Photo courtesy of Racing Louisville/Connor Cunningham
The National Women’s Soccer League delivered a lot of goals across two games on Friday night, though one was incredibly lopsided, while the other was a much tighter affair. Racing Louisville kicked the night off with a 3-2 victory over the Orlando Pride. The Washington Spirit wrapped things up with a dominant 4-0 showing against the Kansas City Current.
Washington’s new good luck charm
The Spirit were scoreless in their last three meetings against Kansas City, but they turned that around dramatically with two goals in each half on Friday. Trinity Rodman registered a goal and an assist, Leicy Santos scored her first NWSL brace (becoming the first Colombian to bag a brace in the U.S. league), and Claudia Martínez scored her first for Washington since her $1 million transfer (becoming the first Paraguayan to score in the NWSL).
Washington now has two wins in its last two games, and plenty of credit has been given to Jose the plastic coyote. The fake coyote is designed to deter geese and other animals from messing with the pitch, and the team became enamored with one while training in San Jose, Calif. After a slow start to the season, their first win came over Bay FC with their four-legged friend.
Spirit midfielder Hal Hershfelt explained in a TikTok that the Washington Spirit President of Soccer Operations, Haley Carter, shipped a replica of the fake coyote to the club’s facilities. The team named him Jose in honor of the Bay Area city.
“We’re so excited. Maybe it’s because of our good luck charm, but we’re pumped,” Hershfelt said after the game. She was interviewed on the field postgame with the coyote in hand.
Before the night was done, the team led the crowd in a chant of Jose to the tune of “Olé, Olé, Olé.”
Lauren Milliet’s big night
If you aren’t going to score often, you want to make them count, and Racing Louisville’s Lauren Milliet did just that. Milliet opened the game’s scoring with a perfectly hit top bin shot, just her third professional goal and her first since 2022. As the only remaining starter from the expansion team’s first-ever game in 2021, it felt like a special moment bridging the team’s past and future.
Sarah Weber doubled the lead two minutes into the second half, and Milliet recorded her first-ever brace three minutes later. Milliet’s second goal would prove to be the game-winner as Barbra Banda bagged a brace of her own with a goal each in first and second half stoppage time. The result is Louisville’s first win of the season.
