Spirit rebuild nears completion after successful 2018 NWSL Draft
The Washington Spirit look ready to contend in the NWSL once again after making the decision to rebuild in 2016.
On the heels of a trip to the NWSL finals in 2016, Jim Gabarra’s Washington Spirit made a difficult decision: they decided to rebuild.
Many factors played a part in the choice, from player discontentment to a sense the current group had gone as far as it could.
What followed was an exodus combined with an influx of young talent and draft picks.
Now, just over a year later, the Spirit look like a team ready to compete for a playoff spot, a remarkable turnaround in such a short time.
“Yeah, I think the process with our roster, when the vision started, 15 months ago,” Gabarra said following Thursday’s 2018 NWSL Draft. “And we had made some difficult moves. Credit to our whole roster and our whole club for what we went through last year, now it’s time to benefit from the next step in that plan, which is gather some really good quality, international players, and some really good young players.”
The final asset of the old guard the Spirit traded off was a big one — Crystal Dunn, the 2015 NWSL MVP, who went to the North Carolina Courage. But the haul for Dunn was a significant one, with 2017 NWSL Rookie of the Year Ashley Hatch and U.S. national team defender Taylor Smith heading back to D.C.
“Whenever you move a player with Crystal’s ability, you need in what your opinion is fair value,” Gabarra said. “The two players we’re getting are headed toward great, young, bright futures in the game. And they’re getting a player who’s proven MVP in the league that’s probably going to win them games just by being on the field.”
But the Spirit added two more vital cogs to their rebuild on Thursday, thanks to the possession of both the top pick (courtesy of an injury-filled struggle of a 2017 season) and the third overall pick (via trade with the Houston Dash for Lindsay Agnew).
The top pick landed them Andi Sullivan, a monster midfield presence who was the consensus for the top spot coming into the draft. And the third pick gave the Spirit Canadian international Rebecca Quinn.
Five more picks followed in rounds two, three and four: defender/forward Schuyler DeBree from Duke with the 11th pick, forward Mallory Eubanks from Mississippi State at 16, defender Brittany Basinger from Penn State at 21, midfielder Maddie Huster from Wake Forest at 26 and midfielder Rachel Moore from William & Mary at 31, all to the delight of the boisterous Spirit Squadron which traveled north to the proceedings and filled the fan section of the draft’s ballroom.
But the plan starts, really, with the one who believed in the Spirit when few others did, and that’s Mallory Pugh.
The youngest player to make her U.S. senior national team debut since 2006 when she earned her first cap in January 2017, Pugh decided to forego a college experience at UCLA to join a team at the very bottom of the league. Gabarra understands the next great Spirit team is likely to revolve around Pugh.
Next: Andi Sullivan goes first overall in NWSL draft
“I mean she scored five or six goals and she was very impactful for us last year, so now it’s not that burden of what are you going to do? Where’s the ceiling? Because, with that kid there is no ceiling.”
But Pugh isn’t alone, as she so often was in 2017. Gabarra may not have imagined when he left Sky Blue FC for the Spirit prior to the 2016 season that he’d find himself replenishing a roster from the ground up.
With Thursday’s additions, the timeline for that team came into view. And it isn’t nearly as far away as skeptics thought when Gabarra made the unpopular decision to tear down.
“I would never downplay or belittle what was accomplished by our club in 2016,” Gabarra said. “I think after that the time was right, in my opinion, to make a change in our roster. And it was very difficult for a lot of people. You just have to stick with your plan and take a long march. And this is another step in that long march.”