This Saturday, the Washington Spirit earned their first-ever preseason win against the University of Virginia. The game was played in three 30-minute periods, which provided coach Jim Gabarra an opportunity to evaluate 21 players under difficult weather conditions.
First period lineup: Wys; Kleiner, Oyster, Johnson, Dydasco; Church, Nairn, Banini; Dunn, Stengel, Williams
Whitney Church, a rookie right back for the Spirit last year, started as a defensive midfielder against Virginia. Tori Huster, a mainstay for the Spirit, wasn’t available for the Spirit’s first scrimmage. Huster hadn’t trained an entire week so Gabarra said he was interested in evaluating a few different players in the number six role.