The NWSL&#8217;s I-95 Battle

The battle of I-95 has been a tight, hard-fought affair between the clubs, neither team has won a game decidedly this season. That is a credit to the players and new coaches Juan Carlos Amoros and Mark Parson. Tonight’s matchup the final game of the series should be a tight match-up as well. Player for Player the teams match-up well and anyone can emerge the hero.

Gotham FC forward Lynn Williams provided the game-tying assist against the Courage on September 2, her first assist after a run of 28 games in all competitions without one. Her last assist was on June 19th, 2021, in a match against OL Reign while she was with the North Carolina Courage. The 28 consecutive games without an assist, was the longest in Williams’ NWSL career.

Washington forward Trinity Rodman put five shots on target against Chicago in Washington’s last match but failed to find the back of the net. In the last three seasons, only Portland’s Sophia Smith has put more shots on frame in a single league match than Rodman with six shots on target (three times).

Match facts: With just four regular-season contests remaining, Gotham FC welcomes the Washington Spirit to Red Bull Arena in the first of three contests on Saturday. Gotham and Washington are both currently just inside the playoff line with the hosts Gotham FC sitting in 4th place with 27 points from 18 games played while Washington is in 6th place with 26 points from 18 games played.

Gotham FC is unbeaten over its last six home games (3-0-3), the longest home unbeaten streak in all competitions in club history, surpassing five-match runs at home from September 2021 to April 2022 where they went (1-0-4) and May to July 2016 (3-0-2).

Washington, meanwhile, is winless over their last six league games (0-3-3). That is the Spirit’s longest winless streak since their 16-game mark from May to August last season (0-6-10). However, Washington has lost two league games in a row just once this season, which marked the beginning of the current winless run.

The last time these two teams met, Washington came back from two goals down to win the match, the Spirit’s second comeback win when behind by at least two goals in all competitions this year. Only one other team, Gotham FC (then-Sky Blu) in 2017 (3 times), has multiple two-goal comeback wins in a single season.

Washington will have 7 players on international duty next week for friendlies, Gotham will have 4 players on international duty, and one who was called up but staying state side instead. 12 players between the two sides if it’s not the record for two teams meeting in NWSL it has to be close to it. For Washington, they have Chloe Ricketts (U17 USYNT), Marissa Sheva (Ireland), Aubrey Kingsbury (USWNT), Ashley Sanchez (USWNT), Andi Sullivan (USWNT), Ashley Hatch (USWNT) and Trinity Rodman (USWNT). For Gotham Lynn Williams (USWNT), Midge Purce (USWNT), Ifeoma Onumonu (Nigeria), and Bruninha (Brazil). Sinead Farrelly also received a call-up but is choosing to remain with her club.

The Match:

Jenna Nighswonger was booked early in the match in the 15′ for time wasting after a questionable foul call along the bench sideline in which it was up to debate between the center and assistant referee as to whether the ball left the field of play first. Jenna who thought it was Gotham ball, gave the ball to Washington’s player and then was shown a yellow card for her efforts. I get the trying to cut back on time wasting, however 15′ into the match and on a ball were even the center, 4th official and assistant referee had to take a long time to decide whose ball it was, is a harsh statement to send the players so early on. One could argue if anyone wasted time it was the crew, wonder if any of them have ever shown the other a yellow for time wasting during a match? hmmm…..

It has been a typical chess game between the two sides who are both well-coached and have lethal strikers who can change the game in the blink of an eye. Esther gets a touch on the ball inside the box and five players swarm her immediately, it’s safe to say Mark doesn’t want to give Esther any shot at beating them tonight in a crucial match-up.

“I think we focused the game today making sure that we were calm on the ball because he started having too many transitions that’s the game, they thrive so we control that always helps, and then also winning those games we’ve obviously got some concentration moments when we were in a risky situation that we could have avoided. We learned a lesson from that day. That says game they changed continuity from last week, but they changed some stuff on the beat. Restart also need to be wider in order to try to join the pressure by hurting the readability well we’ve just stepped into there. I think it’s key when you apply so many of us to replace passes that you don’t let them play those passes, but they were sometimes it’s impossible to stop alone pass by you see, it’s important to affect the timing of when that is happening because it’s not the same stuff. Under pressure that is applied. There is a place where there was executed the game plan to get in or something has to be tied to their last game because of a lot of trouble with the jumping up the line. I think we were lucky. I think we look at every single aspect of the next one.”
Juan Carlos Head Coach Gotham FC

At halftime the Washington Spirit brought on Ouleymata Sarr for Camryn Biegalski in the 46′, it is the only change made by the two sides. During a corner-kick attempt for Washington in the 60′, the center issues yellow cards to Trinity Rodman and Esther Gonzalez inside the box. Not sure what Esther could have said or done to earn one, but she went into the book with Trinity.

Just five minutes later chaos breaks out in the box for the spirit when Delanie Sheehan lets a rifle go off her left foot, from the center of the box about 16 yards to goal and the Spirit block it, then Yazmeen Ryan jumps on the rebound and her shot is blocked 12 yards out, then Esther Gonzalez found space in the box after Sheehan and Ryan both had their shots blocked, Esther took a shot and buried it inside the 1st post to give Gotham FC a 1 – 0 lead from 8 yards out. The assistant referee then raised her flag and sent the bat cave into a frenzy, screaming for VAR. Well VAR called in and said good goal. The official time was 65′ for the goal, after the goal review Juan Carlos Amoros was shown a yellow card for Dissent in the 69′. One can’t blame him his team just gained all the momentum, the fans are on their feet, and the assistant referee wants to play can I see across a straight line or not.

Well apparently, Esther did not like that cause just 30 seconds after her coach is carded, she buries the brace in the 70′ with fierce pace off a Lynn Williams assist. Talk about having your coaches back and playing it up for the crowd. Oh yeah silly me how did I forget to mention that there are special guests in the Bat Cave, the legendary support group of her former club Real Madrid made the trip to show their support for her here in America. The Madridistas of NYC are in the house and they’re loving all of the Esther Gonzalez goal fiesta. One can only hope this is a huge sign of things to come between Madrid, Spain and the United States. Esther is not the only one on the club with ties to Madrid, her coach here at Gotham Juan Carlos is from Marid and an avid Real Madrid supporter as well.

Seconds later Esther fired a shot from a long distance toward the upper 90 of the first post, it was played out for a corner kick by the goalkeeper’s fingernails. Red Bull Arena is loud, and they want to see a hat trick. Plenty of time remains in the match, and she will have opportunities to try and get it.

Despite the onslaught by Gotham who smelled blood in the Bat Cave, they were unable to find that elusive third goal for Esther. However, and most important Gotham secured the clean sheet victory at home in the bat cave, Esther Gonzalez hands down the Player of the Match and had the play of the match. She is the second player in league history to score a brace in a debut match, the other player was Sophia Smith last year’s MVP.

A special thank you to the Madridistas of NYC for coming to Red Bull Arena aka the “Bat Cave” to support Esther Gonzalez, Juan Carlos, and Gotham FC. It was an honor to work with Sean McCaffery of Soccer Long Island Magazine to secure this for both the player and coach. Seeing their faces as they met the Madridistas post-game was priceless. Both were overjoyed with tears in their eyes and brought to the point of being almost speechless.