When the Washington Spirit traveled to Orlando last weekend to take on the NWSL champion Pride, the visitors’ 11-player injured list could’ve represented a title-contending lineup in its own right.
All four Spirit players who were members of the gold medal-winning U.S. team at the Paris Olympics — Casey Krueger, Hal Hershfelt, Croix Bethune and Trinity Rodman — were out. The same went for Andi Sullivan, a starter for the United States at the last World Cup who is recovering from a torn ACL and pregnant with her first child. Also sidelined were Ouleymata Sarr, the team’s leading scorer for much of last season, and key contributors Paige Metayer, Kate Wiesner and Brittany Ratcliffe.