The Washington Spirit are just days away from facing off against Gotham FC for the 2025 NWSL championship at PayPal Park in San Jose, California. Striker Gift Monday has been a major key in the Spirit's season and playoff title run, and she's more than ready to lead the way for her squad in their final game of the campaign.
“I am so happy to be in a major Final. Finally, and I am so excited to be doing it,” Monday said. “As a team, we are not surprised that we are in the Final because we really worked so hard to be where we are today. It's not like we got here by luck or by chance.”
Making the NWSL Playoff Final has been a milestone that Monday set for herself once she came overseas from Europe to North America earlier this year.
“When I first came into the NWSL, my personal goal was to make a statement in the league, get used to the pattern of the league, and also try to score as many goals as I could to help my team win almost every game,” Monday said.
“When we finally qualified for the playoffs, I just wanted us to be in the Final because we have worked so hard,” Monday added. “We have come a long way from the beginning of the season.”
However, Monday will be going into the marquee game with a heavy heart. The Nigeria-born forward recently lost her father, who was her first soccer coach and mentor, and she returned from his funeral in Nigeria a month ago before heading right into postseason play. She scored a goal in the Spirit's quarterfinal game against Racing Louisville to help lift the Spirit to the next round, but she admitted that's when she was flooded with a mixture of emotions.
“At first, I was just so happy over the game. I was celebrating with the other girls, and then all of a sudden, I don't know what came over me,” Monday explained. “I was in my feelings. I just know that one minute I was celebrating, the next I was soaked in my own tears.”
Minday continued, “For me, it was tears of joy, and also it was a feeling of me wanting this platform for so long, wanting this for so long, and then the special person I wanted to be there was not there.”
The significance of the moment is not lost on Monday, but she said her mind can't help but drift to her father ahead of one of the biggest moments of her professional career.
“I think of him all the time,” Monday said. “If he was around, I would have got him a plane ticket and he would have been [in] the front seat, in VVIP for this Final.”
Monday said she knows not to underestimate Gotham since they have “always given [the Spirit] tough times,” and she will be partially using her grief to propel her and her team to a win on Saturday. Washington will attempt to avenge last year's championship loss to the Orlando Pride against the 2023 NWSL champions.
