It took Washington Spirit star Trinity Rodman three months to return to her home in the Washington area following last season’s loss in the NWSL championship match. She returned to the region on Tuesday, along with the rest of her team, as the club opened another preseason with championship aspirations.
When the Spirit returned to their mud-soaked practice facility on Tuesday morning, mixed emotions abounded.
The players shared laughs as they leaped over puddles formed by the still-melting snowcrete — a far cry from the weather they experienced during their first three weeks of preseason practice sessions in Central Florida.
But the team now sports a Croix Bethune-sized hole in the roster. The Spirit traded the former Rookie of the Year to the Kansas City Current last week in exchange for $1 million in transfer funds and allocation cash.
Bethune quickly became one of the league’s top midfielders after the Spirit drafted her in the first round of the 2024 draft. She was named the NWSL Midfielder of the Year after her rookie campaign and won a gold medal with the U.S. women at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“Croix is special,” Rodman said. “I was really bummed, I can’t lie.”
Spirit coach Adrian Gonzalez is responsible for finding a way to replace Bethune’s elite production. Other players could fill her role, but they can’t emulate her style of play.
“No one is going to do what Croix was doing, because there is just one Croix,” he said. “We are going to adjust the way that we attack and the way that we defend. We are not going to try to reproduce what Croix was doing.”
But the Spirit weren’t looking to tear down their contending roster this offseason. The franchise moved Bethune only after the 24-year-old requested a trade, Gonzalez said. Washington’s other stars were rewarded with hefty new contracts, while several international players joined the squad.
Rodman set a league record when she agreed to a three-year contract worth more than $2 million per year. The 23-year-old is widely considered one of the sport’s brightest stars. When healthy, her goal-scoring ability is unmatched as she’s tortured opposing defenses across the NWSL and international competitions over the last five seasons.
She said she’s just happy to be back in Washington — which she called her “home” — after a tumultuous series of contract negotiations. Rodman and the Spirit originally agreed to a backloaded deal that NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman rejected. The league was reportedly concerned that the agreement circumvented the NWSL’s strict salary rules.
The new contract arrived after the players’ association filed a grievance over the league’s interference.
“She’s very mature to handle a situation like that. I assume that it’s not easy as a player to have all that noise around you, but I think she’s used to having that type of pressure,” Gonzalez said. “She’s just focused on training, competing with the team.”
Rodman wasn’t the only player rewarded with a new deal. The Spirit signed Tara Rudd, the reigning NWSL Defender of the Year, to a three-year contract that features two seasons of club options.
“She is central to everything we are building here,” Spirit President of Soccer Operations Haley Carter said of Rudd. “Her growth into one of the premier defenders in this league speaks to what she puts in every single day.”
With the roster settled, the Spirit’s players and coaches have turned their r eyes to the coming season. A third-straight championship game loss would be hard to swallow — though that possibility isn’t discussed in Washington’s locker room.
“What we did in the past, it doesn’t exist anymore,” Gonzalez said. “We want to just be present and focus on getting better every day. We want to compete for every game; we want to always be fighting for titles.”
He’s expecting his star forward to shoulder more of the leadership load this season as the Spirit look for a third consecutive playoff berth.
Rodman scoffed at the idea that she’s a veteran — “Hard no,” she told reporters — but the Spirit need leaders.
“It’s important, you know, having not just one or two leaders, captains, so you can have different types of leadership,” Gonzalez said. “Trinity brings something different. Especially with the way she plays, the energy she brings and the connection she has with the fans.”
The security of a new contract and the bitter taste of a championship loss have Rodman ready to start off the upcoming campaign with a bang.
“We have redeeming to do,” Rodman said.
The Spirit open the season at home against the Portland Thorns on March 13 — a rematch of last season’s NWSL semifinal.
• Liam Griffin can be reached at lgriffin@washingtontimes.com.
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