit forward Trinity Rodman (named Rookie of the Year on Thursday) broke the scoreless tie when she found the back of the net in the 85th minute off an assist from Andi Sullivan. The Red Stars responded in added time when they were awarded a penalty kick that Morgan Gautrat converted.

Their second matchup was a 1-0 Chicago victory on July 2. Washington’s Julia Roddar got credit for an own goal after deflecting Sharples’ header off of a Pugh corner kick.

And then came the Red Stars’ 3-1 win on Aug. 1. Pugh opened the scoring in the 19th minute after stealing the ball in the midfield, carrying it up the field to the outside of the box and firing a shot past keeper Cassie Miller. Rachel Hill added Chicago’s second goal off a corner in the 39th minute.

Rodman put the Spirit on the board in the 71st minute before Gautrat scored from the spot to seal the win for Chicago.

The Red Stars are 8-1-3 in their last 12 matches against the Spirit.

Team strengths

Chicago

The Red Stars’ biggest strength is their depth, especially considering how many key players they’ve lost along the way.

“The belief of the group that the next one is going to step up and do the job has been huge for us, and tactically we didn’t change anything,” said coach Rory Dames.

Their depth was put to the test last Sunday, when they played most of their semifinal against the top-ranked Thorns without leading scorers Pugh and Watt. Katie Johnson subbed in for Watt and scored the game’s first goal minutes later.

“I thought her work rate defensively was outstanding,” Dames said after the game. “Tatumn [Milazzo] certainly didn’t play like a rookie tonight. Cassie Miller — can’t say enough about Cass.”

Washington

The Spirit’s strength has been adaptability. Through a coaching change mid-season that brought with it tactical changes and new training structures, Washington has not only responded positively but thrived.

Under Ward, the Spirit often adjust their formation and strategies multiple times mid-match, and the team loves to use their subs.

“Regardless of what’s being thrown at them, they’ve been able to take it on and say, ‘OK, we can adjust to this, we can play a different formation, we can play a little higher, we could play a little lower,” Ward said. “They’re very malleable in that way.”

Four players to keep an eye on

Aubrey Bledsoe: This 2021 NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year is a big reason the Spirit are here, after she made eight saves to keep her team in the quarterfinal game, which the Spirit eventually won in overtime. With a brick wall like Bledsoe as the last line of Washington’s defense, the Red Stars’ attackers have their work cut out for them.

Ashley Sanchez: An underrated player who doesn’t get enough credit while playing next to Hatch and Rodman on offense, Sanchez makes an impact all over the field. Since joining the team in 2020, the 22-year-old has secured a starting role in the attacking midfield, refined her decision-making skills and become a game-changer for the Spirit, as evidenced by her crafty goal in the semifinal.

Morgan Gautrat: The veteran has hurt Washington with two successful penalty kicks this season, but besides being a threat from the spot, Gautrat rules the center of the pitch. The semifinal Player of the Match leads an experienced midfield, which will be critical to the Red Stars’ success in a high-stakes game against a young Spirit team.

Sarah Gorden: A nominee for 2021 Defender of the Year, Gorden is versatile on defense, moving from outside back to center back when Ertz left with her injury. Most defenders don’t even think about carrying the ball in their own third of the pitch, but Gorden, Chicago’s Iron Woman, isn’t afraid to use the space when it’s in front of her.

The Spirit win if …

They get numbers into Chicago’s box. The Spirit have success when they can place accurate balls into the 18 because they’re lethal on rebounds. Hatch, in particular, always seems to be in the right place at the right time. The Red Stars’ defense has few holes, which is why long lobs over them and into the box, where Washington has some of the top goal scorers in the league, could be the tactic that turns the game in the Spirit’s favor.

The Red Stars win if …

They capitalize in the first half and play a low block in the second. The Spirit have thrived as a second-half team this season, so if the Red Stars can get an early goal or two and their defense can enter lockdown mode, the Spirit will have a hard time catching them.

Saturday’s game will be historic no matter the outcome, with the Spirit and Red Stars each looking to win their first title in franchise history. The match will be broadcast on CBS at 12 p.m. ET for the U.S. and Canada, and internationally on Twitch.

