Talents like Mallory Pugh and Andi Sullivan, both U.S. internationals, had many high on the Washington Spirit’s hopes coming into 2018, but the reality of a young team in a highly competitive league has hit home early this NWSL season. Through seven games, Jim Gabarra’s team has one win, losing four times as they’ve fallen to eighth place in the nine-team circuit.
It’s two spots higher than the Spirit finished a year ago, when their 10th-place season ensured they’d get Sullivan in this January’s NWSL College Draft. But within this year’s schedule you see why Washington’s early returns may be painting a deceiving picture.