Week 13 recap: Rebound

Gotham FC is officially back in the win column after a 3-1 come-from-behind victory over the Utah Royals late Friday night. Bracesther made her return at her favorite stadium, scoring her third pair of goals in three appearances at America First Field. Captain Tierna Davidson scored the game-winner off of a set piece in first half stoppage time, netting her third goal in all NWSL competitions for Gotham and her fourth NWSL goal overall. This game marked only the fourth time in the Juan Carlos Amorós era that the Bats came back to win a game after conceding first out of 29 possible games. Notably, this result came after Gotham failed to come back the week before against the San Diego Wave. What made things different this time around?

A shaky start

What mattered more in the end was that Gotham pulled off the win, but it’s important to note that they almost had a much bigger hill to climb after conceding some quality chances in the first 25 minutes of the game. It almost started out really strong for the Bats as Esther González nearly scored the fastest goal in league history.

Between this missed chance and Utah’s 23rd minute goal, the Royals generated 1.72 of their 2.04 total xG on six shots. The first of these came seven-and-a-half minutes into the game, with Utah’s Mina Tanaka missing a nearly identical shot to González’s.

After giving up a goal while playing sweeper keeper last week, Ann-Katrin Berger made yet another error. This time it was an errant pass that ended up finding three hungry Utah attackers in front of an empty net. Gotham got really lucky that Tanaka’s 0.84 xG shot sailed high above the post. 

0.61 of Utah’s xG came from this three-save sequence.

One of the biggest challenges with the 2026 Utah Royals is that they are maybe the most aggressive pressing team in the league. This chance in particular came from them winning the ball in the middle of the pitch and rapidly progressing it forward. Because of that, center back Tierna Davidson was caught out of position and by the time she tracked back, Mina Tanaka had already threaded the ball forward to Cloé Lacasse, allowing the latter to get past the less-speedy duo of Jess Carter and Emily Sonnett. Getting beat in transition has consistently been a problem for the Bats (even after this statement victory, Guro Reiten noted that “defensively, the transitions, we need to stop them.”) and AKB’s heroics were the only thing that kept them in the game here. She managed to recover to save both Lacasse’s rebound and Tanaka’s headed shot, both of which were allowed with relatively little resistance from Gotham’s defense. 

Finally, Gotham actually got punished just two minutes later.

It’s the same story of losing the ball in the middle of the pitch and getting beat in transition, but this time with a more unfortunate outcome. Tierna Davidson tries to win the ball back, but in doing so leaves room for Cece Delzer to receive a dangerous pass. The Royals pull it off, and suddenly Delzer is through on goal with only AKB to beat. Berger seems to expect a defender to catch up before the shot comes off, but in the end left Delzer with a wide-open net to shoot into. 

At this point, the Royals could’ve been up 3-0 instead of 1-0, so the Bats definitely benefited from some luck. What they do deserve credit for is how they responded to going down a goal.

A strong response

In the same first 25 minutes in which the Royals created 1.72 xG, the Bats came up with just one-tenth of that, with only 0.17 to show for themselves. In the 65 minutes (and stoppage) that followed, Gotham created 2.18 xG and limited Utah to just 0.32. In comparison, last week Gotham created 0.75 and conceded 1.30 xG after allowing the first goal.

The Bats’ response to going down a goal was pretty swift — one minute and 14 seconds after conceding, they were awarded a penalty on the other side of the field.

This wasn’t a particularly promising chance per se, but Jordynn Dudley’s skill in receiving and controlling Tierna Davidson’s long ball across the field was threatening enough for the Royals to commit a foul inside of the penalty area. It was probably unnecessary (as indicated by keeper Mandy McGlynn’s reaction to the foul), but a goal’s a goal.

González successfully converts for her third goal and second penalty goal of the season. 

Gotham didn’t take their foot off the gas there—in the next 10 minutes, they attempted three shots amounting to 0.45 xG. The most dangerous of these chances came in the 31st.

Jordynn Dudley has a brilliant cross that curls around the Utah back line straight to the foot of Esther González. A wayward finish just wide of the post is the only thing keeping the striker from earning the fastest brace in NWSL history. 

Another near-goal came within four minutes.

