SAN JOSE, Calif. \u2014 All Gotham FC needed was one big moment.<\/p>\n
One perfectly timed strike in what had been a mostly balanced, physical battle against the Washington Spirit on Saturday night.<\/p>\n
That time came late in the second half.<\/p>\n
Bruninha danced with the ball waiting to attack before passing the ball across the front of the box.<\/p>\n
Rose Lavelle stepped in and took a one-time strike, sending the ball past Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury to give Gotham the 1-0 lead in the 80th minute.<\/p>\n
It was her second career goal in a championship game. <\/p>\n
Gotham FC celebrates after winning the NWSL title on Nov. 22. Getty Images<\/p>\n
Her first coincidentally came in 2023 against Gotham FC.<\/p>\n
And Lavelle\u2019s lone goal ultimately was enough to clinch Gotham\u2019s second championship in three years.<\/p>\n
Just two days prior, Midge Purce couldn\u2019t believe Lavelle, a World Cup and Olympic champion, had yet to win an NWSL title over the course of her eight seasons in the league.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s one of the only accomplishments missing from her stacked r\u00e9sum\u00e9.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoes she not have one?\u201d Purce asked a group of reporters. \u201cOh Rosie, I didn\u2019t even realize.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been playing with Rose for over 10 years,\u201d Purce continued. \u201cAnd I adore playing with her and I adore her off the field. I definitely want to lift that trophy.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Lavelle had her moment.<\/p>\n
When the final whistle blew, Jaelin Howell fell to the ground, her hands on her head in disbelief of what Gotham FC had just done.<\/p>\n
Lavelle was one of the first players to Howell. <\/p>\n
She \u2014 along with a herd of other Gotham FC players \u2014 pulled Howell onto her feet. <\/p>\n
They jumped around, screamed and cheered.<\/p>\n
It was easy to make comparisons to Gotham FC\u2019s 2023 title run to this year\u2019s postseason.<\/p>\n
Gotham FC defender Bruninha celebrates after winning the NWSL title on Nov. 22. Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
Two years ago, Gotham FC earned the final playoff spot and penned a magical Cinderella story to win the franchise\u2019s first championship.<\/p>\n
Similar to that run, Gotham clinched the eighth and final seed in this year\u2019s field.<\/p>\n
But Gotham felt and looked very different this time around.<\/p>\n
There weren\u2019t many holdovers from that 2023 team. <\/p>\n
The roster had seen a lot of turnover over the past two seasons as the team shored up its depth.<\/p>\n
Gotham FC may have been disappointed \u2014 even frustrated \u2014 that they failed to secure better seeding at the end of the 2025 regular season. <\/p>\n
Gotham FC celebrates after winning the NWSL title on Nov. 22. Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
And sure, outsiders may have been quick to write them off, especially considering the path back to the NWSL championship was steep.<\/p>\n
But it didn\u2019t deter Gotham FC.<\/p>\n
They went to Kansas City and knocked off the runaway Shield winners in the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n
Then, they traveled to Orlando and topped the defending champion Pride in the semifinals before beating the Spirit Saturday.<\/p>\n
Underdogs?<\/p>\n
More like top dogs.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what Gotham FC proved Saturday night.<\/p>\n
Gotham FC celebrates after a goal against the Washington Spirit on Nov. 22. AP<\/p>\n
It was fitting that Gotham\u2019s last battle was against the Spirit, who ended their pursuit of back-to-back titles in last year\u2019s semifinals.<\/p>\n
This match was personal.<\/p>\n
The Spirit and Gotham know each other well. <\/p>\n
No teams had played each other more in league history than these two.<\/p>\n
Gotham\u2019s press had the Spirit on their heels in the first half. <\/p>\n
They were aggressive but intentional, and frustrated Washington with their attack.<\/p>\n
Jaedyn Shaw fired off several shots early. Esther Gonz\u00e1lez found the back of the net within the first five minutes, too, but it was waved off because of offsides.<\/p>\n
The battle got physical and, at times, fiery.<\/p>\n
The game was scoreless at halftime.<\/p>\n
Rose Lavelle celebrates after her NWSL title-clinching goal in Gotham FC\u2019s 1-0 win over the Spirit on Nov. 22, 2025. AP<\/p>\n
Emily Sonnett put her body on the line early in the second half as she slid to stop Leicy Santos\u2019 goal attempt in front of Gotham\u2019s net like a hockey player.<\/p>\n
Gonz\u00e1lez fired a rocket but it was into Kingsbury\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n
Then Bruninha found Lavelle for the win.<\/p>\n
The exciting prospect for Gotham FC is that they\u2019re well equipped to keep this championship window wide open for years to come.<\/p>\n
Juan Carlos Amor\u00f3s \u2014 only the fourth NWSL coach to win multiple titles \u2014 is locked in through 2029 after signing a contract extension earlier this year.<\/p>\n
Shaw, Lavelle, Ann-Katrin Berger, Gonz\u00e1lez and Lilly Reale are all expected to be back, too, according to Spotrac\u2019s database.<\/p>\n
But the future doesn\u2019t matter quite yet. <\/p>\n
Gotham FC want to bask in the present and savor this sweet win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE, Calif. \u2014 All Gotham FC needed was one big moment. One perfectly timed strike in what…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49069,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[19202,9,11,10,27660,400,319],"class_list":{"0":"post-49068","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-gotham-fc","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-headlines","11":"tag-new-york-news","12":"tag-rose-lavelle","13":"tag-soccer","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}