Washington Spirit forward Trinity Rodman will miss the U.S. women’s national team’s friendlies against Portugal and New Zealand next week due to a grade 1 medial collateral ligament (MCL) sprain she suffered on Wednesday during the Spirit’s 4-0 Concacaf Champions Cup win over CF Monterrey Femenil.

She could still possibly return this year, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation.

Rodman underwent initial scans on Thursday, which revealed a grade one sprain. The current outlook is roughly a three-week rehabilitation process before a reevaluation, which would land around the start of the NWSL quarterfinals. Sources were optimistic and did not rule out a return this season, depending on how the knee injury heals and how far the Spirit makes it into the postseason.

Spirit head coach Adrián González told reporters on Friday that the results were “best-case scenario” after the concerning tackle on Wednesday. Grade 1 MCL sprains are the least severe of the injury category. Rodman was at the Spirit training facility on Friday to start her rehabilitation.

“An injury is not always a good situation, but it’s not as bad as it could be,” González said. He would not give an official timeline. “Every player is completely different. We want to support her … as a human being, right now the most important thing is just to recover and see how she feels every day and try to help her as much as possible.”

The 23-year-old was called back into the U.S. team by head coach Emma Hayes for the first time since April. She had previously missed nine NWSL games this year due to an ongoing back injury that has impacted her since her rookie season in Washington.

Hayes has not yet made a decision on her replacement. One option could be to pull a player from the recently announced U-23 squad, which will be training at the same location in Pennsylvania next week.

Rodman went down in the 37th minute of Wednesday’s match while going up against Monterrey defender Daniela Monroy. Rodman attempted a tackle that resulted in her remaining on the ground for several minutes. She was officially replaced in the 41st minute by teammate Brittany Ratcliffe. Rodman needed assistance to leave the field and eventually returned with crutches, a brace and her full leg wrapped.

Rodman had recently enjoyed a return to form, earning September’s NWSL Player of the Month and has scored five goals and recorded two assists in 15 appearances this year. She scored the opening goal of the Spirit’s 1-1 draw with the North Carolina Courage on Saturday, which secured her team the No. 2 spot in the NWSL postseason and home-field advantage. Washington hosts the Orlando Pride in a 2024 NWSL Championship rematch in their final regular-season home game of the year.

“It’s obviously a situation that we don’t want to face, but I think this team has gone through different adversities in the past and mentally it is a team that we are able to face any type of situation,” González said of dealing with rotation around Rodman’s injury. “Fortunately, we’ve been building a roster with a lot of players available with a lot of solutions on the field. We can attack and defend in a different way, so we’ve been practicing different lineups.”

The USWNT will play three friendlies during the October international window: two against Portugal on Oct. 23 and 26 in Philadelphia and Connecticut, and one against New Zealand on Oct. 29 in Kansas City.