Ashley Hatch scored two first-half goals and the Washington Spirit beat Bay FC 2-0 in the National Women’s Soccer League on Friday night.
The Houston Dash and Gotham FC played to a scoreless draw in Friday’s other game.
Hatch scored on almost identical headers in the 24th and 27th minutes. The first goal was crossed into the box by Leicy Santos and then deftly glanced into the far post. The second was redirected to the near post from Narumi Miura's free kick.
The 29-year-old Spirit forward leads the league in goals with three this season, and she now has 56 in her NWSL career.
Olympian Trinity Rodman made her first start of the season, and was subbed off in the 64th minute for Brittany Ratcliffe. Rodman has been managing an ongoing back injury dating back to last season. She played 58 minutes across the NWSL's opening two weeks.
The Spirit (2-1-0) secured its second win of the season, the first this year at Audi Field, and moved up to third in the NWSL standings. Bay (1-1-1) suffered its first loss of the year, and now sits in seventh.
Davidson injury mars scoreless tie between Dash and Gotham
Both the Dash and Gotham posted their first shutout of the season.
The match in Houston was paused in the 41st minute when Gotham defender Tierna Davidson went down with a non-contact injury to her left knee after an awkward lunge.
Davidson was unable to continue and Mandy Freeman came off the bench to replace the U.S. women’s national team defender. The extent of Davidson's injury was not immediately known.
Gotham completed 86% of its passes, led the possession split 60% to 40%, and generated nine total shots and two on target.
The Dash spent the majority of the match holding a firm defensive shape, and attempted just two shots with zero hitting the target.
The stop-start match saw 35 total fouls called.
The tie is the first point Houston (1-1-1) has secured at home this season. Gotham (0-1-2) remains winless in 2025, and has now gone two consecutive games without scoring.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Theo Lloyd-hughes, The Associated Press
