In the end, after Gotham FC had its players down for a combined six yellow cards and two from Bruniña, two frames of overtime and a corner kick for the Washington Spirit at the end of the 121st minute. Ann-Katrin Berger barely made it to the finish line. There was foot on one side of the goal line, and the ball was suffocated on the other side and didn't go into the net, but in the penalty shootout it became the third consecutive goal by the Spirit and the third consecutive save by Aubrey Kingsbury.
And instead of a chance to become the third team in NWSL history to win back-to-back titles, the reigning champions will be revamped with star players in the offseason and the superteam label will follow them throughout the year, but with a final score of 1. will be defeated. 1 (3-0)/ Saturday at Audi Field.
With just five minutes left to play in their second straight NWSL title match, all it took was a costly yellow card, a free kick and a header to break Gotham's playoff spot, with Kingsbury losing in the penalty shootout to Jenna Naiswon. He made the final save against Gar, and Gotham was eliminated.
Near the end of regulation, Neiswonger received a yellow card (Gotham's third of the game) in the second minute of stoppage time, and the Spirit's Hal Hirschfeld headed the ensuing free kick past Berger and past the sold-out crowd. It made me excited.
But for most of the final 40 minutes of the second half, Gotham was in position to have a chance to make history. Only two teams in NWSL history have won back-to-back championships.
The Current did it for the first time in 2014-2015. Next up is North Carolina Courage in 2018-19.
And even before scoring a team-leading nine goals during the regular season, Esther González had already etched his place in Gotham FC history with his final score of the 2023 season — inside the 18-yard box. When Esther González found a little space, he flicked her. He headed right and redirected the corner into the net to score the tying goal in the NWSL Championship match.
A year later, when Gotham faced the Spirit in the semifinals and needed to tie the score, Gonzalez found a bit of space in the 18-yard box, swung his head, this time to his left, and missed a ball from Yazmeen Ryan. Changed the direction of the pass. net.
This gave Gotham a 1-0 lead in the 56th minute.
The Spirit, who won two of the three meetings against Gotham, created numerous chances in search of the tying goal.
Five minutes after González's goal, Paige Metayer got behind two Gotham defenders and had a clear chance, but Berger made nine saves but was inspected by a trainer on the field Saturday. He received the ball four times, but he went up into the box and blocked the chance. .
Defender Tierna Davidson then used her foot to knock down Rosemonde Kouassi's shot.
Washington beat Gotham and put many of them on net. After a few strong scoring chances in the first half, the Spirit started creating the most chances, forcing Gotham's defense to make adjustments.
Berger needed to make the save. The same thing happened at the start of the second half.
But in the 101st minute, Bruninha shoved Trinity Rodman, who was wrestling near the bench, knocking the U.S. women's national team and Spirit star onto the field.
Rodman imitated the action of showing Bruniña his card. Immediately after that, the referee made a similar move.
And for the rest of the game, Gotham was forced to take down players.
They survived until the penalty. After that, their chance to make NWSL history disappeared.
