Week 20.5 recap: Young talent

Gotham’s perfect record in CONCACAF play this year continues as the Bats took down the Vancouver Rise FC Academy 4-1 late Tuesday night. We saw the first starts in black and sky blue for goalkeeper Ryan Campbell and midfielder Jaedyn Shaw, and goals from Josie Hasbo, Katie Stengel, Esther, and Bruninha helped Gotham take home the full 3 points. Gotham now sits in first place in group standings with 9 points, though not all teams have played as many games as the Bats yet.

A win is a win, but conceding a goal to an academy team made up primarily of teenagers was probably not part of Gotham’s game plan. How much should we be reading into this performance, and what specifically should we be reading into? Let’s get into it.

The lineup

As expected, we saw quite a bit of rotation from Friday’s game against the Wave, with the only returning starters being Lilly Reale and Gabi Portilho (both of whom were subbed out at the half). In goal, with her first professional start ever, was rookie keeper Ryan Campbell. In central defense, we saw captain Mandy Freeman and Kayla Duran, with rookies Lilly Reale and Khyah Harper playing left and right back, respectively. Josie Hasbo played as a defensive midfielder this match for the first time this season, and Sofia Cook and Jaedyn Shaw held down the fort in attacking midfield. Finally, up top we saw Katie Stengel as the striker with Gabi Portilho and Sarah Schupansky on either flank. There was one notable omission from this lineup that had us wondering…

And we got the worst case scenario answer to that question yesterday morning. Gotham FC announced that midfielder Taryn Torres had been placed on the season-ending injury list after tearing her left ACL in training on Sunday.

This is devastating news, especially during such a standout season for the midfielder. We wish Taryn a speedy and safe recovery.

In the previous two CONCACAF W Champions Cup matches, we saw Taryn Torres start at left back and Nealy Martin start as the defensive midfielder. However, with the club selling Martin to Angel City last week and with Torres out injured, head coach Juan Carlos Amorós had to get creative. He has clearly committed to the 4-1-4-1 we saw last week, and so he got around the personnel issues by having Lilly Reale take an extra shift at left back and pushing Josie Hasbo further back from her usual central midfield role into the defensive midfielder/third center back in possession spot that Jaelin Howell has been occupying. 

But we’ll get more into that later. At the half, Bruninha slotted in at left back in Reale’s place, trading halves with the other Friday starter.

The lineup for this game was one of the most inexperienced we’ve seen yet, with all 7 of Gotham’s rookies from college starting together for the first time. How did this inexperienced squad end up playing?

A high line

Despite being a different game than the Bats were used to playing—Amorós noted that, “today we had to face a very low block in a different structure—a 5-2-3—something our players don’t often see”—the team ensured that this game played out in the most Gotham way possible. In this case, what that meant was a classic Gotham high press. If we look at the average positions of all the players on the field, here’s what we see.

Out of the 22 players on the pitch, only 5 had an average position inside Gotham’s defensive half. The Bats executed this high press so well that their passing accuracy (87.4%) was nearly double that of the Rise Academy (48.0%). We can see their high press in action here, in the very first minute of play.

And here.

Despite the new personnel, Gotham still managed to apply enough pressure to this team to at the very least suffocate their attack.

A Hasbo masterclass

Josie Hasbo won CONCACAF’s player of the match this game, and for good reason. In addition to scoring the team’s first goal, Hasbo led in xG (0.94), had the most passes of any non-center back player, had the third-highest pass completion rate of any outfield starter (89.7%), and stepped into a completely new role effortlessly. Hasbo was everywhere.

We didn’t need this heatmap to believe it, however—everywhere you looked, Hasbo was there. She was constantly winning the ball back for her team in the midfield.

And she even contributed significantly to the attack.

Here, she almost gets an assist on Katie Stengel’s shot that rattles off the crossbar.

And here, she singlehandedly keeps the ball and this play alive.

Hasbo had quite a game—what she lacks in height she more than makes up for in tenacity and skill, and we’re excited to see more of her.

Offensive firepower and a defensive woe

We’ll just get it out of the way. Gotham conceded a goal—let’s take a look at it.

Gotham is caught off guard by the long ball here, and we start to see the inexperience of this lineup show. Kayla Duran gets caught ball watching, and then Ryan Campbell misses the save, giving Vancouver an open net to shoot into. But this is the perfect place for these rookies to make and learn from these mistakes, as their teammates gave them quite a cushion to work with.

Goal 1: 9’

This goal starts from a corner, and the initial delivery doesn’t make it in but Josie Hasbo does a good job keeping the ball alive and ultimately is the one who dives to send it into the back of the net. She does a good job keeping herself open, and Kayla Duran delivers the second ball back in perfectly.

Goal 2: 12’

Gotham’s next goal came only 3 minutes later, as Lilly Reale strengthened her case for 2025 rookie of the year (yes, we know this is a different competition). The left back drove effortlessly through traffic and delivered a cross from right at the endline that perfectly coincided with Katie Stengel’s run. Props also to Sarah Schupansky for being available to receive and release the ball on the overlapping run, and to Katie Stengel for the perfect finish into the back of the net. 

Goal 3: 46’

If Esther finds the ball, she’s going to put it on target. Gotham has some buildup here on the left side that ends in a cross that is cleared by the Vancouver defense, but it is not cleared enough. The ball lands at the feet of Esther just inside the 18-yard box, and she makes no mistake with a one-touch shot into the bottom corner. 

Goal 4: 90+3’

A team effort here. Khyah Harper carries the ball forward from the halfway line, Sarah Schupansky crosses it into the box, Mak Whitham gets it towards the frame, and Bruninha has the final touch to nudge it into the goal.

Gotham ended this game with a 4-1 scoreline, but there were moments where it felt like it could’ve been more. In particular, we were impressed by what we saw on the wing from Sarah Schupansky and Khyah Harper.

Harper, who just extended her contract with Gotham FC through the 2026 season, showed excellent 1-on-1 abilities, such as this play where she effortlessly dribbled through several defenders near the endline.

And Schupansky, while playing in a new position for Gotham, led the game in shots, chances created, and crosses—the rookie had 20 crosses, and the rest of Gotham combined for 19. 

We’re very excited to see how these two can continue to contribute to Gotham’s attack from the wing. 

Looking ahead to next match

Gotham next plays Bay FC away from home on Sunday, September 21st at 8:30 PM ET on ESPN2. Bay currently sits in 12th in league standings with 4 wins, 6 draws, and 10 losses to their name. The last time these two teams faced off, Gotham had its first come-from-behind victory in 2 years, winning 2-1 despite conceding early. Bay FC has yet to find a win since a 1-0 victory against the Portland Thorns on June 7th, but the team still has plenty to fear—Zambian international Racheal Kundananji has consistently been a danger to defenses this season, with 3 goals and 3 assists to her name so far, and goalkeeper Jordan Silkowitz has been quite a shotstopper, winning 3 save of the week awards this season, including the last 2. Gotham could really use these 3 points—although the Bats sit in 3rd in standings, they are tied with 3 other teams on points, and at a moment in the season where there are only 4 points separating 3rd and 9th place with 6 games to go, every result matters.

Thumbnail courtesy of Gotham FC.