Gotham FC earns a huge road win over the Orlando Pride | OneFootball

NJ/NY Gotham FC did themselves a huge favor on Friday night, beating the Orlando Pride 2-0 on the road and snapping their four-game winless streak in NWSL play. While this result does not see them move up the table, it does mean they cannot fall out of the top eight regardless of the rest of this weekend's results. It also saw them gain two points on seventh-place Racing Louisville FC, who conceded a stoppage-time equalizer to the Houston Dash.

While the xG numbers look similar to the past few matches where they did not get the three points, they were actually outshot by Orlando and had less possession as well on Friday night. Those factors, combined with the higher xG numbers, probably signal that they had higher-quality shots, which were created by better play in the attacking third. This was a point of emphasis from head coach Juan Carlos Amorós in both his pregame press conference on Thursday as well as postgame against Utah Royals FC last week.

More importantly, Gotham caused Orlando's winless streak to continue for the sixth match in a row. This was also the third match in a row without a goal. The Pride's goal-scoring, or lack thereof, perhaps is becoming a real talking point. The NJ/NY side's clean sheet will add to the conversation.

Overall, this was one of the team's best performances of the season, and it came at a vital time. They have everything to play for in the remaining eight games. If they continue to play like they did on Friday and results elsewhere continue to go their way, then Gotham could soon find themselves potentially moving up the table rather than just securing the last playoff spot.

Two goals AND three points for Gotham FC? In this economy!?

After what was an initial 10 minutes that saw Orlando look like the more likely side to score, it was Gotham who found the back of the net first. Esther González scored her 12th of the season to retake the outright Golden Boot lead. Arguably, this was their best piece of build-up play this season. Rose Lavelle earned her first goal contribution of the year as she found González, who shot back across goal on her left foot to give the Bats their first goal in a little over 180 minutes of NWSL play.

One common complaint from fans about Gotham this season is that after they score, the ladies tend to take their foot off the gas too much and allow their opposition to immediately get back in the game. That was not the case Friday night as Gotham maintained control of the fixture for not just the following few minutes, but most of the rest of the first half as well.

Gotham then managed to score their second of the game for the first time in NWSL play since June 21 against Bay FC. Jaelin Howell managed just her second-ever NWSL goal, and it should be in the goal of the season contention. After a Geyse shot was blocked, the ball popped high into the air, and Howell caught it with a sweet left-footed rocket volley that just beat Anna Moorhouse on her near post to double the lead just before halftime.

Then, Orlando started the second half strong and very nearly scored their first of the game. Just two minutes into the second half, Ally Watt put in a great cross to Prisca Chilufya, who sent the ball over the net despite being essentially right on top of Ann-Katrin Berger. The home team continued to have chances and possession, but Gotham FC comfortably dealt with the struggling Orlando attack and kept them off the scoresheet.

Thankfully, the Bats earned a huge three points in the standings and their first win in a little more than two months. And while almost everything seemingly went right on Friday, spare a thought for Katie Stengel. Since returning to Gotham, she has had multiple chances to get her first goal, but great goalkeeping or unfortunate circumstances have kept her off the scoresheet. Unfortunately, that bad luck followed her to Orlando.

She had a chance where González found her wide open in front of the goal, but Stengel was off balance when shooting and put the ball high over the net. She then had another chance where she put Kylie Nadaner on the floor with a great fake shot, which put her 1-on-1 with Moorhouse. Unfortunately, the goalkeeper had a great save to keep Stengel goalless. For reference on how unlucky the forward was, Gotham had 1.02 xG in the second half; those two Stengel shots accounted for 0.95 of it. Simply put, she should have put a "1" on the stat sheet in the goal category.

There are a couple of notes about tonight's game. Tonight was Josefine Hasbo's first start in the NWSL and the first full 90 minutes in all competitions. And she acquitted herself well, winning the most duels in the match with nine and not looking out of place whatsoever despite her inexperience at this level. And also the midfield as a whole, with Howell and Lavelle, performed excellently tonight as a trio and might be the preferred option for Amorós moving forward.

This was also Berger's 15th clean sheet for Gotham FC, which saw her move into first place in club history. It's been a great run for Berger in the season and a half she's been in New Jersey, and she's very clearly been a key to this team's success in that time.