Dudley and Shaw are brilliant here. Even though they are the only two in sky blue for miles, they manage to retain possession and create something out of nothing. Shaw is smart to recognize that Utah’s keeper is off her line and rips a shot that misses by inches, instead hitting the post. Luck is on the Royals’ side on this play, but this doesn’t deter the Bats.

In the dying minutes of first half stoppage time, Gotham earned themselves a corner kick. It took a while for the corner to actually be taken, with the referee having to reprimand a couple of Utah defenders for swarming Jordynn Dudley. 

The corner eventually did get taken, and Reiten is smart to take advantage of the situation and send the ball to the much more sparsely populated area beyond Dudley.

Tierna Davidson is the one to ultimately send the ball into the back of the net with a composed redirection towards the face of goal, away from Mandy McGlynn’s reach. Dudley had some thoughts for the defenders marking her after all that hullabaloo.

Head coach Juan Carlos Amorós credited the team’s set piece coach for this goal, noting that “we put a lot of effort and he puts a lot of effort into it and today we saw it pay off with a key goal.” What ended up being the game-winner saw the Bats heading into the halftime break up a goal.

Gotham kept up the momentum even after going up, not wanting to take any chances.

Their next big chance was within minutes of the second half kicking off. Savannah McCaskill passes the ball to a wide-open Esther González, who is able to draw rookie defender Kameron Simmonds away from goal to open up a shooting lane. Utah center back Kate Del Fava is still able to use her body to limit González to shooting left (making it easier for the goalkeeper to save her shot), but this was still a very promising moment from a striker who’s had a slow start to the season.

The cherry on top of this strong performance in the 70th minute of the game. 

Super-sub Sarah Schupansky has a brilliant long ball right into the run of Esther González who does everything right to separate herself from the defender and get around the goalkeeper. She’s rewarded with an open net, and her accurate shot led to her first brace of the season as well as her first goal from open play since Gotham’s season opener against Boston in March. This goal also tied González with new teammate Sam Kerr for most regular season goals in Gotham history, making Juan Carlos Amorós’ job all the more difficult once Kerr is eligible to play starting July 14th. 

It was smooth sailing from there for the Bats, with a cushy two-goal lead to carry them through the last 20 or so minutes. They took their foot off the gas on the attacking end but kept up the defense to make sure Utah didn’t score another. The Royals came close only once, in their last chance of the game.

Two former Bats almost combined for a goal after Cece Delzer beat out AKB on a header off of a Paige Cronin cross. The Bats got beat in the footrace, but they made sure it didn’t turn into a goal. 

In the end, Gotham displayed great resilience as they were able to mentally and physically bounce back from conceding an early goal. Hopefully this becomes a habit rather than an exception.

Team news

Several outlets reported Saturday that Irish international midfielder and former North Carolina Courage captain Denise O’Sullivan would be leaving English side Liverpool to join Gotham FC. ESPN reported that the deal would start off as a one-year loan with an obligation to buy, with the permanent deal lasting through the 2029 season. O’Sullivan has had a decorated NWSL career thus far, with seven trophies in her eight-year stint with the Courage. 

O’Sullivan plays as a central or defensive midfielder, and would be providing much needed depth (or even starting minutes!) in a position without any healthy players beyond the two starters. She’s been recognized as one of the best ball-winners and distributors in the league, and will surely add a lot to this ever-improving Gotham side.

Looking ahead to next match

Gotham returns home (kind of) this week as they take on rivals Washington Spirit at Citi Field as a part of The Queens Classic. The first 2025 championship rematch of the season will take place at 8 pm on Wednesday, July 15th and will be broadcast nationally on ESPN. The Spirit sit in second place in league standings, a point behind league leaders San Diego, and have won all three of their most recent league games. Star forward Trinity Rodman is in particularly good form, having scored thrice in the past two. The Spirit’s entire attacking unit is one of the best in the league, with Leicy Santos, Rosemonde Kouassi, and Sofia Cantore combining for 14 goals, one fewer than the entire Gotham team has managed all season. This might be Gotham’s toughest test this season, but at least they’ll be facing it at the highest-attended women’s sports event in New York City. Hopefully we won’t be left reacting like this.

See you all there!

Thumbnail courtesy of Gotham FC.