After a year’s hiatus, women’s professional soccer has returned to Washington in the form of the Washington Spirit, one of eight teams in the newly formed National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). The Spirit’s roster includes former BRYC standout Kika Toulouse on the defense. Kika has been playing professionally in Sweden for the past year. She’s a graduate of the University of Virginia and of the U-23 U.S. Women’s National Team after winning six Virginia State Cup championships playing for two different BRYC squads in her teens.

The Spirit’s regular season started with the first of four draws in an Away match against the Boston Breakers, but in their next four matches, all at home against the Western New York Flash, Sky Blue FC (New Jersey), the the Portland Thorns, and the Boston Breakers again, the Spirit offense struggled to find the back of the net, losing two and tying two.  The final match of their home stand was BRYC Night, aka "Catch the Spirit!", with over 30 BRYC kids and parents in attendance. For more photos from BRYC Night, click on "Continue" at the bottom of this story.

In their first of three consecutive road matches, the Spirit came away with their only win of the season, a 4:2 victory over the Seattle Reign FC on goals by Diana Matheson, Ali Kriger, Tiffany McCarty, and Tori Huster.  Since that time the team has failed to record another victory and their head coach was replaced after their eleventh game.

Check their schedule and make plans to attend a future home game to lend them support. There isn’t a soul who was there on BRYC night who won’t tell you it was a great experience. All Home games are played at the beautiful Germantown (MD) Soccerplex, with no seat more than 12 rows off the natural turf.  Food service by Famous Dave’s Barbecue and Ledo Pizza as well as lots of other snacking opportunities make it a great place to take the family.

For more information on the Washington Spirit, check out the Spirit web site.