Gotham FC win the NWSL championship
Don’t call them underdogs. Call them regular-season underachievers if you’re searching for some reason why they scraped into the playoffs and then won it all. Gotham is a solid team throughout. Sonnett was masterful on defense, and Lavelle was the perfect person to score the goal.
Pity for the Spirit, whose season was defined by injuries. The last crucial one was to Hal Hershfelt, and even after she came back on, the Spirit were effectively playing with 10 players because she simply couldn’t run. And that’s when Lavelle struck.
Thrilling season and a big step forward for the league. Next up: Keeping players away from big-spending Euro clubs.
Thanks for following along tonight.
Not to pile on NWSL refs, but you’re going to blow the whistle there? While the Spirit have just thrown it in toward the penalty area? Who does that? Anywhere? I don’t even do that in U-9 games when we’re supposed to turn over the field to the next game.
Poor. Just no sense of the game.
Anyway …
Rodman sits up and stands. She’s in tears. She’s like to get back out, but there can’t be much time left, event after adding time for her injury.
Gotham’s free kick goes out of play.
90 min +5: Now Rodman’s hurt. That’s the last thing any US fan wants to see, let alone any Spirit fans. This may be her last moment in a Spirit uniform – European clubs are waving big checks.
90 min +4: Berger comes out and flails at the ball! But Metayer has no angle to shoot.
And now Berger’s going to sit rather theatrically after quite obviously NOT getting hurt in that sequence. Just in case you think that sort of thing doesn’t happen in women’s soccer.
90 min +3: Bruninha defeats Rodman by ippon. Oh, wait, this isn’t judo. Yellow card to the Gotham defender.
90 min +2: Spirit trying to show some urgency now. Five minutes of stoppage time.
90 min: Paige Metayer replaces Spirit left back Kate Wiesner.
88 min: Just not seeing any sign that the Spirit can climb back.
86 min: Lavelle is off to the races on the left. She circles back and finds a teammate, then gets it again.
Rodman tracks back and wins the ball, but she’s called for a foul.
85 min: A mild outburst of emotion near the player benches, and then some emphatic yelling and gesturing from the ref. That’s a change of pace.
84 min: Still zero shots on goal for the Spirit.
81 min: And NOW, Deborah Abiodun replaces Hershfelt.
You have to wonder if the Spirit will regret waiting so long to make that substitution, going with 10 players for a few minutes and then putting Hershfelt out there at much less than full strength.
GOAAALLL!!! Washington 0-1 Gotham (Lavelle 80)
Gotham works it down the left, centers, and it’s dropped back to Rose Lavelle, who hits a laser from the top of the box to the lower left corner.
79 min: Esther forces a save from Kingsbury.
Hershfelt races back onto the field with an awkward gait.
77 min: No sub yet, so the Spirit play with 10.
76 min: Hershfelt walks around the far side from the benches in frustration, shaking her head in tears. She seems unlikely to continue. Yet another Spirit injury.
74 min: Hal Hershfelt is hurt, which is good for alliteration but not good for the Spirit. Lavelle caught her sliding through. The referee appears to be warning the training staff that they’ve overstayed their welcome on the field.
72 min: Gotham free kick just inside their own half.
Please don’t let this go to PKs.
70 min: The Spirit try a short corner and immediately turn it over. But they regain it. Could Gotham be settling back and playing for the counterattack now instead of going toe-to-toe with the powerful Spirit lineup that just got better with Rodman’s introduction.
69 min: Hey, let’s have a corner back on the original side!
68 min: Now a corner on the other side. Bethune is posing all sorts of questions for the Gotham defense.
67 min: Bethune takes about five touches in the box, plays wide to Rodman, and the Spirit win their first corner of the night.
66 min: Kouassi is simply the best player on the field. She races to keep a ball in play, gets double-teamed and still wins a throw-in.
65 min: Good cross for Gotham, but Esther puts it high.
