WASHINGTON D.C. — It was a night of records for the Washington Spirit as they took on the Seattle Reign FC at Audi Field in Washington, D.C. on May 24, 2024. Rookie midfielder Croix Bethune led the Spirit to their first goal of the evening with a strike on the left foot from the top of the box in the 21st minute. 

Just eight minutes later, goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury achieved her 450th career save, making her the seventh player to reach that milestone in the NWSL. Unsurprisingly, Kingsbury had a dynamic night in the box despite conceding two goals to Reign in stoppage time – one in the fifth minute of stoppage time in the first half by Veronica Latsko and one in the sixth minute of stoppage time in the second half by Emeri Adames. 

Reign’s keeper, in contrast, found trouble in the box after fouling Trinity Rodman in the 39th minute, which led to a penalty kick. 

Midfielder Andi Sullivan converted the penalty kick, marking her second goal of the season. When asked about her approach and how she was feeling, Sullivan noted, “I feel like I have my routine down for what I like to do for a penalty and it’s something that a few of us practice after training often and, so yeah there are several players on the team that are prepared to take it, and I just ran through my routine, and I felt good going in to it. It’s always a nice feeling when you hit it just how you want to hit it, so I liked it.”

The Spirit’s first half scoring run continued, with Croix Bethune crossing the ball in the box and forward Ouleye Sarr heading the ball into the net in the 45th minute. With six goals on the season, Sarr found herself in third place for the running of the NWSL Golden Boot, just behind Portland’s Sophia Smith and Orlando’s Barbra Banda. 

With her assist to Sarr, Bethune became the quickest NWSL player to reach eight assists, needing only 11 matches to accomplish what had previously been done in 14 matches by Lauren Holiday and 19 matches by Abby Wambach. “Sheesh,” was Bethune’s reaction to learning she broke the assist record. 

When asked about her specific skill set and the way this team is allowing her to have this impact, Bethune noted, “Honestly, I just feel like I go out there everyday and just do me; as my parents would say, ‘go be yourself.’ I feel like throughout the years of playing soccer, I’ve been kind of waiting for this day to come, so for it to be here and just manifesting it and actually performing on the field it’s just great to see. And then I have players like [Andi Sullivan], [Trinity Rodman], [Ashley Hatch], honestly everyone on the team; they’re amazing, and they help make my job a lot easier.”