Gotham Frustration “No Secret” After Win

Gotham FC won their first home game of the season but the players are not trying to hid their disappointment in how they started their defense of the NWSL Championship. Currently the team is ninth place with a 2-2-2 record. All of this despite going out and getting some of the best talent the women’s game has to offer. Emily Sonnett, Rose Lavelle and Crystal Dunn joined the club but their on-field struggles have persisted.

“It’s obviously no secret that we haven’t had the start to the season that we wanted,” said Lynn Williams following her game-winning performance. “I think that last game, and a couple games before, we’ve been on the front foot and we just haven’t had that final piece. I’m really proud of the group for coming out.”

Gotham dispatched a North Carolina Courage team that has only one win in their last four. Defensively they leak chances and Gotham have had issues converting even though they tend to hold the ball well. Williams’ goal in the 11th minute gave Gotham breathing room but the team couldn’t capitalize more from there. While they’ll be happy with the win, there is still a lot of work to do so that the team is where they expect themselves to be.

“I think we have a hard week coming up. We have three games in the week. I’m excited to see the depth in our bench and just the rotations that are going to happen, because we have to rotate. I’m just proud of us for getting that goal. I’m proud of myself on a personal note. I feel like I’ve been wanting this goal so bad.”

This season eight teams make the playoffs, meaning that currently Gotham are one position shy in ninth place. They’ve also played a few less games than teams above them with just six on the season. Still, the team isn’t focused on that just yet, just getting themselves back into the form that saw them make a run in the NWSL Playoffs last year.

Wednesday will start a difficult road trip for the club as they travel to Houston to play the Dash on Wednesday and then to San Diego to play the Wave. It won’t be an easy journey but head coach Juan Carlos Amoros is happy that they are going into those games with momentum.

“I feel very proud,” said head coach Amoros. “For the players and the staff to perform to get the outcome today, finally. I think the last two home games in the league we drew feelings that we probably deserved a little bit more and today we didn’t want to let that happen again.”