From Bottom To Top: Gotham FC Win First-Ever NWSL Championship Title

Written by Oluwaseun Oyediji

A new champion was crowned in the early hours of Sunday as NJ/NY Gotham FC earned a National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) Championship trophy following a worst-to-first campaign from last year to now.

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Gotham produced a 2-1 win as it relied on goals from forwards Lynn Williams and Esther González to beat a Reign side that got on the scoresheet via midfielder Rose Lavelle in the first half.

The match was hampered after just five minutes as an injury to Reign’s Rapinoe saw her exit forced, writing an unfortunate end to the NWSL icon’s career. Replacing Rapinoe was forward Bethany Balcer, who jumped in and attempted to adapt to the circumstances straight away.

Gotham FC scored the opening goal, and it came through Williams again as she tapped home a Midge Purce cross to send her team ahead midway through the first half. In the 25^th minute, Purce was sent down the right side of the field into space, and as she worked her way toward the end line she was able to pull a cross back and pick out Williams in the middle of the box. From there, Williams pushed an effort past Reign goalkeeper Claudia Dickey and in.

The goal is Williams’s first playoff goal since the 2016 NWSL Championship and her first playoff goal scored in regulation time. In addition, the assist was Purce’s first in the NWSL Playoffs.

Four minutes later, though, the Reign found themselves level again as Rose Lavelle got in behind the Gotham defense and buried a chance past Gotham goalkeeper Mandy Haught to reset the match and even the score at one-all. Lavelle had been played clean through the Gotham defense, leaving her in a 1-on-1 with Haught in goal. Though the shot-stopper did all she could to get back, Lavelle still squeezed a shot around her and into the net.

In the second minute of first-half stoppage time Gotham forward Esther González put her team in front. Midge Purce was on corner kick duty where she delivered a ball into the middle of the box where Esther was in position to meet it. Guiding her headed effort past Dickey, the Spaniard restored her team’s lead just ahead of the interval.

After 12 minutes of total added time played, the full-time whistle sounded and Gotham FC won its first-ever NWSL Championship after finishing bottom of the league last season.

Meanwhile...

Sunday's NWSL Championship final saw 25,011 fans in attendance at the Snapdragon Stadium which is the largest crowd in NWSL Championship history.

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With two assists in the final, Margaret Purce smiled home with the Championship Most Valuable Player (MVP) award.

Her teammate, Lynn Wiliams became the first player to play in and win four NWSL Championships.

She won the title once with Western New York Flash in 2016 and twice with Nort Carolina Courage in 2018 and 2019 before clinching her fourth title this year with Gotham FC.

The game also marked the end of an era as USWNT star, Megan Rapinoe played her last match for OL Reign.

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