Tag: Gotham FC

Lavelle provides injury update as USWNT star awaits Gotham FC debut

The USWNT star has now been sidelined more than a month with a leg injury

Rose Lavelle was one of several U.S. women’s national team stars who joined Gotham FC as marquee offseason additions.

But unlike Tierna Davidson, Emily Sonnett and Crystal Dunn, the playmaker has not yet stepped on the field wearing the Gotham crest.

Lavelle hasn’t played since the W Gold Cup, where she featured in all six of the USWNT’s matches as it lifted the regional title.

The 28-year-old has been sidelined with what the NWSL availability report calls a lower leg injury, missing the Challenge Cup and all three of Gotham’s regular season games thus far.

As her absence stretches past a month, Lavelle gave an update on her progress during a media event in New York marking 100 days until the Olympics begin.

“I’m doing good — I’m hoping I’ll be back in the next couple weeks,” Lavelle said in quotes published on the Philadelphia Inquirer.

“It’s frustrating to start the year off with an injury, just because I feel like you come off preseason and you’re revving to go, so it’s so annoying.”

Last month, interim USWNT coach Twila Kilgore called Lavelle’s absence from the SheBelieves Cup roster “mostly a preventative measure in terms of taking care of her health.”

Kilgore has coached her final game for the USWNT, as she moves back to an assistant role ahead of Emma Hayes’ arrival next month.

With the Olympics kicking off soon and Hayes facing some tough decisions to cut her roster down to just 18 players, Lavelle knows time is of the essence.

“The strength of our team is there in so much depth, so unfortunately that means really good players are going to get left off too,” she said.  “And I think for all of us, it’s just about being ready for whatever role is given to us, embracing that, and looking to put it into a collective picture so that we can go into the Olympics ready to go.”

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USWNT, Gotham FC winger Midge Purce confirms torn ACL

Purce will likely miss the rest of the 2024 season, including the Olympics

USWNT and NJ/NY Gotham FC winger Midge Purce has suffered a torn ACL, ending her hopes of participating in this summer’s Olympics.

Purce suffered the injury in Gotham’s 1-0 win over the Portland Thorns on Sunday. The 28-year-old was not named to the USWNT roster for the SheBelieves Cup, which was announced two days after she suffered the injury.

Purce departed the match in first-half stoppage time, moments after falling awkwardly after trying to dribble away from Sophia Smith.

However, an 11th minute collision with Sam Coffey may also be involved, with Purce showing clear signs of pain and being consoled by members of both teams. Purce returned after three minutes of treatment from that incident, but after the second incident could be heard on ESPN2’s broadcast telling the Gotham bench “I’m out, I’m out” before being substituted.

In a statement posted on her social media channels, Purce announced the news herself.

“I’ve torn my ACL. It’s a reality I’m still struggling with and has left me with not too much to say,” wrote the Maryland native. “I’m heartbroken to no longer be available for my season with Gotham FC or for Olympic selection with the USWNT — know I’m rooting for you both all year long.

“Though you may not see it, I’ll be doing everything I can to get back on the field. Like my Dad always says, ‘You gotta put a little grind behind that prayer.'”

Gotham head coach Juan Carlos Amorós expressed his dismay over the timing of the recent Concacaf W Gold Cup, which Purce participated in, linking the competition to injuries on his own squad as well as elsewhere in the NWSL.

“We’re talking about protecting the players, [who shouldn’t] go to play an international competition after one week of preseason,” Amorós said after the match. “We’ve seen the consequences now. We’ve got Rose [Lavelle], Lynn [Williams], last week it was Debinha in Kansas [City], and now we have Midge.”

Lavelle and Williams both participated in the W Gold Cup final on March 10, but have not played since. Lavelle’s prognosis is unknown beyond being a lower-leg issue, while on the Good Vibes FC podcast she co-hosts with former USWNT midfielder Sam Mewis, Williams said she won’t be out for very long with what she called a hamstring strain.

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Injured Lavelle misses USWNT roster for SheBelieves Cup

The playmaker returned from the W Gold Cup carrying a leg injury

Rose Lavelle was omitted from the U.S. women’s national team SheBelieves Cup roster due to injury, interim head coach Twila Kilgore said.

Lavelle appeared in all six of the USWNT’s games at the W Gold Cup, starting three times. The playmaker returned from the competition with an injury, however, and has missed out on the Challenge Cup and the first regular season game with NJ/NY Gotham FC.

