Sunday night’s shutout win was a bit of a positive for Gotham FC on a night to forget.
Gotham FC will not face the Washington Spirit again during the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) regular season.
Gotham was unable to break the Spirit and suffered a 2-0 loss.
Gotham was on a five-game winning streak and undefeated in their last nine games going into the matchup between the third and fourth-placed teams in the league.
Gotham allowed five goals in that span, and 11 goals overall on the year, tying them with the Orlando Pride for the fewest goals conceded in the league.
But despite the intense heat, the game being delayed by five hours for safety reasons and water breaks at both ends, the high-scoring Spirit cooled Gotham’s heat in a humid Red Bull Arena.
Courtney Brown and Trinity Rodman each scored, while Gotham had to go without a man in the second half after left winger Yazmin Ryan picked up two yellow cards, the second of which came in first-half added time.
Adding more humiliation to the defeat was that despite Gotham having a chance to at least avoid a clean sheet, Katie Stengel had a penalty shot denied by goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury in the 89th minute.
With the win, the Spirit moved into first place over the Kansas City Current and Pride.
Gotham (8-4-3, 27 points) dominated the first 45-plus minutes. The defending NWSL champions dominated possession, primarily in the midfield. They had six of their eight shots on goal, including their first four. Gotham dominated the Spirit defense, capitalizing on countless opportunities.
But one mistake put them in a bind when fullback Emily Sonnett lost possession in midfield, leading to the only goal of the first half.
The Spirit (11-3-1, 34 points) held the advantage when Croix Bethune assisted Brown on a counterattack, who fired a right-footed shot from outside the box into the bottom right corner, beating goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger.
It was the low point of a frustrating first half for Gotham.
Three yellow cards were shown, two to Ryan, who was briefly sent off after a hard fall in the 54th minute, but received a second yellow for re-entering before being cleared by the referee, and the crowd erupted in booing from then on and throughout the second half.
It got worse immediately after the break.
In the 48th minute, Rodman again made a successful counterattack, slotting the ball past Berger and into the back left corner. It was the second time this season that Gotham had conceded two goals, the other being a 2-0 loss to the Spirit on April 20.
They almost made it three a minute later, but Burger made an acrobatic dive to stop Brown’s unguarded laser shot from close range.