Jessa Braun is an editorial intern for Just Women’s Sports. She is also the Head of North American Content for the Women’s Sports Alliance. You can find her on Twitter @jessabraun.

NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman is defending the league's salary cap, addressing growing concerns about player retention this week — just days before soon-to-be free agent Trinity Rodman takes the San Jose pitch for Saturday's 2025 Championship match.

"We want Trinity in the NWSL, and we will fight for her," said Berman about the Washington Spirit star, responding to a report in The Athletic claiming that competing US top-flight outfit Gainbridge Super League has offered Rodman a contract surpassing the NWSL's current salary cap limitations.

"She is representative, or a proxy, of our broader point, which is that we want top players to play here, and we believe that we are already doing that and can continue to attract those players," Berman added.

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The NWSL's hard salary cap approach has come under fire amid recent high-profile departures of US talents like now-Chelsea FC teammates Naomi Girma and Alyssa Thompson, but Berman insists that the mechanism remains crucial to the league's parity.

"There are teams in other leagues that could compete in our league, but there are no leagues that could compete with our league," she explained, emphasizing the unique position the NWSL holds in the global soccer landscape.

"Compensation is not the only thing that players consider when deciding where to play," she continued. "We look at a whole host of factors, on the basis of the conversations that we have with players from our league and from players around the world."

The NWSL also confirmed Berman's multi-year contract extension this week, with executive committee chair Carolyn Tisch Blodgett saying in a statement that "[Berman's] vision for sustainable growth, along with her ability to fuel enduring momentum, has positioned the league for long-term success."

The soccer season's biggest showdown has finally arrived, as the No. 2 Washington Spirit and No. 8 Gotham FC take the pitch for Saturday's 2025 NWSL Championship match in San Jose.

Both teams enter the final steeped in postseason experience, with the Spirit winning their first title in 2021 before falling just short of a second in 2024, while Gotham lifted their first trophy in 2023.

"It feels like another NWSL game — we have competitive people on both sides," Gotham forward Midge Purce told JWS this week. "And it's fun. Stakes are high."

Despite entering as the postseason's No. 8 seed, Gotham insists they're far from underdogs, while the Spirit also view Saturday's matchup as a heavyweight bout.

"Both teams, we have different players but a similar idea — we all want to be protagonists," said Washington manager Adrián González. "Both teams want to win the ball as quick as possible. We love pressing high. I think it's going to be a good game for the fans."

"It's two teams that are very good tactically, two teams that are going to study how to counterpart each other," agreed Gotham head coach Juan Carlos Amorós. "Then it's going to be those moments of brilliance — it could be set pieces — certain moments where players take responsibility."

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How to watch the 2025 NWSL Championship

The 2025 NWSL season comes down to Saturday's final between No. 8 Gotham FC and the No. 2 Washington Spirit.

This year's championship match kicks off from San Jose at 8 PM ET, with live coverage airing on CBS.

Gotham FC's Emily Sonnett would like everyone to know that her longtime teammate and close friend Rose Lavelle is a very good defender.

"Cannot forget that," she told Just Women's Sports at Thursday's NWSL Championship Media Day. "Gotta write about that."

A World Cup champion and Olympic gold medalist with the US women's national team, the respect that Lavelle almost instantly garners from the opposition creates significant space for her Gotham teammates. And since joining the team in 2024, she's taken well to the club's high-pressing, quick-transition style. 

"She takes up a lot of attention," said Sonnett. "The way that she leads silently on the field, like a ghost — you don't know when she's going to get [the ball] and do something brave, and then, bam, she's there."

Gotham teammates spotlight Lavelle’s two-way brilliance

Lavelle has been a constant during Gotham’s unlikely championship run, both a locker room leader and a Fellow Gotham and USWNT star Midge Purce would also like everyone to know about Lavelle's prowess on both sides of the ball.

"It's hard to describe when you play with someone who's that good, it's just special," she said. "She can do special things on and off the ball — something she doesn't get a ton of credit for."

She's such a force, in fact, that Purce wasn't aware of the one achievement that's eluded Lavelle throughout her illustrious career — winning an NWSL title.

