When Washington Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury dove and caught NJ/NY Gotham FC defender Jenna Nighswonger’s penalty attempt during the 2024 NWSL playoffs, the sell-out crowd erupted at Audi Field. That save, Kingsbury’s third consecutive in that night’s semifinal penalty shootout, stamped the Spirit’s ticket to the 2024 NWSL championship, capping one of the most electrifying semifinals in league history.
“It was one of my favorite games,” a smiling Kingsbury told The Athletic this week. “We just felt the whole range of emotions, and with the crowd behind us, I think it was probably the loudest Rowdy Audi has been.”
A lot has changed in the roughly 159 days since, including player transfers and plenty of injuries, but the rivalry between Spirit and Gotham continues to brew. The two teams clash again on Saturday when Gotham returns to Washington, D.C., for the first time since that semifinal clash.
Aubrey Kingsbury made key saves to send the Washington Spirit to the 2024 NWSL final. (Amber Searls / Imagn Images)
Last week, the Spirit secured a statement win against the Orlando Pride, handing the 2024 NWSL champion its first loss of 2025. Gotham, meanwhile, is at the tail end of a travel spell that yielded mixed results: a 4-0 win against Angel City and a 4-1 loss to Portland, a testament to the league’s razor-thin margins. The Golden Boot race for most goals is also currently between Gotham’s Esther Gonzalez and Spirit’s Ashley Hatch, with the forwards tallying five and four goals, respectively.
As the NWSL continues to expand, budding rivalries such as the one between Spirit and Gotham – and others, such as the longstanding rivalry between the Portland Thorns and Seattle Reign – are helping to propel the league into its next phase of growth.
This season, the NWSL has leaned into the concept of intra-league rivalries, establishing for the first time an NWSL Rivalry Weekend this August. However, teams have embraced these rising tensions already.
Cathy Jerome, the Spirit’s vice president of marketing and communications, said on Wednesday that Saturday’s rematch with Gotham was nearing a sellout. The business teams for both Gotham and the Spirit even collaborated to market the fixture as “District vs Empire.”
“We have noticed that people love a good sports rivalry, right? They aren’t as prominent in women’s professional sports,” Jerome said. “So, as an emerging and growing league, these rivalries are important for fan engagement. Bringing this new fan interest to the club and the team is important.”
The NWSL is currently in a time of financial stability that its predecessor leagues never enjoyed. That stability, backed by record investment and growing interest in women’s sports, means teams have been around long enough for organic rivalries to bloom.
While last year’s semifinal clash may be the most memorable meeting between Spirit and Gotham, the two clubs have historically enjoyed close, competitive matchups. Both teams are inaugural members of the NWSL and have faced each other 40 times across all competitions, the most meetings against a single opponent for the Spirit. Their head-to-head record since 2021 was evenly split, until last year’s semifinal.
“Last year, Gotham was the ‘Super Team,’ so everyone was out to beat them and show that it doesn’t necessarily matter if you go out and buy the best players, it’s the best team (that wins), at the end of the day,” Kingsbury said. “I know they’ve changed a lot in the offseason going into this year, but I think it will be a great time to play them because they’ve found their stride recently and are looking (like) a much better team.”
The Spirit seems to have found its stride again, too, despite a string of injuries on their roster, including the indefinite absence of USWNT forward Trinity Rodman.
The Spirit defeated the reigning NWSL champion Orlando despite a rash of injuries. (Mike Watters / Imagn Images)
Washington, which currently sits third in the NWSL at 4-0-1, also has a budding rivalry with the Pride, after falling to them in last year’s championship match. The Spirit has since beaten the Pride in both the 2025 Challenge Cup and their first meeting of the 2025 season, both times at Inter & Co Stadium. The latter helped knock the Pride out of the No. 1 spot in the league standings.
“We actually internally thought about the possibility of growing several rivalries,” Jerome said, referencing Orlando specifically, but the proximity to Gotham was particularly enticing. “The excitement and the brand equity are there already and all we are doing is just amplifying it even more so it can get the national awareness and, hopefully, global awareness.”
For longtime fans of the league, one of the most prominent rivalries is the longstanding one between the Portland Thorns and Seattle Reign, dubbed the Cascadia Rivalry. The two sides faced off in the 42nd edition of their spat on Friday. On the commercial side, it was marketed as the first “Rivalries presented by Ally” match of the season.
Seattle downed Portland 1-0 at Lumen Field, with NWSL rookie Maddie Dahlien scoring the lone goal in the fourth minute. The fixture yielded some fun banter ahead of the game, with Seattle head coach Laura Harvey sharing on The Women’s Game podcast that she would tease her former player, Becky Sauerbrunn, telling her that seeing her in a Thorns jersey “makes me feel sick.”
“You playing in a Thorns jersey makes me feel sick.”
Laura Harvey did not like seeing Becky donning a Portland shirt 😂
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— The Women’s Game (@womensgamemib.bsky.social) April 17, 2025 at 12:06 AM
Following their win, Harvey threw roses, a symbol the Thorns often use, on the pitch. During a press conference with reporters after the game, the coach stressed that all gestures were simply for the love of rivalry.
“The roses thing, it’s not being disrespectful,” Harvey said. “It’s actually a respect thing. This rivalry runs deep, always has, and for our fans, to beat Portland at home is a big deal and they know what it means. I have no doubt when we go there, they’re going to make it as hostile as possible for us and hand out roses. That’s the rivalry. They love roses and we don’t.”
The rivalry, Harvey said, “means everything.” The coach, who first signed with the Reign in 2021, says the Portland-Reign matches are circled on her calendar every season.
Rivalries are a natural next step for the league’s growth, with the potential for more to blossom, especially as two expansion teams in Denver and Boston join the league in 2026. Proximity is key, which fuels existing rivalries such as the one in Southern California between the San Diego Wave and Angel City FC in Los Angeles. It’s also why some speculate Boston could be a future rival for a team like Gotham.
“For the fans, it’s something that they can grasp on to more, especially if they’re not as much of a big soccer fan,” said Spirit defender Tara McKeown, emphasizing how a big match could draw someone in to watch more of the league. “I think it’s growing the league, too, and hopefully we’re getting more fans from these rivalries.”
For the players, though, the stakes are high in every game, Kingsbury said.
“In a smaller league, you almost feel a sense of rivalry with every opponent,” she said with a laugh. “As you go week to week, you realize you’ve got these rivalries and a desire to beat everybody.”
(Top photo: Geoff Burke / Imagn Images)