Ashley Hatch is chasing her second NWSL Championship title with the Washington Spirit.
Hatch and the Spirit play defending champions Gotham FC in the semifinals on Saturday with a spot in the championship on the line.
Hatch played at BYU before being drafted second overall in the 2017 NWSL draft by the North Carolina Courage. And she isn’t the only player on the Spirit’s roster who went to school in Utah.
Utah ties in the 2024 NWSL playoffs
Washington Spirit midfielders Courtney Brown and Heather Stainbrook grew up in Utah. The two rookies are the only players on either of the four semifinals teams from the Beehive State. Brown is from West Haven, Utah, and Stainbrook is from Sandy, Utah.
Brown played at the University of Utah for five seasons and was drafted in the fourth round of the 2024 NWSL draft by the Spirit. She scored 14 goals and assisted on 15 as a Ute and was a team captain in her last three seasons.
With the Spirit, she’s appeared in 25 games, starting 10 of those, and has scored one goal and taken 13 shots.
Stainbrook played at Utah Valley University for five seasons, appearing in 102 games. She finished her time in Orem as the university’s all-time goal scoring leader with 40 goals. Her NWSL career began as a non-roster invitee during preseason before earning a contract with the Spirit this season.
She became the first UVU player to play in an NWSL regular season match, according to the Spirit. Stainbrook has played in 12 games for the Spirit and has started the last five. She scored her first goal on Oct. 20 and has taken four shots so far this season.
Ashley Hatch’s 2024 NWSL season
Hatch is third in goals and assists for the Spirit this season with seven and three, respectively. She is one goal shy of tying Trinity Rodman and Ouleymata Sarr for first.
Despite spending part of the season coming off the bench, Hatch has been climbing the NWSL’s all-time scoring ladder, currently in sixth place but only one goal shy of tying for fifth, as the Deseret News previously reported.
She trails Sam Kerr, Lynn Williams, Christine Sinclair, Alex Morgan and Jess McDonald.
“I’ve just been making sure that I show up every single day and work really hard for whatever opportunity I’m given, and so getting the opportunity to get more minutes and to start, I’ve been super hungry for it and just ready and waiting for any opportunity,” Hatch told the Deseret News in October. “I think that’s where it’s coming from. It’s just lots of hard work every single day at training and just being hungry for any opportunity.”
The Spirit play Gotham on Saturday at 10 a.m. MST. The game will be broadcast on CBS and available for streaming on Paramount+.