Even after the departure of Croix Bethune (who, unsurprisingly, is putting up gaudy attacking numbers in Kansas City), the Washington Spirit have been able to not only survive, but thrive. The Spirit traded a midfield built to pry open defenses for one built to control games, limiting some aesthetic offensive upside in favor of battering down whatever walls opposing defenses can throw up.

That brute force approach is betting that Trinity Rodman and Rose Kousassi running at opposing defenders over and over and over again will lead to a breakthrough. And you know what? I think I'd take that bet most days.

Rodman and Kouassi combine to account for nearly half of the Spirit's expected assists (xA) so far in 2026. Not needing full backs or other midfielders (other than Leicy Santos) to step up and create chances leaves Washington in a solid defensive shape to snuff out counter attacks and win the ball and then the process starts again.

Inverted On The Left

In 2026, Rodman has played most of her minutes inverted on the left. With Sofia Cantore as Adrián González's preferred choice at striker, Rodman has become the Spirit's primary goal scoring threat. Rodman has always been able to get shots, averaging more than 3.75 per 96 minutes in each of the last three seasons, which puts her in pretty elite territory compared to her peers in the league.

But in 2026, she's leveled up the quality of those shots.

That's very clear comparing her shot maps from 2025 and 2026. Last season, she got shots, but most of her chances as well as her best chances came off set pieces. This season, it's the opposite. More than 70% of Rodman's chances have come from teammates in open play. She's also clearly still able to manufacture shots herself, with a quarter of Rodman's shots coming off individual play.

This evolution wouldn't be possible without Kouassi being Kouassi. Even though she's still not a consistent goal scoring threat, allowing Rodman to become a goal scorer first and a creator second without replacing her creation to teammates wouldn't be possible. Starting on the left and making central runs allows Rodman to arrive at the back post after Kouassi gets to the end line and squares the ball across goal. With a striker frequently crashing the front post, Rodman is free to make the secondary run and good luck to whoever is tasked with picking up a sprinting Rodman there. Outside of the box, allowing Rodman to cut inside onto her stronger right foot against retreating defenders is a pretty good situation, too.

Like I said above, there's an element of brute force about the way Washington is attacking this season. Give Rodman enough reps on the ball, or crashing the back post, and something positive is probably going to happen across 90 something minutes. She's just that good. Luckily for us, watching the Spirit batter down opposing defenses that way is pretty entertaining, too.