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After suffering their first loss of the season nearly three weeks ago, the Washington Spirit have a chance to regain their confidence on Friday night against the last-place Boston Breakers. The Spirit were not supposed to go this long between games, but last weekend's international break was preceded by Washington having their road game against the Houston Dash postponed due to heavy storms.
Entering the eighth round of games in the NWSL season, the Breakers have only scored one goal and to make things worse, Kristie Mewis - a key cog in their attack - is out with a right ankle sprain. Boston has won only once in their past twenty games and is coming off a 4-0 road defeat to the Western New York Flash. Breakers head coach recently wrote an open letter to fans thanking them for sticking with the team.
Though Boston has struggled mightily this season, the team isn't a pushover. The team has conceded an average of 1.3 goals a game whereas in the past two seasons, that number was over 2 goals per game. Last August, the last-place Breakers upset the third-place Spirit in Boston's last home game of the season. Earlier this season, Joanna Lohman scored with a bicycle kick to deliver a 1-0 win that had its nervy moments from the Spirit's perspective.
All that said, this is the Spirit's game to lose. With Crystal Dunn and Ali Krieger back from USWNT duty and Cheyna Williams healthy again after an ankle sprain, there is every reason to expect Washington to come away with three points.
Location: Jordan Field (Boston, MA)
Kick-off time: 7:00 p.m. Eastern
Available TV: None
Available streaming: NWSL Soccer, free and non geo-blocked
Treat this as the gamethread for Friday's match.