By OkayGoal 
Photo Credit: Sabina Shysh-Imagn Images
Thanks to Clara Luvanga’s game-winner in Washington’s semifinal against Utah, the Spirit will play for the National Women’s Soccer League Championship for the third year in a row. That fact is certainly a testament to the side’s consistent strength in recent years, but it won’t matter if they can’t find a way to make this one count. The past two years, after all, have ended in disappointing 1-0 losses, to Orlando Pride in 2024 and Gotham FC in 2025.
Summiting the mountain won’t be easy. No matter who wins in the other semifinal, neither opponent — NJ/NY Gotham FC or Kansas City Current — will be quite as defeatable as Portland and Utah proved to be. But Washington is not easy to beat, either. And perhaps more than in either of the last two years, they seem poised to win it all.
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