By Owen Krucoff

Washingtonspirit.com

Boyds, Md., (7/29/19) – The connections between the Washington Spirit and the city of Cincinnati grew stronger this weekend as defender Tori Huster, goalkeeper Aubrey Bledsoe and midfielder Bayley Feist were honored in their hometown for their soccer accomplishments.

The trio, all of whom hail from Cincinnati, spent the weekend in their hometown and threw ceremonial first pitches before Sunday’s Cincinnati Reds baseball game against the Colorado Rockies.

On Saturday night, the players met with a local supporters group in to watch FC Cincinnati’s MLS game against Toronto FC.

Shout out to Cincinnati’s own @AubreyBledsoe and @torihuster from the @WashSpirit for coming out tonight to support @fccincinnati with @DieInnenstadt. Good luck this season! We’ll be tuning in. pic.twitter.com/uVYqVdofDD — rhinehaus (@rhinehausotr) July 28, 2019

Huster, a seventh-year veteran of the Spirit, played her 10,000th career minute this season and is the all-time club leader in regular-season appearances with 128.

Bledsoe leads the NWSL with 51 saves this season and set a league record with 108 saves last season. Both are graduates of Cincinnati’s Saint Ursula Academy.

Feist, a rookie out of Wake Forest, recorded her first professional assist on June 29 and scored her first professional goal on July 6. She attended Oak Hills High School in Cincinnati.

The trip came just over a week after Spirit midfielder Rose Lavelle, another Cincinnati product, went on her own tour of the city. After winning the World Cup with the U.S. national team and earning the tournament’s Bronze Ball award, Lavelle was celebrated at halftime of FC Cincinnati’s game on July 18 and received a key to the city in a public celebration the following day.

Huster, Bledsoe and Feist are back in the D.C. area now as the Spirit get set for a Friday night road test against the defending NWSL champion North Carolina Courage.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. ET, and fans can catch the match on Monumental Sports Network and NBC Sports Washington.