NWSL Spirit Draws Largest Home Crowd Ever In Audi Field Debut

The NWSL Washington Spirit played in DC for the "first time in its six-season existence," drawing the "largest announced home crowd in its history -- 7,976" in a defeat to the Portland Thorns at Audi Field. Attendance for yesterday's game "more than doubled the Spirit's typical crowd" at Maryland SoccerPlex in upper Montgomery County, where the Spirit have been based since their inaugural '13 season, "averaging between 3,330 and 4,100 spectators annually." But with Audi Field being "almost four times larger, it lacked the SoccerPlex's intimacy." Spirit MF Andi Sullivan said of the game's atmosphere, "There were moments where I felt like I could feel the electricity." Spirit Owner Bill Lynch said that he would "probably try to play 'at least a couple games' next year" at the 20,000-seat Audi Field (WASHINGTON POST, 8/26).