2025 Season Preview Part 3: The state of the team

We’re be running a three-part season preview series this week, before jumping head-first into game-week reviews starting next week. Expect in-depth soccer analysis, interesting data visualizations, and a breakdown of anything and everything Gotham FC. For the last part of the season preview, we’re reviewing each position on the field and what Gotham’s prospects look like for that position now that the offseason is over.

Goalkeepers (3): Ann-Katrin Berger, Ryan Campbell, Shelby Hogan

This part is pretty simple: our first string goalkeeper will be 2025 NWSL goalkeeper of the year Ann-Katrin Berger.

Goals added (g+) is a measure created by American Soccer Analysis that looks at the impact of each action by a player and how much it changes their team’s likelihood of scoring and conceding on that play. When looking at goalkeepers, g+ is broken down into six categories:

• Shotstopping: The quality of the shots that keepers do or do not allow into the goal

• Handling: How keepers handle the ball during the save (ex: do they manage to hold on to it, or do they give it up for a rebound shot?)

• Claiming: Are keepers able to grab aerial crosses out of the air?

• Sweeping: Defensive actions like tackles and clearances (with the feet)

• Passing: Passing to teammates

• Fielding: Dribbling, fouls conceded and won, shooting, and receiving

When you look at net g+ (i.e. the sum of all these categories combined), AKB is in a league of her own. Gotham demands a lot of its goalkeepers, and AKB has clearly been able to rise to the challenge. If she is healthy on any given day, there is a 99% chance she will be in goal.

Things get a little more complicated when it comes to the second-string keeper. Shelby Hogan is the obvious pick: she is the only other keeper that has professional experience, and she did start in goal in the vast majority of matches (21 of 26) for a team that gave up only the sixth most goals in the league and tied for the second-most clean sheets last season, with a save percent of 73.7% (8th place among keepers with at least 5 starts) in 2024. However, Gotham does not just require shotstopping of its goalies—they also have to be able to contribute to the team’s high-pressing attack. 

When compared to other keepers, Shelby Hogan is pretty average. She’s below average in sweeping, shotstopping, passing, and handling, and slightly above average in claiming and fielding. It seems dubious based on last season’s performance that she’ll be able to live up to the demands of head coach Juan Carlos Amorós’ system, but the people in charge of the team obviously had a vision, and the club does have a reputation for player development and a great goalkeeping coaching team.

We don’t really know much about Ryan Campbell except that she made two great penalty saves in the Gotham vs. Tampa Bay Sun preseason match and that the team saw enough in her to want to sign her out of college. Those two facts are a great sign of her talent, and we can expect to see a lot of development from her this year.

Defenders (6): Bruninha, Jess Carter, Tierna Davidson, Mandy Freeman, Lilly Reale, Emily Sonnett

Lilly Reale was one of the most coveted players coming out of college this year, and Gotham is lucky to have snagged her. She played as a center back in UCLA, meaning the team now has 5 players (Davidson, Sonnett, Freeman, Carter, Reale) who can play as center backs and 3 players (Bruninha, Freeman, and Carter) who can play as fullbacks (4 if you count Taryn Torres, who is listed on the roster as a midfielder by the team). All three of these players could play on the left but prefer to play on the right, and the team has a pretty big hole at left-back right now with the departure of Jenna Nighswonger. The team could also generally use a bit more depth at the fullback position, and Juan Carlos Amorós has shown an affinity for converting young players to new positions—perhaps we will see Lilly Reale or one of the young forwards converted to a fullback position this year. 

The starting center backs will most likely be last year’s starting pair, Tierna Davidson and Emily Sonnett. Davidson ranked fifth among all center backs for passing g+ last season, behind only the possession-oriented North Carolina Courage’s starting back pair, 2x defender of the year Naomi Girma, and known progressive center back Sam Staab. Meanwhile, Sonnett had the fifth highest pass completion rate in the league last season. Sonnett and Davidson were arguably the best center back pairing in the league last season, and their starting positions likely aren’t up for grabs. If Reale continues to play as a center back on Gotham, she can provide excellent depth or rotation at the center back position, or perhaps open up the possibility of playing a 3-back. Jess Carter and Mandy Freeman can also play as center back and provide additional depth there, but Freeman typically plays better as a fullback and the team has generally played Jess Carter as a fullback thus far.

The starting fullbacks are probably last year’s semifinal starters, Mandy Freeman and Jess Carter. The main worry here is that (with the roster as we know it) the team is one injury away from having zero subs available for either fullback position. If the team does start playing a 3-back this season and plays with wingbacks instead of fullbacks, the role would be shed of some of its more intense defensive responsibility (which could also be absorbed by potentially playing two defensive midfielders, but more on that later) and that could open up the role to people who naturally play in more progressive positions. It will be interesting to see how Gotham navigates this lack of depth at fullback, whether that will look like a new fullback signing at some point, the conversion of other players to fullback, or a complete formation change (or just prayers that no one gets injured!). 

Midfielders (6): Sofia Cook, Jaelin Howell, Rose Lavelle, Nealy Martin, Stella Nyamekye, Taryn Torres

The Gotham midfield looks very different than it did a year ago, and there is a big hole in the central midfielder position at the moment. Currently the team has attacking midfielders Rose Lavelle, Sofia Cook, Stella Nyamekye, and Sarah Schupansky (who is listed on the roster as a forward) and defensive midfielders Nealy Martin, Jaelin Howell, and Taryn Torres (who might be called into fullback duty depending on team needs). Unless the team signs a central midfielder soon, Gotham will likely be playing either two attacking or two defensive midfielders.

