Hello and welcome back to NWSL Crunchtime, The Cutback’s newsletter for the business end of the National Women’s Soccer League season.
The regular season is over. It concluded on Sunday with all 16 teams playing at the same time and in the end, there wasn’t too much drama. Seven of the eight teams in the top half won, meaning that the table remained static aside from the Portland Thorns leapfrogging the Utah Royals into sixth.
However, despite the lack of chaos, we still had a major trophy lift and the final playoff spot was sealed as one of the all-time NWSL greats said goodbye to her home fans.
Gotham wins first Shield
After 30 matches and nine months, one team stood alone at the top of the table and made history: Gotham FC.
An inaugural NWSL member in 2013, Gotham has waited 13 years to top the table. Their first-ever regular season title was sealed after a 2-0 win at home against the Utah Royals. Long-time leader and fan-favourite Midge Purce got the assist on both goals; the first scored by Guro Reiten and the second by substitute Jaedyn Shaw.
It has been a remarkable journey for Gotham and head coach Juan Carlos Amoros. The club was dead last in the NWSL when he arrived at the end of 2022. Now, four seasons later, they have won the playoffs twice, a domestic cup once, the continental title, and now finished top of the regular-season table. For at least the next few weeks, they are the current holders of all three domestic trophies: the Shield, the Championship and the Challenge Cup.
But of all the five trophies that Amoros has won with Gotham, this one will feel the sweetest. It is the greatest test of consistency, even if the pomp and circumstance of the playoffs and Championship can overshadow the Shield.
Gotham craves respect. It sees itself as one of the most elite clubs in the world. Besting the rest of the United States over an attritional 30-match campaign is truly the most worthy barometer of that, especially when the two Championship wins under Amoros came when the team snuck into the playoffs as the lowest-seeded team.
“I think everyone that was wearing the Gotham badge was able to step out there and make sure our fans were proud,” Amoros said on Sunday. “The people that we love and that sacrifice their time are proud. It’s a very special moment because this shows what this football club is, not only the 11 players but everyone who represented us, and I couldn’t be prouder of the achievement, to be honest.”
Seattle do it for Fishlock
The Seattle Reign came into the final day with their fate in their own hands: it was win and in. And, like most of the other top teams in the NWSL, they got the job done when it mattered most.
Seattle beat the Orlando Pride 1-0 as Jordyn Bugg tucked home a flicked-on corner kick with a little over 30 minutes left to play. It was incredible to see the celebrations for Bugg’s winner almost equal Gotham’s title winning scenes on the other side of the country.
So much of that emotion was because the win extends the impending retirement plans for Seattle legend Jess Fishlock. After 13 years with the Reign and three Shield trophies, the former NWSL MVP will hang up her boots at the end of the season.
Beyond the win and what it means to the team, clinching the final playoff spot means that Fishlock will end her career in the playoffs, competing for a Championship she has never won.
Fishlock also got to say goodbye to the home fans in Seattle. Her substitution in the 82nd minute allowed her to remove the club captain’s armband, hand it to Sofia Huerta, and take a lap of honour around the touchline that she will never forget. A fitting ovation for a league legend.
And she’s not done quite yet.
Playoff bracket set
The closing of one chapter is the opening of another. The regular season is done, now bring on the playoffs.
The bracket is set with the top-seed Gotham now welcoming Seattle next Sunday, 8 November. That is a rematch of the 2023 Championship final, which Amoros and Gotham won 2-1. Rose Lavelle scored for Seattle that day and will now play against them for Gotham, while Fishlock, who played in that final, will have the bit between her teeth to get revenge.
Elsewhere, Utah’s defeat to Gotham means they slipped to seventh and now travel to California to meet the second-placed San Diego Wave, who won 1-0 against Bay FC on the final day. Jonas Eidevall’s team are one of the most in-form in the league with eight wins in their last 10 matches. That match-up will open the playoffs next Friday night, 6 November.
Of course, the honour of being the most in-form team in the NWSL goes to Angel City. The Los Angeles club is on a 10-match unbeaten run and finished the regular season in some style, smashing Boston Legacy 4-1. ACFC now head to the best home team in the league, the KC Current, next Saturday, 7 November.
Closing out the quarter-final weekend on Sunday, 8 November, are the Washington Spirit, who got a confidence-boosting 2-0 home win against the rock-bottom Chicago Stars on final day. Washington will welcome the Portland Thorns to Audi Field in a rematch of last year’s one-sided semifinal, which the Spirit won 2-0. The good news for Thorns fans is that forward Sophia Wilson returned from her suspension on Sunday, scoring a brace in a 2-0 win over the Houston Dash.
