The Thorns play the beleaguered Washington Spirit at home this week, the third and final meeting between two teams with very different fortunes as of late. The Spirit are 4-12-4 (W-L-D), with four losses and a draw in their last five games. Worse, they’ve been hemorrhaging players to injury (more on that in a minute). This is a must-win for the Thorns not in the sense that they desperately need points to stay where they are in the standings—they’re five points clear of third-place Chicago—but in the sense that there’s no excuse for them not to win.
Ideally, Mark Parsons wouldn’t have to mess with last week’s lineup, but Hayley Raso earning her fifth yellow of the season last week means she’ll be sitting this match out.