64 min: Have I mentioned recently that it’s 0-0? It’s 0-0, even after a deflected long-range shot from Gotham. They get a corner.
62 min: Purce finds no room up the right side.
Gotham makes a substitution – Bruninha replaces Reale to stop the risk of the right back picking up a second yellow.
60 min: The Spirit work the ball slowly up the field.
59 min: Reale is very lucky not to get a second yellow after a two-handed shove on Kouassi.
58 min: McKeown races back to keep the ball away from Esther.
57 min: HERE COMES RODMAN!!
Sofia Cantore makes way as the crowd erupts.
55 min: CHANCE FOR THE SPIRIT! Again it’s Kouassi on the right, sparking a backheel combination and a shot that Emily Sonnett disrupts. Still 0-0.
53 min: Not quite, but it’s not comfortable for the Spirit as the ball takes a couple of bounces while Gotham attackers crash like waves on the beach.
53 min: Another Gotham corner. Will this be the breakthrough?
52 min: The “Free DC” chant starts from the Spirit faithful.
Still 0-0.
50 min: Free kick for Gotham, and Lavelle floats it into the box. McKeown clears the danger.
48 min: This reminds me of the Under-9 games I referee when the players take forever deciding where to go with a throw-in. We’re finally underway, and it’s a chance for the Spirit! Kouassi races free with the ball on the right and centers to Bethune, who can’t direct it on frame.
46 min: We’re back. No one scored at halftime because that’s not how soccer works.
Halftime stats:
They’re boring. Maybe noteworthy that the Spirit haven’t had any corner kicks.
Halftime: Washington 0-0 Gotham
Gotham have probably come a bit closer to scoring, but neither goalkeeper has been particularly troubled despite some clever passing and breathtaking speed of play on each side.
45 min +3: Reale grabs Kouassi’s shirt at midfield to earn a pointless yellow card just before the whistle.
45 min +3: The Spirit float the ball into the box, and Berger says, “thanks, I was looking for a soccer ball to catch.”
45 min +2: Morgan earns a Spirit free kick just past midfield.
The camera finds the blue hair of Trinity Rodman warming up. Will she make an appearance at halftime?
45 min: Free kick for Gotham at midfield as Bethune is again a little late with a challenge. Shaw knocks the ball down for Esther, but McKeown gets a foot in front of the shot, and Kingsbury easily collects it.
We’ll have three minutes of stoppage time.
45 min: We shouldn’t have much stoppage time.
44 min: Gotham curiously opt to play a 30-yard free kick out wide, but they earn a corner.
41 min: Shaw and Bethune tangle. It looks at first like Shaw simply ran over Bethune, but replay shows Bethune tapped Shaw’s ankle before they both fell like Holmes and Moriarty over a waterfall.
40 min: Purce is furious with the assistant referee over a throw-in call, and she picks up the ball as if she’s going to take it home with her.
The Spirit throw-in goes straight to Gotham, and Gotham win a corner kick.
37 min: Shaw has now been bundled over a couple of times in midfield, and the referee may soon lose patience.
Now a very tough tackle by the Spirit’s Hershfelt – she got ball, but the trailing leg wiped out Midge Purce, who’s down in pain.
36 min: Oh, that was dangerous! Berger raced out to bail out a couple of her players under pressure 30 yards out.
35 min: Free kick goes nowhere except into Berger’s hands. We’ll go the other way now.
34 min: Now it’s Gotham’s turn to pass for a while and not get anywhere.
Free kick to the Spirit just past midfield …
32 min: So close to a nifty connection for the Spirit, but the onrushing Kouassi can’t collect Monday’s backheel.
31 min: Good spell for the Spirit, but they can’t get into the Gotham penalty area.
30 min: Lavelle threads a ball to Shaw, but it’s just out of reach.
29 min: Good attack down the left for Gotham, and Purce has switched flanks over there, but Morgan cuts out the danger.
