Washington Spirit top Portland Thorns to advance to NWSL Championship behind Gift Monday and Croix Bethune

In a thrilling display of sharp skill and pure talent, the Washington Spirit have offically stamped their ticket back to the NWSL Championship. 

Runners-up in 2024, the Spirit defeated the Portland Thorns, 2-0, in front of a sell-out crowd of 19,365 at Audi Field on Saturday. The squad delivered a masterful performance in a high-pressure situation, with U.S. women’s national team winger Trinity Rodman on limited minutes, and secured their place in the league’s biggest game of the year. They await the winners of Orlando Pride vs. Gotham FC on Sunday to determine their final opponent. 

Despite dominating stretches of the game, goals by Gift Monday and Croix Bethune came at monumental moments in the match, in early and late halves, with each player putting up elite individual performances. 

Monday’s opening goal came off a lengthy transition, with teammate Rosemonde Kouassi committing to a 100-yard sprint the opposite way after defending a Thorns set piece. 

It is the sixth assist that Kousassi delivered to Monday this year. The opening goal sent the standing room only crowd into a frenzy, as the Spirit and fans of the club have made “Rowdy Audi” a difficult place to play for opposing teams. 

“Look around, like, take it in. The game is over, and they’re still here screaming for us. I don’t even have any words. Honestly, I’m overwhelmed,” Bethune said after the match.

The second half brought a spark of life to the Thorns, only down a goal at halftime, but the Spirit’s efforts suffocated any attempts to steal momentum. Bethune capitalized on a Portland turnover and iced the game by practically walking the ball into the goal.

“I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t miss this open wide net.’ I [was] just anticipating the clearance and the long ball, I think it was Gift who got a good header on it, and their defender stumbled a little bit, and I’m like, ‘Okay, keep running, beat the keeper,’ and there’s a wide open net, and I wanted to smash it, just to show that energy,” Bethune said about her breakaway.

The game-sealing goal was Bethune’s first NWSL playoff goal of her career and for the Spirit. She sustained a meniscus injury last season that kept her out of the 2024 playoffs during her rookie year last season. Despite her season being cut shorter than expected, she matched a single-season record for assists (10) and won midfielder and rookie of the year honors in 2024.

“I feel great. Honestly. I’m just proud of myself to come back from an injury. The games leading back, I wasn’t exactly happy with my performance. I have high standards for myself, but going into the playoffs, I feel like the past two games are the best games that I’ve had all season, and I’m just proud of myself,” Bethune said.

The Spirit now turns their focus to the final hurdle in its quest for the trophy that slipped away last year. This time, they’ll have a healthy Bethune in tow, and a new leading goal scorer in Gift Monday. The group will also celebrate the return of Rodman to the field.

“We feel great to be back another year. We knew we could get there. It’s just a matter of the work that we put in and actually making it happen. I mean, we’re just, we’re grateful and we’re excited. We put in a lot of work to come back another year with a little bit of a different team,” she said on the Spirit’s repeat appearance heading into the final. 

Rodman made her return to the NWSL postseason for the first time since last year’s championship final and featured as a late-game substitute, getting on the ball and aiding the Spirit in closing out the game. The forward is working her way back from a sprained MCL she sustained on Oct. 11.