Gotham’s most likely lineup includes a defensive midfield pairing of Nealy Martin and Jaelin Howell. Martin has been a crucial component of Gotham’s system, and her performance even earned her her first USWNT call-up in the January 2025 camp. Howell is a very gritty defensive midfielder who was a standout player during her last full season at Racing Louisville. The pair would add a lot to the team’s defense which is particularly important with the lack of fullback depth that the team is facing this season. Taryn Torres will also be available as a depth piece in this position.

If the team were to play with two defensive midfielders, there would be one attacking midfielder on the pitch. If she is healthy, that attacking midfielder would be Rose Lavelle any day.

Offensively, Rose Lavelle is an absolute beast. She tied for second-most goals on the team last year and is just generally a super talented, technical, and creative presence in the midfield. However, Rose Lavelle recently underwent ankle surgery and it is unclear when the midfielder will be ready to make a return. In the meantime, the team has the choice of playing Esther González as an attacking midfielder or relying on one of the newcomers to fill the role (spoiler: the team should not play Esther as an attacking midfielder with how good she is at striker). The most likely day one starting attacking midfielder in the absence of Lavelle is rookie Sarah Schupansky. Although she is listed on the roster as a forward, Schupansky has also played an attacking midfield role. Other options are Stella Nyamekye, who missed most of preseason, and Sofia Cook. 

Overall, the midfield is a big question mark going into this season. There are only three returning players at this position, only two who got regular minutes in 2024, and only one who is healthy enough to play on day one. Gotham will likely have to adjust its midfield play in the absence of Delanie Sheehan, so it will be interesting to see what form the midfield takes this year.

Forwards (9): Esther González, Khyah Harper, Cece Kizer, Gabi Portilho, Midge Purce, Sarah Schupansky, Jéssica Silva, Ella Stevens, McKenna Whitham

At the start of the 2024 season, Gotham had six forwards on their roster and that number quickly dropped to 5 following Midge Purce’s season-ending injury in the very first match of the season. Although Yazmeen Ryan did join the forward line from the midfield and the club signed wingers Cece Kizer and Jéssica Silva late in the season, the forward pool was always thin, and it became even thinner when Katie Stengel departed the club to join English side Crystal Palace in September. This lack of depth on the forward line was evident, as the team struggled to score goals; the team didn’t score 2 goals in a single match until May, and didn’t score more than 2 goals in a match until October, within a month of the end of the regular season ending. In 2025, Gotham is starting in a very different position, with the forward pool being the deepest position on the team. 

Gotham’s starting striker is most likely Esther. After scoring the winning goal at the 2023 NWSL Championship, Esther scored 10 goals (9 in the regular season) last season, leading the team. 

In late July of last year, after being out of the match squad for a month, Esther posted that she had been experiencing discomfort in her toe and underwent surgery to address the issue. Prior to being put on the injury list, Esther had played in 11 NWSL matches, and after coming back she played in 12 (including playoff matches). In the first 16 matches of the season, which included an uncomfortable and/or absent Esther, Gotham scored 19 goals, including 2 from Esther. In the next 12 matches, the team scored 25, 8 of which were scored by Esther. That is the impact that she has on this team: a team with a healthy and comfortable Esther scores goals, so she is the obvious choice at striker. 

Gotham’s other option at striker is Ella Stevens, who had also played many minutes on the left wing in the 2024 season (14-year-old Mak Whitham can also play as striker, but will hopefully not see too many minutes this season at her young age). Stevens had a breakout season in 2024, with the second-most goals and second-most goals + assists on the team (first place in both measures belongs to Esther). She also tied for sixth-most goals and eighth-most goals + assists in the entire league! 

By one measure, Stevens added the most value to the team of all Gotham players last season—Stevens ranked 9th in the league and 1st on the team for net g+ per 90 minutes played. Although she naturally plays as a striker, she has shown that her immense talent still transfers over to the left wing and will likely be starting there for Gotham.

Other options at the left wing position are Cece Kizer and rookies Sarah Schupansky and Khyah Harper. Kizer was a standout player at Kansas City Current, but for the most part failed to regain that form during a tumultuous 2024 season. Hopefully the stability of staying on one team in 2025 will help her return to form.

The right wing position is where it gets a little more complicated. Midge Purce plays there, and was absolutely crucial to Gotham’s 2023 championship run, but will likely need some time to get back on the field as she recovers from last year’s ACL injury. Superstar signing Gabi Portilho also naturally plays on the right wing and can provide a lot of value there, with Jéssica Silva, Sarah Schupansky, and Khyah Harper able to provide depth at that position. It will be interesting to see what the Gotham forward line looks like once Purce makes a return from injury—will the team find a way to field Portilho and Purce at the same time? If so, this attack could be lethal. 

Overall state of the team

Juan Carlos Amorós prefers to play with his system of “organized chaos”, where the team plays high up the field and the midfield is given the flexibility to disrupt opposing attacks as necessary. This system prevailed through the roster changes that came about ahead of the 2024 season, but there were far fewer changes in the midfield from 2023 to 2024 than there are from 2024 to 2025. How these changes will actually play out is a toss-up, but Gotham in the Juan Carlos Amorós era has been very intentional about the players it selects, so we can remain faithful that there is a plan. 

Gotham owed a lot of its success in 2024 to its strong defensive structure, and the team retained pretty much all of its key players there. The team’s main weakness in 2024 was its goalscoring, and Gotham’s personnel changes on the forward line reflect intent to change that this year. On paper, the team seems to have a very high ceiling and has the potential to top last year’s performance—it just comes down to how quickly Gotham is able to adapt to its roster overhaul and find chemistry as a team unit.