It’s been a whirlwind introduction to the NWSL for expansion side Denver Summit FC. After three games away and a first-ever victory over reigning champions Gotham FC, the Colorado club is ready for its inaugural home opener.
Nearly 55,000 tickets have already been sold for the club’s opener at NFL’s Empower Field at Mile High on Saturday (CBS, 1 p.m ET). They’ll welcome Trinity Rodman and last season’s Challenge Cup winners and NWSL runners-up Washington Spirit. The Spirit are on the hunt for their first win of the year after two draws and a loss.
Now the stage is officially set for what will be the highest attended match in NWSL history. Fans can tune in for doubleheader action on CBS when Portland Thorns face Kansas City Current following the Summit-Spirit game.
Here’s everything you need to know about the games:
How to watch NWSL on CBS
All times eastern
Saturday, March 28
- Denver Summitt vs. Washington Spirit at 1 p.m. (CBS and Paramount+)
- Portland Thorns vs. Kansas City Current at 4 p.m. (CBS and Paramount+)
Denver Summit climb into form
One of two expansion teams to begin play in 2026, Denver Summit FC finally have their first win of the season. An opening day 2-1 loss to Bay FC with a red card to forward Janine Sonis, followed by a 1-1 draw to Orlando Pride, where they conceded the lead, capped off by a 2-0 win against Gotham FC.
There was plenty of offseason work by the organization that led to the eventual first win and flexed the club’s ambition through roster building, recruiting high-profile players such as U.S. women’s national team captain Lindsey Heaps, and preemptively setting an attendance record before even playing their inaugural home game.
Denver coach Nick Cushing is also in his first season as an NWSL manager. His approach has been to build buy-in for the process and help develop culture while ensuring the team remains a healthy, competitive environment. It’s been quite a test for the club, with games against recent playoff teams and two former NWSL Champions — but getting a win to carry into Saturday helps build momentum.
“God knows how many people are going to be a mile high. Last I heard was 50, then 60 (thousand). I mean, I think the whole state of Colorado has come into the game on Saturday,” Cushing joked.
While much of the offseason was for roster building and the preseason for establishing chemistry, the early days of an NWSL expansion side can still mean ironing out an ideal starting lineup.
Heaps is not set to join the club until late summer, and the club recently acquired Yazmeen Ryan and Delanie Sheehan, and they’ve been building minutes. They also acquired Japanese international Yuzuki Yamamoto, who will likely get minutes after recovering from Japan’s Asian Cup win. In the meantime, it’s about managing the quick turnarounds on the schedule and trusting in the process for Cushing and the club.
“So [the] team is working really hard. Team is being challenged by the coaches, being challenged by each other, but also having real support from the staff, from the wider support staff from each other is real healthy culture at the moment … You’ve just got to sustain it … So, these are experiences that we’ve got to feed off, whether they are good or we have to improve. It’s a process, and we’ve got to trust the process. So, really pleased at the moment, but difficult games coming thick and fast,” he said.
Building starting lineups
With their first win in the opening three games of the season, there’s still the question of which players will be considered “locks” for Denver’s squad. Who are the players that will be the regulars that fans and supporters will come to recognize moving forward? That’s still a process for head coach Nick Cushing and his staff.
“Ultimately, we’re a brand new team, right? So first four weeks, we’re in the honeymoon period where everyone’s having fun, and everyone’s enjoying, and you don’t pick any teams, and there’s training, and at the moment it’s good, but we’ve got to be realistic. If you have that real intensity and that real desire and ambition to be a top team, then you have to have sort of competition in the group, and you have to be able to support your peers when you don’t play, whilst also chasing them down for the jersey, right? That’s part of being a championship team. And we, we’re not that, but we have a desire to potentially get there in the future,” Cushing said.
Cushing is already noting that players on the roster are pushing each other for spots in the pitch, and he wants them to embrace it healthily.
“Competition for places goes one of two ways, and in my experience of winning trophies with teams, competition for places brings consistency in your performance level, because the players that are in have to sustain that level, right? They set the standard for themselves, and they have to sustain the level for the team, which helps you get results … You know, Olivia Thomas wants to score goals scored in preseason. Melissa Kössler is consistently scoring now. [We] have that in our group, and we have to sustain that, and we have to manage, and we have to create the environment, the culture .. to me, that’s the mentality of championship teams having competition for places,” he said.
Even with healthy competition for positions, there are still key players emerging on Denver’s roster who are hard to ignore. After three solid performances in net, veteran goal keeper Abby Smith leads the league in total saves (19) and save percentage (86.4%). She earned her first clean sheet against reigning champions Gotham FC.
German international Melissa Kössler is new to the team and the league, but she’s not unfamiliar with scoring goals. She’s scored three goals in three games and leads the team in attack at the moment.
“I feel like we have a good group of people that really clicked right away. And right now, we’re also showing it on the field, and now we try to keep on building on that, and that’s our goal for the home opener and the rest of the season, to build on that and keep playing strong for 90, not 59 minutes, or 95 minutes,” Kössler said of the team’s early chemistry
“Coming in was really easy. Everyone was being really nice, really inclusive. I felt like home right away. Honestly, the first two goals were just amazing assists. I did my job, being in the box and trying to score. And [against Gotham] I had one more in the first half, which I didn’t score, so I kind of had to make the second one … But yeah, I’m really happy about that,” she said.
Spirit gets to soul searching
Despite some offseason losses for the Spirit, with Croix Bethune traded to Kansas City Current and Aubrey Kingsbury away on maternity leave, the Spirit celebrated the re-signing of Trinity Rodman and acquired Paraguayan international Claudia Martinez and Italian defender Lucia Di Guglielmo to boost the roster.
However, the group is generating chances but not getting the wins. The club is still on the hunt for its first victory and has had to settle for points from two draws after an opening-day loss to Portland Thorns. To add to growing concerns, their best and most expensive player, Rodman, currently has zero goals and zero assists.
Though, for Spirit head coach Adrian Gonzalez, he’s not hitting a panic button. He’s right not to do so. Rodman leads the team in shots (12) and attempts on target (five), and the manager believes the group is just getting started.
“To be honest, I’m very calm, positive, and because the team is performing well. The team is training good. And I’ve said that many times before, I would be worried if we weren’t creating chances. And the reality is, like we are creating clear chances. And yeah, now it’s just about to finish. Soccer is about both boxes. You need to be clinical, you need to create, and then obviously, end the game,” Gonzalez said about his team’s slow start.
“Huge effort from all players. Again, it’s not easy at the beginning of the league, playing these midweek games. It’s a pretty busy schedule, and some players are not in their best peak of performance right now, at the beginning of the season, and we are doing great. What can we do? Try to be humble. Try to keep working. Try to get better. Keep training, keep analyzing what we are doing, what we can do better, and stay calm, because the results are going to come,” he said.
