Key events
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.
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