27 min: A bit of a lull now. All the frenetic pressure from both sides in the first 15 minutes didn’t yield a breakthrough, and now both teams seem to be saying, “OK, what do we try now?”
26 min: My goodness, Rose Lavelle is good. Sometimes overlooked in the NWSL and the national team, but her playmaking skills are world-class.
24 min: Gotham’s defense has a little kickabout while the Spirit relax for 15 seconds before pressing again.
22 min: Spirit play direct, unusually, and Berger plays it 25 yards from her line.
21 min: Morgan commits a foul at midfield, and Gotham reset.
19 min: Kouassi isn’t finding a way down the right flank for the Spirit.
Bethune and Cantore nearly run into each other, and now it gets down the flank for a more promising attack.
18 min: Weisner whips in a promising cross that Monday heads wide of Berger’s net.
Still nothing you’d call an outstanding shot on goal at either end for all the pressure.
16 min: Gotham’s pressure has pushed the Spirit back into their own third.
Definitely some Spirit fans in attendance in San Jose. Heard the telltale “OH!” during the national anthem – a mid-Atlantic tradition.
14 min: An ambitious ball forward for Cantore comes to naught.
13 min: OK, now the pace has slowed. Had to have a letoff at some point.
10 min: Shaw shoots high. The pace has certainly not slowed.
9 min: Berger barely gets the ball away as Bethune charges at her and then bundles her over, which the referee doesn’t appreciate.
8 min: We break with a couple of Gotham players hurt – Esther has something in her eye, while Rose Lavelle is recovering from going over the top of a Spirit player and landing awkwardly. Both will continue.
7 min: Berger clears out of play under pressure. No one’s getting much time on the ball here.
6 min: Gotham strips the ball 35 yards out and immediately shoots at a bemused Kingsbury.
5 min: But it’s on the other side for Gotham – Purce zips past Weisner, who’s deputizing for the injured Gabby Carle. Ball is cycled back out and eventually finds Esther, who finds the back of the net but was uncontroversially offside.
4 min: This looks like a frenetic training-session passing drill at the moment. Both teams are pressing like mad. Gotham tries attacking on the left flank.
3 min: Spirit pressure forces a Gotham turnover deep. Monday plays to Kouassi, who shoots high and wide from 22 yards.
2 min: The Spirit answer with Kouassi streaking behind the defense with the ball, but her cross finds nothing of interest.
1 min: Kingsbury races out to collect a dangerous ball forward from Gotham, which is starting the same way Lando Norris hopes to start later tonight.
Kickoff
And it’s a shot! Jaedyn Shaw tries to emulate Gotham GM Yael Averbuch West by scoring directly from the kickoff.
Key event
The microphone wasn’t working for a pregame interview. Can we start now?
One minute. We hope …
OK – countdown clock is showing a 5:20 p.m. Pacific kickoff.
How’s everyone doing this evening?
It’s 5:05 p.m. Pacific time, and we have not yet seen the national anthem. This bodes ill for getting started any time soon.
Now it’s 5:10, and the national anthem will be … after these ads.
In case 90 minutes of pregame banter wasn’t enough.
Three of four CBS pregame hosts pick Gotham to win. The regular-season standings are a state of mind.
If you’d like to reach out and have your say on things, I’d recommend email. Social media tends to be a wasteland for such occasions.
Almost 5 p.m. Pacific time, but we’ll see when they actually kick off. For those who aren’t used to the US sports events, starting times are a state of mind.
The CBS pregame show, which has spun forth a lot of content over the fact that commentator Kelley O’Hara played on the 2021 championship Spirit team and the 2023 championship Gotham team, says Cantore will be up front with Monday on the left for the Spirit, as opposed to what was on the NWSL’s graphic. We’ll see. It’s not baseball. Positions are a state of mind. I’m mindless, which is why I played “bench.”
Incidentally, I will also be on duty for tonight’s F1 race from Las Vegas.
I wrote a book on the Spirit, and I live near Washington, but I’m rooting for anything that ends in 90 minutes.
