Washington Spirit cruise beyond Kansas City Current to maintain José the Coyote’s lucky streak

Washington Spirit cruise beyond Kansas City Current to maintain José the Coyote’s lucky streak

On a cool Friday night at Audi Field, the Washington Spirit didn’t just win. They made a point.

In front of a sellout crowd, the Spirit dismantled the Kansas City Current 4-0, delivering one of their most complete performances of the season. They were clinical in the final third, controlled the tempo in midfield, and looked impenetrable at the back.

The breakthrough came in the 25th minute. Trinity Rodman whipped in a cross that found Leicy Santos, who guided it home. It was Rodman’s first assist of the season and Santos’ second goal, a sequence the two had nearly pulled off before the break in San Jose against Bay FC but could not quite finish.

On Friday night, they got it right.

“Once we got into our groove and got the goals going, it was gonna keep going,” Rodman said post match. “Going into the game, I think we knew that our spaces were going to be the wide channels, and that we didn’t want to take too many risks.

“We did a phenomenal job of attracting them, spreading them out to get wide, and then just picking out the right cross once we got there. Leicy didn’t get it last time, but she got it this time and she got two.”

Rodman doubled the lead early in the second half, marking her 100th appearance for the Spirit with her first goal of the season. It wasn’t spectacular, but it was classic Rodman: alert and decisive, finding the ball after Kansas City goalkeeper Lorena mishandled.

Santos struck again soon after, this time finishing a delivery from Sofia Cantore with the kind of calm that suggests her first wasn’t a one-off; it was something she practiced for. 

Kansas City never recovered. By the time Claudia Martínez added a fourth in the 75th minute, Audi Field was buzzing, the result long decided.