The NWSL’s availability report lists Lavelle as suffering from a lower leg injury.

In a call with the media after the roster was released on Tuesday, Kilgore indicated that the injury was minor and Lavelle’s absence is precautionary.

“Rose was left off the roster due to injury, she’s not available,” Kilgore said. “Rose is somebody that has played a major role with the team in the past and is capable of continuing to play a major role for us in the future.

“Her minutes were limited at Gold Cup due to health and safety concerns for her and the team — most players being in preseason and things like that. We just hope that she has a speedy recovery, which I’m sure she will. This is mostly a preventative measure in terms of taking care of her health, which is exciting because we do anticipate that she would be available later for selections.”

Lavelle struggled with injury for most of 2023, as she played just four regular season games with OL Reign and eight times for the USWNT. She did recover in time to be fit for the 2023 World Cup as well as the 2023 NWSL playoffs, where she helped OL Reign reach the final.

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Gotham FC coach Amoros fumes at Gold Cup timing after Purce injury

Three of Gotham’s USWNT contingent are now injured after playing at the Gold Cup

NJ/NY Gotham FC head coach Juan Carlos Amorós expressed his frustration with the timing of the 2024 W Gold Cup after he lost yet another U.S. women’s national team player to injury.

Gotham forward Midge Purce left Sunday’s 1-0 win over the Portland Thorns with a knee injury, joining her USWNT and Gotham teammates Rose Lavelle and Lynn Williams on the injured list.

All three played for the USWNT as it won the inaugural W Gold Cup, which ran from February 20 to March 10. At issue for Amorós is the tournament’s placement right in the middle of the NWSL’s preseason, when players are not yet fully up to speed fitness-wise.

“We lost Midge during the game which for me is a bittersweet flavor,” Amorós told reporters after Sunday’s game. “By the way, it’s another player that came from the Gold Cup. Last week, it was Debinha. We are paying the consequences of a tournament that shouldn’t have happened.”

Last week, the Kansas City Current confirmed that Debinha would miss a handful of games with a hamstring problem, having suffered the injury after returning from Gold Cup duty with Brazil.

Amorós said he was unsure of the severity of Purce’s injury, with the 28-year-old forward set to undergo tests. While he doesn’t know the extent of the injury, Amorós had no doubt as to its cause.

“We’re talking about protecting the players, [who shouldn’t] go to play an international competition after one week of preseason,” Amorós said. “We’ve seen the consequences now. We’ve got Rose, Lynn, last week it was Debinha in Kansas [City] and now we have Midge. From my experience, the clubs are going to keep paying for that competition. Unfortunately, in this case, it was Midge and I hope it’s not too serious.”

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Alex Morgan chalks NWSL Challenge Cup-winning goal to ‘longest offseason I’ve had’

Morgan said focusing on her craft in an unusually long offseason helped her get the winner for the San Diego Wave

HARRISON, N.J. — Even at this point in a glittering career dating back over a decade, Alex Morgan is preaching the values of good old-fashioned practice.

Before a crowd of 14,000 at Red Bull Arena on Friday, Morgan’s late header gave the San Diego Wave a smash-and-grab 1-0 win over NJ/NY Gotham FC in the 2024 NWSL Challenge Cup.

The U.S. women’s national team star was part of the side that won the inaugural Concacaf W Gold Cup just five days before the Challenge Cup, which is now a one-off curtain-raiser between the defending league champions (Gotham) and the NWSL Shield winner (San Diego) held a day before the NWSL regular season commences.

Between some early-season imprecision and the heavy legs of national team players on both sides (Morgan was one of nine USWNT players to suit up on the day), it was a game long on defensive organization and grit, and short on attacking threats at either end of the pitch.

San Diego ended up being credited with just seven shot attempts, but Morgan used a combination of strength and veteran savvy to shed her markers on an 88th minute corner, heading home the game’s only goal.

Speaking to reporters in a post-game mixed zone, Morgan insisted that one could draw a direct line between her game-winner and what she called “probably the longest offseason that I’ve had.”

“Just personally, I feel like I worked really hard this offseason,” said the 34-year-old striker. “Took the rest I needed, and then really built from that, worked on the things I wanted to — I needed to — work on, that I don’t get to throughout the season. So it feels good, being able to execute the things that I wanted to, and go out and help my team.”

