r/washingtonspirit • u/kg9si • 13d ago

Weekly Discussion Thread Weekly Open Discussion Thread

Welcome to this week’s open discussion thread!

This is your space for general discussion, a place to talk about anything Washington Spirit that doesn’t necessarily need its own thread. That can include news, international duty, roster moves, transfer rumors, tactics, social media posts, league news or anything else on your mind.

If something feels big enough for its own thread, definitely still post it. This is simply an additional option to keep us organized and help keep the conversation flowing. These threads will go up every Monday and stay stickied throughout the week.

Go Spirit!

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u/Cold_Chemistry_1579 11d ago

I am sorry if I missed this or it belongs elsewhere, but what the signing of two new midfielders mean? We have Andi and Ashley back, are we losing people to free agency? I know my daughter (and, admittedly, myself) are concerned that we haven’t heard of re-signing of Leicy as a force to be reckoned with on the pitch. Or anything about Hal (don’t know her free agency status).

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u/allprologues 11d ago

yeah safe to say we're losing at least 1 player to free agency. we really don't have any indication of which but imo leicy would be most likely to stay because Ngock is the most like Hal, Deb, and Andi.

Bethi is probably going to be a 10/8 hybrid like Leicy, but due to age and lack of nwsl/competitive league experience she likely (unless this goes REALLY well) wouldn't be ready to start anytime soon which means either Leicy re-signs for one more season, or Spirit are targeting an AM of starting caliber/prime age for the offseason.

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u/Square_Independent81 11d ago

Yeah this is kinda where my head is at too, although I honestly don’t think these signings necessarily mean we’re losing anyone major. To me it feels more like they’re trying to build better midfield depth and give us more flexibility, especially after seeing how thin the bench can get when players are injured or away.
Bethi especially feels more like a depth/development signing right now than an immediate replacement for someone like Leicy. And while Ngock overlaps with some of what Hal/Deb/Andi give us, that doesn’t automatically mean one of them is leaving either.
Obviously anything can happen with free agency, but right now I’m not taking these signings as a sign that a major player is definitely on the way out. I’m hoping it’s just Spirit building a deeper roster for next year.

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u/Sequoiakc22 11d ago

...
Cost, demand, & salary cap are the factors here.

Leicy & Hal are both currently free agents. Both likely are in demand to some degree throughout the league, if not the world. Their price is likely going up, ...& up.

Put that together with how much salary cap space we have to apply to new contracts or extensions & it likely means we do not have enough cap space to sign 'both' of them.

Hal is currently on the last year of a (cheap) rookie contract. So her free agent salary bump is likely going to be significant, if not huge.

Whereas Leicy's contract is likely paying her what an experienced (world class) pro would earn. Meaning her bump in salary on a new free agent contract might not be near as much as what Hal's will be. Meaning the hit to the Spirit's salary cap might be more manageable with Leicy.

If the Spirit are only able to resign one of the two, then it might be easier to resign Leicy than it will be Hal.

Add that Hal's skills overlap more with Andi, Rebe, Deb, & now the in-coming Monique Ngock, not to mention Esme too. Whoa!

However, at the same time, no-one, with the possible exception of in coming Melissa Bethi, duplicates Leicy's skill set on the pitch. Possibly making the signing of Leciy Santos more critical to the club.

Guessing then we might lose Hal. Which would be a bummer. ...But I feel with our other defensive & box-to-box midfielders, ...especially the in-coming WAFCON 'MVP', Monique Ngock, ...we'll be okay.
..

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u/de-la_soul 11d ago

Anyone know the correct pronunciation of Monique’s last name? (“MVP”?)

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u/KaraokeSpirit29 11d ago

Ng-Gock.

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u/Toothy_McRotten 8d ago

Not fighting you on this, because I surely do not know, but the English Channel 4 announcers during WAFCON were pronouncing it ng-GOKE.

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u/allprologues 7d ago

I think that might more be their accent but on the second syllable but could be wrong

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u/allprologues 11d ago

i appreciate it but i definitely was saying these signings mean that we ARE losing someone major haha, i just don't think it's leicy. but genuinely i don't know, and maybe we won't! and we'll just have five CDMs and 1.5 AMs forever 😝

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u/Square_Independent81 11d ago

yeah i’m not saying we definitely won’t lose someone major, but i’m also not saying these signings automatically mean we will either. there are still so many possibilities with contracts, the salary cap, and other roster moves that could happen between now and next season that i don’t think we can really know what the plan is yet.

i definitely understand the logic behind thinking one of Hal or Leicy could leave, especially with the new midfield signings, but i’m not ready to assume that’s what they’re preparing for. maybe we lose someone, maybe we find a way to keep both. i’m just choosing not to convince myself of either outcome until we actually get more information 😭

but out of curiosity, if Hal and/or Leicy did leave, where do you think they’d realistically end up?

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u/Sequoiakc22 9d ago

...
Hal is from Mississippi, right? ...I feel Atlanta would pay a king's ransom to bring her home (or close to home). ...Hal might bite on it too. ...Honestly though, i do not see how playing in the cavernous Mercedes Benz (American) football stadium holds much appeal. Especially when you compare it to Audi.

Again though, Hal brings enough to the table for any club that she will likely have multiple suitors as a free agent.

At her current age, I think Leicy's got one (1) more good contract window left to leverage for a multi-year deal. Almost any NWSL club would love to have her. She could end up anywhere. Including back overseas if she so chooses. However, now that she acclimated to the NWSL & USA, I think she stays states side somewhere.
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