Trinity Rodman’s best season yet has Spirit in NWSL semifinals: ‘A nightmare for everybody else’

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Trinity Rodman smiled. Only visible to a sliver of the 19,215-fan crowd at “Rowdy Audi” and the viewpoint from the pressbox, it was a harbinger. It was a few minutes before the Washington Spirit scored the fastest pair of goals in NWSL playoff history, 91 seconds apart, decimating any chance of the Portland Thorns advancing out of Sunday’s quarterfinal game at Audi Field. The final score showed 4-1 in Spirit’s favor. Washington were 1-0 up already thanks to an early goal from Mélissa Bethi (assisted by Rodman, naturally) and suffocating the Thorns. Clara Luvanga struck in the 34th minute. She constantly pestered the Thorns with high pressure through the first half and it finally paid off. The 21-year-old striker stripped the ball off Thorns goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold’s foot right in front of goal for the Spirit’s second. A minute later, Luvanga played provider to Rodman, crossing the ball from the right wing to Rodman’s left foot after she had casually run down the spine of Portland’s defense. Rodman’s smile returned, and stayed. The pressure of a third consecutive championship appearance — this one with a different ending — in three seasons could wait. She added her left-footed exclamation point in the 58th minute off another unmarked run, this one to the back post on another Luvanga assist. Rodman got the final laugh of the match, drawing a second yellow card for Jayden Perry, bringing the Thorns down to 10 players for the final few moments of the game. In the end, it was a comprehensive dismantling of Portland from the Spirit, and a 4-1 victory in front of a sold-out crowd. Rodman celebrated by climbing into the capo stand of the supporter’s section and waving a Spirit flag with gusto. For the 24-year-old forward herself, though, those moments of joy and celebration were about the togetherness of the team rather than any individual performance. “It’s a family. It’s fighting for each other. It’s everything that we go through off the field and coming together as a team to be able to not just score, but have fun and be able to celebrate it because it’s just a blessing,” Rodman said in the postgame press conference. “I’m just really grateful.” Rodman has stressed that idea of gratefulness multiple times through the 2026 season, not just for her consistency through a full NWSL regular season, but in being able to trust her own body again after lingering back issues of the past few years. Rodman played all 30 regular season games this season, compared to 15 through the 2025 season, but more than that she has been available to play full 90 minutes for nearly every game of the season. During the Spirit’s 2025 run to the championship, she is recorded as having played one minute in their semifinal win over the Thorns, played at Audi Field, then 34 minutes logged in limited fashion in the championship loss to Gotham. One of the final images of Rodman’s 2025 was her in tears after the final whistle. Days later she became the main character of the NWSL offseason, as she balanced her desire to stay in the District and sign a contract that would capture her worth, not just to the Spirit, but the NWSL’s commercial value. She accomplished both, then proved that worth with her best NWSL season in her career so far: 12 goals and eight assists in the regular season, and adding her two goals and assist in Sunday’s quarterfinal. For Portland head coach Robert Vilahamn, when asked what worked and what didn’t against Rodman on Sunday, the answer seemed fairly simple: “She is one of the best players in the world.” While the Thorns had previously managed to contain Rodman during the regular season in Vilahamn’s opinion, they failed to solve it in the quarterfinal even after he made substitutions in the first half and opted for a more compact shape. “She found a goal in the second half as well,” he said. “Sometimes you also need to applaud the players that are really high quality.” His counterpart, Spirit head coach Adrián González, said he had no words to describe Rodman, though his gut response when asked was simple. “Outstanding,” he said. “I know her potential, but I think everyday (she’s) showing something different and being so resilient,” González said, before rattling off a list of what she adds to the team both offensively and defensively, from the flashy work of scoring and providing assists to the smaller details that never quite get captured in a box score, like provoking mistakes and making runs that draw defenders to open up other chances. Spirit captain Andi Sullivan also noted the completeness of her game, and how that all stemmed from her consistency. “She’s had such a complete season. She’s scored goals. She’s had assists. The way she defends, the way she draws fouls, the way she fouls, the way she is leading our team — and it is always in her way,” Sullivan said. “You just see a consistency about her. “And if you have a Trinity Rodman that’s consistent, that’s a nightmare for everybody else.” The Spirit just keep looking for one more week. They earned it in style on Sunday, and will face the Utah Royals who have already topped one higher seed, No. 2 San Diego Wave, and will be looking for a second upset next weekend. The Spirit will be at home next Saturday at noon ET, though in a venue yet to be confirmed as logistics across the league have proven troublesome. The championship at Audi Field awaits the winner. Rodman said she’d be lying if she didn’t say the team hadn’t thought about what that would mean. “For playoffs, it’s just a different energy. You feel it from the first whistle, just how loud the stadium is. There’s more passion, obviously from the fans, but also us as well,” she said. “We’re getting a lot more into it, and it’s just a fun thing to feel.” Opposing teams might find a consistent Rodman a nightmare, but there’s one level higher: a consistent Rodman that’s also feeling the level of joy so evident on Sunday. This article originally appeared in The Athletic . Portland Thorns, Washington Spirit, NWSL, Women's Soccer 2026 The Athletic Media Company