Trinity Rodman scored two goals, including a stoppage-time winner, to lift the Washington Spirit to a 2-1 win over the Houston Dash on Friday at Audi Field in Washington, D.C., in the NWSL’s first regular season match in over a month.
The victory puts Washington one point off the top of the table and level with three other teams after Friday’s games.
Rodman scored the winning goal in the 94th minute. She fell to the ground and hit a shot past three closing defenders and through traffic to beat Houston goalkeeper Jane Campbell at the far post.
Rodman appeared shocked that the ball found its way into the net. She ran over to family and friends — including boyfriend and tennis star Ben Shelton — in a field-side suite to celebrate.
“I’m realizing what I was saying a lot now,” Rodman said after the game, referring to cameras catching her saying “what the f—” in disbelief after her winning goal.
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“Honestly, in the actual box, I don’t even know what happened for it to get through. I just know that once we got scored on, I was just like, we’ve gotta go.”
Houston had equalized in the 89th minute when rookie Kate Faasse ran behind the Spirit’s back line.
Rodman scored the opening goal in the 50th minute when she latched onto a precise long pass from midfielder Leicy Santos in transition.
Rodman’s brace on Friday brought the USWNT star forward to five goals this season, tied for fourth in the league.
She also drew a penalty in the first half after beating U.S. teammate and Dash defender Avery Patterson, but Campbell saved Spirit forward Rosemonde Kouassi’s kick from the spot.
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Friday’s match kicked off in Washington, D.C., as an extreme heat wave gripped the East Coast. Washington was under an air quality alert with a heat index of over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Angel City, Kansas City cruise
Two other NWSL matches were played on Friday as the league returned from a month-long break for the 2026 Men’s World Cup, which occupied several teams’ stadiums and training grounds.
USWNT forward Michelle Cooper scored a brace and two-time reigning NWSL MVP Temwa Chawinga added a late goal as the Kansas City Current dominated expansion side Denver Summit FC in a 3-0 victory.
Chawinga now has eight goals this season.
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Angel City FC got back on track in the team’s first game since the firing of former head coach Alexander Strauss and in the team’s first match since signing USWNT forward Ally Sentnor from Kansas City in an $850,000 transfer.
Sentnor played the full 90 minutes for Angel City, who defeated the Orlando Pride 2-0.
Maiara Niehues and Sveindís Jónsdóttir scored on each side of halftime for Angel City, who now sit one point behind eighth-place Orlando.
The Pride played without forward and NWSL leading scorer Barbra Banda, who missed the match with a thigh injury sustained in May. Banda has been training with the team and could return to action soon. She has scored 11 goals in 12 games this season.
