Gotham FC NWSL Champion: Lavelle and the Magic that Defeated Spirit

The Gotham FC was crowned champion of the NWSL on Saturday, after defeating the Washington Spirit by 1-0. The week leading up to the NWSL final was marked by uncertainty about the future of Trinity Rodman, star of the Washington Spirit, and the league’s difficulty in retaining its stars due to salary restrictions. However, in the final minutes of the match at PayPal Park, Rose Lavelle, midfielder for Gotham FC, emerged as the key figure. It was she who found the “magic,” as described by coach Juan Carlos Amoros, to secure the 1-0 victory over Washington. Brilliance in crucial moments led Gotham to their second championship in three seasons, following an unexpected playoff run.

We work very hard for this moment. Being a champion is the moment the referee blows the whistle. Until that moment, you are trying to be a champion and then you are one forever.

Juan Carlos Amoros

Lavelle, with her characteristic left foot, sent a shot to the back of the net in the 80th minute, in one of the few moments of transition in a match mostly stalled in midfield. Gotham’s victory completed a historic playoff run, leaving the Spirit as runners-up for the second consecutive year.

• Commissioner Berman puts the NWSL “on notice” for the schedule change.
• The NWSL faces the acid test to retain the star power of Trinity Rodman.
• Kansas City’s Chawinga becomes the first back-to-back NWSL MVP.

The Gotham’s triumph is the essence of knockout football, demonstrating the importance of opportunity to advance. The team did precisely that throughout the playoffs, narrowly surpassing the Kansas City Current in the final seconds of extra time and eliminating the defending champion, Orlando Pride, in the added time of the semi-final. On Saturday, a series of unfortunate events affected the Spirit and benefited Gotham. Moments before Lavelle’s goal, Hal Hershfelt, midfielder for the Spirit, suffered an injury, forcing Washington to play with one less player while Hershfelt received treatment. Although Hershfelt returned to the field, Gotham’s Bruninha took advantage of the situation to send a cross to Lavelle, who was 18 yards from the center area. Hershfelt and Croix Bethune dominated the midfield for Washington, but Lavelle, Jaedyn Shaw, and Jaelin Howell neutralized Spirit’s attempts to control the central areas. Gotham was not flashy or spectacular, but once again, it was successful. It was not luck, nor really magic, but the ability to seize opportunities. The “underdog” label for this Gotham team was always superficial. This is a team that won the Concacaf title earlier in the year, a team that fought for the top of the league a year ago, a team full of stars, from Lavelle to Shaw and Esther González.

However, it is also a team that has underperformed during the year, forcing it to take the difficult path to this title. The success of Gotham is ironic: A team that Amoros built to be interchangeable and fluid was dragged into the playoffs largely by its stars.

We know we had a lot of talent, and I think we really leaned into that in this playoff series and I think that’s what we saw. That’s what ended up helping us win.

Rose Lavelle

Shaw recorded a goal and an assist in the quarterfinal victory over the top-ranked Current, followed by the winning goal in the semifinal against the 2024 champion, Orlando Pride. On Saturday, it was Lavelle’s left foot that made the difference. The Gotham, with two championships in three years and a Concacaf crown, has mastered the art of knockout soccer. And that’s the beauty of the NWSL and the playoff system, the unpredictable “superpower” that Commissioner Jessica Berman and executives rave about. No one could be fooled into thinking that Gotham was the best team during the NWSL regular season. Kansas City set records for points and wins, securing the Shield by a margin of 21 points. But Gotham earned their trophy by defeating that Kansas City team, followed by last year’s champions.

Once we really couldn’t win the Shield, honestly, in the United States, you win the Shield or you make the playoffs, there is no middle ground. You need to make sure you get to that place, and we knew that by getting to that place we knew how to win together.

Juan Carlos Amoros

The most important story of the NWSL was and continues to be Rodman and her future. Rodman, however, was largely a non-decisive factor during the 30+ minutes she played off the bench on Saturday due to the limitations of the medial collateral ligament sprain she suffered last month. For the second year in a row, the USWNT star played through pain in an NWSL championship defeat. After the match, she briefly sat on the bench before slowly walking across the field to embrace her boyfriend, tennis star Ben Shelton. It is unknown if that was Rodman’s last walk across an NWSL stadium for the foreseeable future. After the match, she said the result, however heartbreaking, would not affect her decision about her future. “Every team loses,” Rodman said.

On Saturday, however, it was a Gotham team that kept finding ways to win throughout November, even when outplayed. This is the sweet uncertainty of sport, and especially of the NWSL, at its finest.

Sports, and championships, are based on moments. They are moments of brilliance for one team and bad luck for another. Gotham waited for its moment through the “ups and downs”, as Lavelle described it on Friday. A day later, a moment of brilliance from Lavelle delivered the final blow.