The NWSL Washington Spirit yesterday introduced newly signed USWNT F Mallory Pugh, and the move "should help repair the fissure between the team and fan base, which wasn’t happy with the departure of local hero" D Ali Krieger and several other players after the Spirit nearly won the league title last fall, according to Steven Goff of the WASHINGTON POST. The Spirit said that since Pugh's signing over the weekend, they have "noticed an uptick in ticket sales for Saturday’s match and expect attendance to easily eclipse the turnout" at the 5,500-capacity Maryland SoccerPlex for the first three home games: 2,407, 3,154 and 3,190. Pugh met her teammates yesterday morning and "began practicing" with the club. Spirit coach Jim Gabarra said it is "important" to not have "too high expectations" for the player. Gabarra: "This is a long process. It takes almost a year of games to really feel comfortable and to figure it out" (WASHINGTON POST, 5/17).
GREAT EXPECTATIONS: Spirit President Chris Hummer said Pugh "choosing to come to the NWSL instead of Europe was a big statement." Gabarra: “This is a historical and monumental moment for the women’s game.” SI.com's Brian Straus noted Pugh "became only the second American female player to skip college" when she left UCLA earlier this year without playing a game. But now that the NWSL "appears to be stable and with U.S. Soccer’s girls development academy starting in September, options apart from college should become available to an increasing number of female players." Meanwhile, the construction of DC United’s new downtown stadium, Audi Field, may "wind up altering the future" of the Spirit as well. It is "tough for the Spirit to make much of a dent at the SoccerPlex, which sits nearly 30 miles from the city center." An "average of 3,782 turned out" at the venue in '16. Hummer: "The league can grow enough that we can have around 80%-90% capacity at this facility. But we’re excited about Audi Field being built and we’re certainly thinking about what it would take to play there. ... We all know each other and we’ve been talking about what it would look like" (SI.com, 5/16).
