A year ago, NJ/NY Gotham FC had what many believed were super teams into the field.
It looked like he was poised for brave defensively for last season's 2023 title, found by players from US women's teams such as Rose Lavelle, Crystal Dunn, Emily Sonnett and Tierna Davidson.
However, they just fell short and lost in the penalty NWSL semi-finals.
Four months after that tragic finish, Gotham experienced the departure of several famous players. This has once again refilled the roster with the general manager and head of football operations and head of Yael Averbuc West.
Averbuch West and her staff are all the work that has been built up to this moment since last November.
The new campaign begins on Saturday as Gotham travels to Seattle for the season opener.
This time, the SuperTeam label has declined. It's not that AverbuchWest considered that in regards to her team. However, winning the franchise's second title remains Gotham's ultimate goal.
“When we look at the roster, we're really excited about next year,” posted Averbuch West. “We have a lot of return players who are performing very well here and we look forward to continuing to grow with the club.”
In many ways, Averbuch West considers 2024 a success.
Gotham was 17-5-4 and came in third in the NWSL rankings. They set a team record with the fewest goals recognized (20), finishing with a plus 21 goals. This was the league's fourth best mark.
But ultimately, the season ended a disastrously when Gotham lost in the semi-finals to the Washington Spirit on a penalty.
“We're aiming to win the championship every year, and I think we're all proud of what we've accomplished,” says Averbuch West. “We've improved in many ways in 2023. …In almost every way we can measure we've improved, our ultimate goal is to improve consistency in what we look like every weekend.”
The star-studded roster can present a good problem in that he has a lot of talent, but it doesn't have enough playing time.
Retail sales raised several red flags. However, Averbuch West doubled into Gotham's vision.
“It's not a sunny 365 days here,” she said. “It's not an easy and laid back experience. It's a very challenging experience that aims to always push to get better, and that's what we're committed to here and that's what we expect from our players.”
Forward Delaney Sheehan and defender Sam Hyatt left for free agency, while Gotham has confirmed USWNT forwards Lynn Biendro and Yazmeen Ryan's trade demands.
The US Olympic athletes Crystal Dan and Jenna Nysewanger are no longer there.
After missing out on last season's last 10 games in an “excuse absence,” Dan signed Paris Saint-Germain, with Gotham sending Nysewanger to Arsenal for a $100,000 transfer fee.
Each player has a variety of reasons for departure. In cases like Dunn's, Gotham wasn't the “perfect fit” to what you need.
Averbuch West doesn't want to talk about who's gone.
“We retained a lot of talent,” she said. “We've also brought about a really great talent.”
Returnees include Gotham's top three goal scorers last season, Esther Gonzalez, Ravel and Ellastevens. They also signed Brazilian star forward Gabi Portilho and midfielder Gellan Howell, adding UCLA standouts to defender Lily Real, midfielder Sofia Cook and goalkeeper Ryan Campbell.
Averbuch West said Reale is “undetectedly the most professionally prepared player to come out of a college game.”
Reale is a three-time Conference Defensive Player of the Year winner (Pac-12 in 2022 and 2023, and Big Ten in 2024). She spent some of her training last summer with Gotham.
“She's really ready,” Averbuch West said. “But I'm also very hunger to continue learning, growing and developing her game.”
The main point from her post conversation with Averbuch West was her desire to see more “consistency” and “growth” than this season.
“We want to go well and put out the game,” she said. “We really focus on what we need to do every day to ensure consistency in performance on the field, and we believe that all the rest of the kind continued based on that.”
