Sandra Herrera and Lisa Roman prepare for the 2022 NWSL Season with a full Washington Spirit preview (2:34). Washington welcomes 2021 interim head coach and NWSL Champion coach Kris Ward to the helm as well as Y. Michele Kang as the full acting owner of the Spirit. Sandra and Lisa discuss what this means for the club having Ward and Kang as the leaders both on and off the pitch. This offseason for the Spirit didn’t showcase too many changes in personnel - retaining most of the 2021 NWSL Championship Team and even extending 2021 Rookie of the Year Trinity Rodman’s contract with a 4-year $1.1M deal (6:58). The losses suffered between defender Tegan McGrady and midfielder Kumi Yokoyama don’t hurt the team when they retain so many superstars (11:02). Sandra and Lisa run through the massive 38-player preseason roster for Washington (14:13), highlighting any starters for the team, young prospects to keep an eye on (18:56) and which experienced veteran needs to step up (23:24). The biggest burning question for Washington Spirit in 2022: Will we get a 2-peat? Can Washington Spirit win back-to-back Championships? Listen to hear the A3 projected finish for Washington Spirit (28:28).

In the second half of the episode, Sandra Herrera and Lisa Roman welcome Washington Spirit defender Sam Staab to discuss her offseason and the start of the 2022 season for Washington (33:27). Sam talks about all of her teammates who are getting married and she was lucky enough to celebrate with this offseason - four weddings to be exact! Sam recognizes the amount of turnover in the club during the offseason and how that helps wipe the slate clean, but also the team is focused on tapping into the end of the 2021 season and building from that. Then, Sam discusses the biggest change having Kris Ward at the helm of the team.

*This episode was recorded before the final Challenge Cup Rosters were released*

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