"Rosie, I didn't realize!" Purce exclaimed upon learning she's never won a league championship — despite being on the Gotham squad that took down Lavelle's Seattle (née OL) Reign in the 2023 NWSL Final. "She deserves the world."

From Breakers to Gotham: Rose Lavelle's winding NWSL journey

Lavelle needs little introduction to a soccer audience. A perennial winner on the international stage and a midfield maestro with the ball at her feet, the 30-year-old is a fixture of the global women's game. But her NWSL career has been a bit more nuanced. 

A Wisconsin standout with serious USWNT interest right out of college, Lavelle signed her first professional contract with the now-defunct Boston Breakers in 2018, entering a league almost unrecognizable to today's thriving NWSL ecosystem.

Boston folded the following year, sending Lavelle to Washington during a dark competitive period for the Spirit. She was later somewhat unceremoniously traded to Seattle in 2021, while playing overseas with the WSL's Manchester City. That Reign team went on to fall to none other than Gotham FC in the 2023 NWSL Championship — with Lavelle scoring Seattle's only goal.

In 2024, Lavelle got to make her own choices. She jumped ship, signing with the NY/NJ club that so silenced Seattle the previous season as part of a flashy free agency class.

How Lavelle battled injury and reclaimed her NWSL influence

Regardless of tonight's outcome, Lavelle's greatest triumph this season might simply be taking the pitch for a full 90 minutes. The 30-year-old has struggled with injuries throughout her professional career, but bouncing back from offseason ankle surgery was especially taxing. Her prolonged recovery impacted her ability to make a difference on the field, as she watched Gotham's form waver early in 2025.

"It was a pretty big surgery," Lavelle said, acknowledging that she's had to adjust her role within the team to maintain a presence off the pitch.

So she found ways to stay involved. She shared opinions in team meetings, staying connected with teammates in order to forge a seamless transition once she could handle more significant playing time. 

"She supported me for the first half of the season, when she wasn't even on the field," said rookie midfielder Sarah Schupansky. "And she didn't only support me, she supported the whole team."

Lavelle admitted that even now she doesn't feel 100%. But she also has a veteran's perspective on the bigger picture. "I still have to give myself the grace of acknowledging that it's going to be an up and down journey," she said.

"Being able to play with Rose, obviously, with the national team, has been incredible," Sonnett remarked. "But seeing the way that she's been able to train in NWSL, seeing that grit — I know she's battled through injury. [But] being able to see her train, I learn a lot from her."

Chasing the one women's soccer trophy that’s eluded her

Having won all there is to win at the international level, Lavelle's legacy doesn't ride on a single title. But her teammates would love to help check off that particular box on behalf of their locker room leader.

"I adore playing with her, and I adore her off the field," said Purce. "I definitely want to see her lift that trophy — she's going to be just fantastic."

As for Lavelle herself, the game is the fun part. And raising a trophy at the end of 90 minutes is just a benefit of the greater goal.

"This is what you play for," said Lavelle.

"This season is so long and hard. But then you get to these moments and this is the fun part, win or go home. We're all just fighting for each other, amped up, playing every single day."

Star England defender Esme Morgan made an impression on her new Washington Spirit teammates even before she set foot on US soil — just by the sound of her voice.

"Looking at Es on social media before she came, I just thought her voice was so angelic," Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury told Just Women's Sports at NWSL Championship Media Day in San Jose. "Even the first weeks, I couldn't even focus on what she was saying — I'm like, 'I am in the presence of the Queen.'"

If the former Manchester City defender wasn't already the NWSL team's quintessential English international, she cemented her prowess after winning a European Championship with the Lionesses earlier this summer. Since joining the Spirit in 2024, the center back has become a player to watch on both sides of the Atlantic, after making a bet on herself by transferring to the notoriously fast-paced NWSL in search of greater responsibility on the pitch.

A die-hard NFL fan with a bubbly personality and loyal TikTok following, Morgan immediately took to life in the US. Her proper British accent belies a fierce competitor on the field. She's a force in the locker room, fusing social connections that greatly contributed to the Spirit reaching a second straight NWSL final. And she's also good for more than a little bit of banter.

