Gotham FC made its first march to the NWSL Championship in Portland last year, and the restructured local women’s soccer team got off to a strong start in its title defense in familiar territory.
Gotham defeated the Thorns in overtime in the NWSL playoff semifinals in October and opened the 2024 regular season with a close 1-0 win Sunday at Providence Park in Portland, Oregon.
However, this result came at a high price. The Gotham team was already without expected leaders and mainstays of the U.S. national team, Rose Lovell and Lynn Williams, due to leg injuries, and just before halftime they lost starting striker Midge Peirce to a left knee injury. That’s because I lost it.
Gotham coach Juan Carlos Amoros then replaced the three injured players in Team USA’s victory in the Women’s Gold Cup earlier this month.
“We’re paying the price for a tournament that shouldn’t have happened,” Amoros said on a postgame Zoom call. “Another player playing in the Gold Cup [right before the start of the season]and ten days later she was injured.
“We’re talking about protecting players. … But we’re seeing the consequences of that now.”
Long Island native and USWNT regular Crystal Dunn played the past three seasons with the Thorns, including winning the league title in 2022, starting at the top and playing 66 minutes in her regular season debut with Gotham. Recorded.
The 31-year-old Dunn made his first appearance on the bench nine days ago in the Challenge Cup game against the San Diego Wave, in a 1-0 loss, scored by Alex Morgan in the 88th minute.
Lovell (lower leg) and Williams (thigh) were also absent due to losses to the Wave.
Amoros said he doesn’t know if either or both players will return for Saturday’s game against North Carolina and did not provide a medical update on Perth.
Gotham will play its home opener against the Kansas City Current on April 14th at Red Bull Arena.
Portland star and 2023 Golden Boot winner Sophia Smith had two goals, one in the third minute and the other in the 60th minute, ruled out for play that was deemed offside.
Gotham goalkeeper Kathy Miller (six saves) also made a close-range stop early on, denying the 23-year-old Smith as he slipped behind left-back Kerry O’Hara.
Peirce, the MVP of last fall’s championship game, was briefly ejected in the 13th minute due to a left knee problem caused by a collision with U.S. midfielder Sam Coffey, but returned to the pitch a few minutes later.
Moments later, Perth suffered another takedown, resulting in a yellow card for Portland’s Reyna Reyes.
Perth was sent off again in stoppage time of a scoreless first half after taking an awkward fall on the sideline.
This time, she was replaced by Yazmeen Ryan, whose deft cross from the right wing found international star Esther Gonzalez, who scored the winning goal against Seattle last November to lift Gotham to the league title. was Ryan. The only goal of this match.
“Both the players and staff wanted to win until the very end.” [the Purce injury] It happened,” Amoros said. “How we fought and fought tonight is a credit to this group of players.
“After all the adversity… it was great to get three points from here.”
