Gotham FC had an eventful week in New York City and they closed it out in dramatic fashion, rallying from two goals down to earn a late 3-2 win over Seattle Reign FC at Icahn Stadium.
The comeback made it three straight wins for Gotham and helped them climb, for now, to the top of the NWSL table. It wasn’t easy or straightforward, with Seattle taking a two-goal lead before 30 minutes had been played, but the quality in Gotham's attack won out.
Esther González came off the bench to bag a brace, Jaedyn Shaw supplied two assists, and Sam Kerr assisted Rose Lavelle on the game-winner at the death, with Lavelle scoring the third Gotham goal at 90'+8' to cap off a dominant second-half performance.
"These players never gave up," said Gotham coach Juan Carlos Amorós following the win. "Everyone on the pitch kept fighting and pushing, and the people coming off the bench kept fighting and pushing...For me, the fact they were able to come back and win that game is extremely remarkable."
The comeback was necessary because Seattle started off strong on Randall’s Island, with Gotham defender Mandy Freeman whistled for a penalty and shown a yellow card in the 12th minute, and with Seattle’s Mia Fishel converting from the spot to put the visitors in the lead.
The Reign doubled that lead only a few minutes later, when Maddie Dahlien got in behind Gotham’s defense and picked out an unmarked Maddie Mercado, who slotted her shot home from close range.
Seattle had a chance to take a 3-0 lead not long into the second half, with a lengthy VAR review resulting in a penalty kick awarded to the Reign after Emily Sonnett was judged to have committed a foul that initially went uncalled by the referee. Maddie Dahlien missed from the spot in the 57th minute, a let-off for Gotham and apparently the motivation they needed to put their rally in motion.
Megha Gupta
Following Seattle's miss from the spot, all the action tilted Gotham’s way as their attack came to life.
It also helped that Gotham coach Juan Carlos Amorós, who announced after the game that he's now heading away from the team for five weeks of parental leave, could call on the likes of González, Kerr, Guro Reiten, and debutant Denise O'Sullivan off the bench while looking for a spark.
González's brace got it all started, as first, Shaw picked her out with a lofted cross to the back post, with Esther getting behind the Seattle defense and hitting a first-time shot past Reign goalkeeper Cassie Miller. The equalizer from Esther started first from a whipped-in cross by substitute Bruninha, a pass which Jaedyn Shaw chested right to the feet of González, who again beat Miller for a goal that stood despite protests from Seattle about a possible offsides.
Then it was Rose Lavelle, who scored a sublime goal to beat the Spirit and win The Queens Classic, to step up once again and deliver the winner. A dribble at the top of the box by Sam Kerr trickled through to Lavelle, and Lavelle struck it perfectly with her left foot, ending an improbable but exhilarating comeback for Gotham.
Gotham: 2.31 xG, 18 shots, 9 shots on target, 71% possession, 581 passes, 82% pass accuracy, 19 fouls, 4 corners, 0 saves
Seattle: 2.30 xG, 8 shots, 2 shots on target, 29% possession, 235 passes, 63% pass accuracy, 10 fouls, 1 corner, 6 saves
Goals:
• Seattle, Mia Fishel (PK), 14'
Seattle, Maddie Mercado, 23'
Gotham, Esther González, 81'
Gotham, Esther González, 90'+4'
Gotham, Rose Lavelle, 90'+8'
Week of smoke, storms, wins
The natural environment did all it could to complicate things for Gotham during a week with back-to-back matches played in New York City.
Wildfire smoke plunged the air quality into unhealthy ranges during both Gotham matches, with the sky at Citi Field for The Queens Classic a particularly dystopian shade of hazy orange as the sun set.
The conditions caused by the Canadian wildfire smoke engulfing the city led the NWSL to initiate a protocol that required four hydration breaks, two each half, taken in both Gotham games. The air quality was borderline unsafe in each game, with Washington Spirit star Trinity Rodman saying "We shouldn't be playing the game" while discussing the Citi Field match at midweek that drew a record-setting crowd despite the air quality issues.
The smoke didn't clear for the Reign game, and the smoke-filled skies over Randall's Island opened up shortly before the scheduled noon kickoff. A wave of severe thunderstorms delayed the start of this match for two hours and 35 minutes, but soccer did get played despite Mother Nature doing its absolute best to wreak havoc on Gotham's second-ever match at Icahn Stadium. Ironically it was a second straight rain-soaked affair for Gotham on Randall's Island, as their first trip to Icahn Stadium last August was played in a steady downpour.
Andrew Leigh
"Today we already had a big mountain to climb, but from the moment
the players got here at 9:00 am, that mountain just kept getting higher," said Amorós. "We had to start the game hours later than scheduled, the players were coming off playing less than 72 hours ago, we were in a different stadium again, and then we found ourselves 2-0 down."
Amorós's team climbed the mountain, but the comeback didn't come as a surprise to Midge Purce, who said after the match, "There was never a moment where I thought we'd lost it. I really do think what we have here is so unique and so special that when we were down 2-0, I was like, 'No, we can come back from this,'" Purce said.
Rest for Gotham was almost nonexistent, with Amorós lamenting that his team had under 72 hours to recover and prepare for Seattle, with their outdoor training time curtailed by the smoke conditions engulfing the Tri-State Area.
"A huge credit to the players. Coming off spending 10 days in Utah and San Diego, winning in Utah, winning midweek and winning today, they deserve enormous credit," said Amorós.
The Gotham players now get a more normal stretch of time to prepare before their next match, but that match requires another cross-country trip. Gotham heads to Oregon to play the Portland Thorns on Friday, July 24 with a 10:00 pm ET kickoff.
