The Washington Spirit have endured a strange and unpleasant 2018, and it appears that their final game of the year against Sky Blue FC is not exempt. Due to the game being scheduled for a FIFA international window, the Spirit have had to call in no fewer than six national team replacement players. Former Spirit forward Tiffany McCarty is joined on the long list of players by Alexa Newfield, Brenna Connell, Zoe Clark, Megan Crosson, and Morgan Ruhl. Pending NWSL approval, all six will likely be in uniform for the short-handed Spirit.
The Spirit’s situation as far as player availability was known to be dire once national team call-ups began to trickle in.