Morgan was open about focusing on a lifting program designed for injury prevention after missing time in 2023. That was followed by position-specific work that came even as she was left off of the USWNT’s December roster and was only a late call-up for the W Gold Cup after Mia Fishel suffered a torn ACL.

“It was a lot of back-to-goal stuff, quick release, in and around the box,” said Morgan. “Things like a fake shot, or getting a couple inches in the box and and taking advantage of that.

“And then, a lot of crosses. I trained a lot with Kristen McNabb and some other [Wave] teammates in the offseason, they were whipping in a lot of crosses. And so, on the corner, the goal tonight, [it] was just a result of a lot of the heading that I was doing in the offseason.”

If you ask Morgan, all that work sharpened her in front of goal, but also kept her ready for the surprise U.S. recall.

“Going into the [W Gold Cup] last minute definitely put a little bit of a kink in things, but I felt really ready. I felt game-fit and ready to play,” explained Morgan.

“As much as it seemed like a whirlwind from the outside, I just felt like it was just something that I needed to kind of expect. You know, expect the unexpected. So, just having an opportunity to win two championships and being able to accomplish that in one week? I mean, it’s pretty wild.”

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NJ/NY Gotham FC vs. San Diego Wave: How to watch NWSL Challenge Cup, live stream

The 2024 NWSL season kicks off at Red Bull Arena on Friday night

The NWSL season’s official kickoff comes on Friday night, when NJ/NY Gotham FC hosts the San Diego Wave in the 2024 Challenge Cup.

While the Challenge Cup used to be an in-season tournament, it is now a one-off match that will kick off the campaign.

Gotham FC, the defending NWSL champion will host the Wave, the defending NWSL Shield winner, before the NWSL regular season starts on Saturday.

The home side added a host of U.S. national team stars over the offseason, with Crystal Dunn, Rose Lavelle, Tierna Davidson, and Emily Sonnett all joining. Lavelle, along with fellow USWNT attacker Lynn Williams, will miss this match for the Bats with injury.

Featuring USWNT talent like Alex Morgan, Naomi Girma and Jaedyn Shaw, the Wave will one again be expected to be near the top of the table in 2024.

Here is everything you need to know ahead of the match.

NJ/NY Gotham FC vs. San Diego Wave (NWSL Challenge Cup)

  • When: Friday, March 15
  • Where: Red Bull Arena (Harrison, N.J.)
  • Time: 8 p.m. ET
  • Channel/streaming: Prime Video

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NWSL Weekend Take-Off: Pure chaos takes hold as Portland Thorns retake league lead

Nothing is ever what it seems in the NWSL

Does anyone want to win the NWSL Shield this season?

That’s the question at this point, after first place exchanged hands yet again. In the last 11 rounds of games, we’ve woken up on Monday with a new team atop the table eight different times. The Portland Thorns’ triumph over Cascadia rivals OL Reign, coupled with the San Diego Wave stumbling against a Kansas City Current side that kicked off in last place, gave us yet another change in the race for the Shield.

Let’s take a quick look at this insightful video that explains how this entire season has felt.

The Thorns do appear to be this season’s “best” team, whether you approach it from the eyeball test, data, or results. Portland can hit heights no one else can hit, and have shaken off Sophia Smith’s injury thanks to Best XI candidate Morgan Weaver.

However, as impressive as the Thorns can be, there are only 11 points separating Portland from the Chicago Red Stars in 12th. A team that hasn’t won a regular season game since June has nonetheless stayed above the playoff line all season. There are three rounds of games to go, and no one has been eliminated or clinched a postseason berth.

NWSL chaos, never change.

NWSL Weekend Take-Off: Playoff race tension grows after Racing Louisville, Angel City both win

No team can ever relax in the NWSL

The NWSL is built to ensure late-season drama.

There’s no other conclusion to reach after another weekend that could have blown the standings wide open instead drew the entire table closer together. For the second time in recent weeks, the schedule set things up for the top six to largely push the bottom six adrift. Four of the six games over the weekend paired a team in a playoff position up against a team on the outside looking in.

And just like last time, the results largely skewed towards a tighter, more tense race. Racing Louisville and Angel City FC got big wins to keep pace, the Washington Spirit had a surprising stumble at home, and the only match between teams in playoff position ended up somehow being a bonkers 3-3 draw.

With four games to play, the gap from top to bottom is only 11 points. The teams in seventh and eighth are within six points of first. If you pull up Google’s NWSL standings and look over at the “last five” column, you’ll see more red X images signaling a loss for the teams in the top six (12) than in the bottom six (eight).

