Gotham Grabs The Crown Of An NWSL At A Tipping Point | Defector

"SAN JOSE, Calif. - Jaedyn Shaw set the tone. Rose Lavelle tapped the ball at kickoff, and Shaw booted it toward the Washington Spirit's net, which keeper Aubrey Kingsbury was helplessly far from. The shot was just off-target, but the message was clear: Gotham FC intended to score by whatever means necessary. A second warning came shortly after, when Esther González put a slipped ball by Shaw into the back of the net, only an offside ruling saving Washington from an immediate deficit. The attempts seemed to spook the Spirit, whose nerves showed for the first 20 minutes."

"It was a Gotham team looking to roll back their glorious 2023 run, when they Cinderella'd themselves from last team in all the way to the trophy. (The field here in San Jose also seemed to want to run back that injury-addled game; players frequently wiped out without so much as a brush from an opponent.) Washington, ever the bridesmaid, was hoping to avoid a second finals loss in a row and claim the club's first championship of the Michele Kang era. Ultimately, it was Gotham who reigned supreme, finishing off an audacious playoff run with a 1-0 victory over the team that knocked them out of the semifinals last year."

"My personal MVPs from the last two finals, Midge Purce and Rosemonde Kouassi, each showed out, needling defenders with signature runs down the flanks. Indeed, Kouassi created the only slivers of hope for Washington during Gotham's early dominance. But Kouassi alone was never going to be enough against Gotham's stacked back line. Washington's recovery from its early stumbles would depend on quarterback Croix Bethune, playing in her first final, shaking off her nerves and playing more like herself-creative, consistent, connecting. Once she did, the Spirit managed to employ a bit of offense-as-defense, but rarely to any productive chances."

Jaedyn Shaw struck early with a bold kickoff attempt that unsettled Washington and set the tone for Gotham FC's aggressive start. Esther González had a disallowed goal that further pressured the Spirit, who spent the first 20 minutes defending desperately. Gotham aimed to recapture momentum from its 2023 Cinderella run and ultimately secured a 1-0 final victory. Midge Purce and Rosemonde Kouassi created sustained threats down the flanks, while Croix Bethune, in her first final, gradually steadied Washington but produced few effective chances against Gotham's strong defense.

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