Who’s not here?
For Gotham, US gold medalist Tierna Davidson and Taryn Torres have been out for the season.
For Washington, their second-leading scorer on the season is still Ashley Hatch, who only played 10 games before leaving for maternity leave. US internationals Andi Sullivan and Casey Krueger has also been out for the same reason. Ouleye Sarr has been out with a back injury. And Gabby Carle has been ruled out after recently suffering a thigh injury.
Gotham FC lineup
Wow, both teams have a lot of creativity in the middle. And fantastic goalkeepers. And a terrific English center back alongside a strong US defender.
Goalkeeper: Ann-Katrin Berger
Defense (left-right): Lilly Reale, Jess Carter, Emily Sonnett, Mandy Freeman
Midfield: Jaelin Howell behind Jaedyn Shaw and Rose Lavelle
Left wing: Sarah Schupansky
Right wing: Midge Purce
Forward: Esther Gonzalez
Washington lineup
Nope. Rodman doesn’t start.
Goalkeeper: Aubrey Kingsbury
Defense (left-right): Kate Wiesner, Tara McKeown, Rebeca Bernal, Esme Morgan
Midfield: Hal Hershfelt behind Croix Bethune and Leicy Santos
Left wing: Sofia Cantore
Right wing: Rosemonde Kouassi
Forward: Gift Monday
Preamble
First, do me a favor and don’t go back and read my predictions for the playoffs.
Not that any of us did well. Kansas City had a season for the ages – until the playoffs hit. Washington’s best players have been about as healthy as the sense of bipartisanship in the capital, and the Jonatan Giráldez era ended before it really started. Gotham FC barely scraped into the playoffs.
But these are two first-rate teams by any measure. We’ll have the lineups shortly, and they will be both be strong. (Rodman’s going to play, right??)
Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s a breakdown of the game’s key battles:
At the close of quintessential NWSL playoffs rife with last-minute goals and upsets, the eighth-placed underdogs Gotham FC will face second-placed Washington Spirit for the trophy. Both teams have won the NWSL Championship once before: the Spirit in 2021 and Gotham two years later. Washington are the likely favourites, but Gotham’s talent cannot be discounted.
As we look forward to Saturday night in San Jose, here are a few key battles that could decide the game.
Ann-Katrin Berger (Gotham) v Aubrey Kingsbury (Spirit)
Unless we find ourselves in a penalty shootout and either keeper takes one, these two won’t face strikes from one another. But their battle could be the most decisive of all.
Both made player-of-the-match-worthy performances in the first round. Gotham upset the record-setting, first-place Shield winners, Kansas City, thanks to a massive seven-save performance from NWSL’s 2024 Goalkeeper of the Year, Berger. In Washington, Kingsbury saw the Spirit to a narrow victory against the post-season debutantes Racing Louisville with seven saves of her own across 120 minutes, then two more to secure the win in a penalty shootout.
In the semi-finals, the pair faced fewer shots on target, but were called on to make highlight reel-worthy saves to send their teams to the final. An elite performance from either keeper could decide the championship.
Emily Sonnett v Washington’s attacking depth
Berger is the reigning goalkeeper of the year and is deservedly nominated again for 2025. But the fact that Gotham conceded the second-fewest goals (25) this season and claimed the second-most clean sheets is because their defence has been superb. Hats off to the veteran centre-back Emily Sonnett, who has had a superb year for club and country.
The Spirit have an impressive cadre of players who are threats in front of goal; and Sonnett needs to coordinate their containment. With injuries limiting starts for some (such as Croix Bethune and Trinity Rodman, the latter of whom is still returning to full fitness and came off the bench late in the semis) Washington have five players with four or more goals this season (Gotham have three), while collectively accruing 42 in total – second only to Kansas City. Sonnett’s backline performance will need to be top notch to limit them, with the help of key players around her such as fellow centre-back Jess Carter.
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