The seatbelt sign for this NWSL season should be flashing, because we’re about to have a turbulent landing.

NWSL Weekend Take-Off: Sophia Smith injury looms as playoff pressure ramps up

Bad news for Portland, while Angel City picked up a huge win

The NWSL regular season returned from its World Cup slumber last week, but with several big names not truly ready to come back just yet, it was only this past weekend where the league felt truly “back.”

There were major developments: multiple draws for teams in the top six, paired with Angel City’s win over OL Reign, breathed life into the race for the final playoff spots. However, we’d be remiss if we didn’t start off with the league-wide show of support for Jenni Hermoso and the players of Spain’s World Cup-winning national team.

“Contigo Jenni” was on wrist tape all over the league, while fans — and not only those in supporters’ groups — brought banners reading the same. This is a league that knows all too well how vital it is to push abusive figures out of the game, and the resumption of club play isn’t going to mean the issues with Luis Rubiales, Jorge Vilda, and their enablers in Spain are going to be pushed aside.

That said, a different unfortunate piece of news bubbled up this weekend, with Sophia Smith suffering a knee injury of (as yet) unknown severity. An injury to the runaway MVP favorite is hardly the news anyone out there wanted, and it could change the entire complexion of this season’s stretch run.

Let’s sort through the good and the bad:

World Cup champion Esther Gonzalez signs with Gotham FC

A brand-new World Cup winner is coming to the NWSL

A current World Cup champion is coming to the NWSL.

Spain forward Esther González has signed with NJ/NY Gotham FC, with the club announcing that the 30-year-old has signed a contract running through the 2025 NWSL season (along with a “mutual option” for 2026).

“I am excited and honored to join Gotham FC, one of the top clubs in the NWSL,” said Gonzalez. “As I continue my journey in football, I look forward to my next challenge in a competitive league where I will face the best players in the world in every game.”

González’s arrival isn’t that much of a surprise, as Gotham captain Ali Krieger effectively announced the move on a Men in Blazers watch-along during the World Cup.

González comes to Gotham from Real Madrid, where she scored 39 goals in two seasons. That total makes her the all-time leading goalscorer for the club’s women’s team, which officially came online in 2020.

With Spain, González has 42 caps, scoring 26 times. González captained Spain in two games at the World Cup, scoring against Costa Rica in the group stage.

“[González] is clinical in and around the box, and the weight of her experience accompanied with her skillset will provide a tremendous complement to the great players on our roster,” Gotham FC general manager Yael Averbuch West said in a press release.

“We are excited to welcome Esther González and the quality that she will bring to the team,” added head coach Juan Carlos Amorós. “She fits well into our attractive style of play; she is a winner who works tirelessly on the press for the team, and she has an unbelievable hunger for goals and trophies.”

González is expected to join the team once she acquires her U.S. visa and other paperwork.

Competing for top internationals an important step for NWSL

González’s arrival is an indicator that NWSL clubs (or at least, those clubs with ambition, resources, and connections abroad) see the wisdom in diversifying their player pool. Gotham is a really straightforward example, with Amorós’ arrival followed within months by compatriots in the form of González and another recent signing, Maitane López.

For Gotham, the appeal is clear: González projects as the team’s No. 9, especially with Katie Stengel only being on a short-term loan from Liverpool. With Lynn Williams and Midge Purce to either side, and Ifeoma Onumonu and Yazmeen Ryan pushing hard for minutes as well, the Bats are going to be a major threat going forward.

The move may also be the highest-profile signing in a steadily growing trend around the league. The days of NWSL clubs recruiting coaches and general managers from youth and college soccer are fading, and connections to other strong women’s soccer nations are starting to bear fruit.

Right alongside Gotham, the Washington Spirit have added three players with caps for France not long after owner Michele Kang completed a move to purchase Olympique Lyon’s women’s team. The Orlando Pride are now up to four Brazilian players, while the North Carolina Courage have added two more Japanese players in recent weeks, going up to three.

Being able to sign players of González’s caliber — again, this woman just won the World Cup a few days ago — is a major way that a “modern” NWSL team is going to differentiate itself and potentially win things. International players had somewhat faded in prominence in recent years, with only five players born outside of the U.S. and Canada making the last three Best XIs, but the pendulum appears to be swinging in the other direction.

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