Canadian international and starting center back Shelina Zadorsky will start the 2018 NWSL season in Orlando after a trade that sends her to the Orlando Pride in exchange for goalkeeper Aubrey Bledsoe and the Pride’s natural first round draft pick for 2019. It’s the second straight season in which the Washington Spirit has traded their captain to Orlando, with Ali Krieger joining the Pride last winter.
Zadorsky’s departure leaves the Spirit thin at center back. The acquisition of USWNT right back Taylor Smith will allow Estelle Johnson to move back into the middle in 2018, but at the moment Johnson and Whitney Church are the only full-time center backs on the roster.