"Es is just super entertaining, she's really good at getting under my skin," added Kingsbury with a laugh. "She brings… a lot of sunshine to the locker room, and obviously is just a fun person to play with." 

But it's not all puppies and rainbows. Ceding last year's championship to the Orlando Pride still stings for Morgan. And she's turned that pain into intensity — one that's fueled her and her teammates all the way back to the precipice of NWSL glory.

How Esme Morgan energized Washington Spirit’s team culture

Washington's camaraderie is palpable, something midfielder Hal Hershfelt credits in part to Morgan's readiness to spend time with her teammates off the pitch, no matter the occasion.

"Honestly, she came to the team and we did a lot more team events and stuff like that," she said. "She's so extroverted, willing to get people together, get people grooving."

Morgan recalls a time early in the 2025 preseason, after Spirit captain Andi Sullivan announced she was pregnant with her first child ("the whole team had gone crazy," she remembered). A group of players had ridden their bikes to get ice cream, including recent signing Narumi Miura, who had only been in market for a few days.

"We were all just chatting about [Sullivan], and Rumi goes, 'I love this team!'" Morgan said. "She'd been here four days. We were like, 'Oh my gosh, Rumi, we love you too!' I think that speaks to the environment that we have."

The team's comfort with one another is also evident on the pitch, whether it's Morgan and midfielder Croix Bethune hitting Cam Ward's football celly in front of Audi Field's sold-out home crowd, or the trust permeating the defense as they confront ongoing injuries. 

"We definitely hold each other to high standards," said Kingsbury. "We all really want to win, and we all really want to do well for each other."

Esme Morgan bets on the NWSL to elevate her England career

Morgan arrived in the US on a mission.

She was named to England's World Cup squad in 2023, but spent the tournament on the bench, watching on as an unused substitute as the Lionesses finished second to Spain.

So when she got the opportunity to transfer to the NWSL the following year, proving her national team worth was front of mind. 

"She wanted to take a step forward, knowing that this league would challenge her," said Washington manager Adrián González. "I think she's done an amazing job, especially adapting herself to the type of games we have here."

The defender favors the NWSL's summer schedule, as it allows her to stay in shape for major international tournaments. And as she told JWS earlier this year, the US league's speedy, possession-oriented style has made her a better overall player. Morgan had always been good with the ball at her feet, but her time in Washington has significantly improved her off-ball positioning and ability to go toe-to-toe with the world's best attackers.

Her desire to improve only grew stronger after the Spirit fell short of last year's NWSL title. "That was something that at the time provided a huge fire inside me," she said. "I worked super hard in the off-season, doing things on the pitch that I knew would complement the areas of the game that I wanted to improve."

From Euros glory to NWSL grind: Esme Morgan returns to form

The work is paying off. She played a key role as a reserve center back in the Lionesses's successful UEFA Women's Euro defense this summer, replacing Gotham defender — and 2025 NWSL Championship opponent — Jess Carter in England's hard-fought semifinal victory over Italy. She went on to lift the trophy with her national team teammates, after avenging their World Cup loss against Spain in the European Championship final. 

Winning a major international title accomplished a childhood dream, but Morgan had to quickly re-orient herself after rejoining the Spirit in DC.

"Immediately after the Euros was when I felt the most tired. It was just like a come-down after that high," she reflected. "But I've since rallied and [felt] fresh and ready coming into the last couple of games."

How team love fuels the Washington Spirit's NWSL Championship quest

Heading into tonight's NWSL Championship, Morgan's focus on winning hasn't changed. But the source of her desire has shifted some, a full year after last year's disappointing exit. Washington faced adversity due to injury this season, in many ways mirroring their 2024 arc. But they've also continued to prioritize joy — on and off the pitch.

"We've overcome lots of challenges as a group, but stuck together throughout," Morgan said. "Now my passion and desire to win this weekend comes not from me losing out last year. It comes from the love I have for this group and the desire to win with these girls."

Another thing driving her? A victory tonight would put Morgan in rare company, completing her 2025 trophy case with both an international and league.

"I had the best time in the summer, achieved a lifelong goal. And ever since I've come to the Spirit, I've wanted to win the championship," she said. "It would be the perfect year, really."