Week 16 recap: Peril in Portland

It was not the best day for Gotham FC late Friday night as the Bats settled for a point in a 2-2 draw against the Portland Thorns. Midge Purce’s first goal of the season and Sam Kerr’s first goal for the club since 2017 were what earned Gotham the point in this hard-fought battle. What’s there to take away from this one?

A flying start

Gotham FC scored their second-earliest goal of the season in this game, capitalizing off some beautiful team play less than 90 seconds from kick off.

It’s truly incredible how Gotham’s ball movement left the Portland Thorns consistently a step behind. Gotham came into this game with exactly the right energy they needed, and they didn’t let up there. 

Another great chance came in the sixth minute, starting with a brilliant switch from Jess Carter. Guro Reiten does well to settle it and get it to the magical feet of Jaedyn Shaw. Shaw’s vision of Rose Lavelle’s run into the box leads to the latter being through on goal. Although there’s ultimately no end product on this play, it’s still some brilliant movement from the Bats.

Up until Emily Sonnett’s injury and subsequent substitution in the 7th minute of the game, the field tilt favored Gotham 75-25. They generated 0.29 xG and 0.92 PSxG and allowed their opponents only 0.03 xG. But seeing a teammate and a leader go down with a suspected season-ending injury have a real impact. 

Injuries change games

In the seventh minute of play, center back Emily Sonnett went down with a non-contact injury, requiring medical treatment and stoppage in play for 4 minutes until she was substituted off on a stretcher. A Gotham FC spokesperson later stated that, “Gotham FC defender Emily Sonnett left Friday’s match at Portland with a suspected left knee injury. She will receive further evaluation in New Jersey.” After the match, Gotham FC Vice President of Communications Jeff Greer confirmed that Sonnett would not be continuing with the team on the three match road trip and would instead return early to New Jersey for further medical evaluation. 

“It's always hard when you lose one of your best players,” said acting Head Coach Shaun Harris on the injury and substitution. “Emily is one of our key players and a leader on and off the pitch. It's really difficult when you lose such a great and important player that early in the game…  it's a bit shocking for people.”

Forward Midge Purce further emphasized that sentiment, noting that, “it's always scary to see a player go off, especially in the beginning.”

With this injury, Gotham’s past three visits to Providence Park have included a 4-1 loss (with the most goals conceded by this team since 2022), a confirmed season-ending injury, and a suspected season-ending injury. 

Despite the early shock to Gotham’s system, the Bats went on to generate nearly twice as much xG as their opponents, and even drew a red card that gave them a one-player advantage for around 20 minutes. Why, then, did they only manage to walk away with one point?

After the game, forward Sam Kerr expressed disappointment with how the team played.“I thought we were quite poor today, to be honest,” she began. “I thought we were probably lucky to get away with the tie in the end.”

When asked what she wished the team had done better, she answered, “Just the simple things. Taking care of our passes. We lost the ball a lot in spaces where we shouldn't lose the ball, myself included.”

Sam Kerr’s sentiments didn’t come from nowhere — the team allowed Portland their second-highest possessions won, second-highest possessions won in the final third, and fourth-highest interceptions of the season. In fact, 11 of Portland’s 16 shots came from avoidable turnovers, amounting to 0.52 xG. 

The second goal that Gotham conceded came from giving the ball away.

Portland was able to capitalize on this turnover and progress the ball forward, resulting in their second goal…

… getting a lot of help from a lucky deflection.

Portland’s first goal wasn’t because of a turnover, but it was another familiar enemy of Gotham’s: getting beat in transition.

Everyone is one step behind in defending, allowing rookie Renee Lyles to send in a shot that AKB had no chance of saving.

Finally, Gotham got their silver lining in the 62nd minute of the game.

Sam Kerr scored her first goal for Gotham FC since September 30th, 2017, when the club was called Sky Blue and they were playing against Midge Purce and Rose Lavelle in the now-defunct Boston Breakers. The Bats showed great tenacity here, winning first and second balls to pull themselves level with the Thorns.

Kerr almost got another just ten minutes later.

She has a clear goalscoring opportunity when she is fouled by Portland defender Jayden Perry, who earns herself a red card for denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity (DOGSO). 

Unfortunately, Perry’s tactical foul ended up being worth it as the Bats managed just one (1) shot after going up a player in the 73rd. The Thorns managed just as many shots, as well as a big opportunity in the first minute of stoppage time.

It’s Gotham’s two worst enemies combining here, as a giveaway offers the Thorns a big transition opportunity. Everyone say “thank you Morgan Weaver for not shooting.”

Finally, Jordynn Dudley received a yellow card in the 57th minute for this foul.

It wouldn’t be surprising if this got upgraded to some sort of suspension before Gotham’s next game — the only saving grace here is that Jayden Perry also appears to be holding onto Dudley’s neck, out of sight of this camera angle.

There are a lot of caveats to Gotham’s performance here. Firstly, it’s incredibly hard to see a teammate go down and leave the game on a stretcher and then continue to play a soccer game as if nothing happened. And then after the red card, it’s really difficult to break down a team that is committing every single number back in the defense. Were Portland’s goals preventable? Sure, but the Bats still deserve all the praise for how they were able to respond with all these factors working against them. 

Looking ahead to next match

Gotham’s West Coast road trip continues as the team travels south to San Jose to take on Bay FC. The match will be on Wednesday, July 29th at 10 PM ET, broadcast nationally on CBS Sports Network. Bay are 13th in league standings, with five wins, three draws, and seven losses on the season. However, they’ve won two of their last three games and have scored seven goals across the four matches they’ve played since the June break. The last time these two teams faced off, it was a 3-0 win for the Bats at home.

Bay’s strong midfield trio of Claire Hutton, Hannah Bebar, and recently acquired Kennedy Fuller will be tough for the Bats to break down. Additionally, sophomore striker Karlie Lema and USYNT winger Alex Pfeiffer have contributed to eight of Bay’s goals, four of which have come since the break. Gotham will be tired and without a very important player for this game, so it will be a challenge to remain disciplined on both sides of the ball.

Thumbnail courtesy of Gotham FC.