Rose Lavelle’s magic gives Gotham an NWSL championship that once seemed inevitable | OneFootball

When Rose Lavelle won the World Cup with the US in 2019, she did so by scoring the decisive goal. Six years, three club transfers, and nearly 100 national team caps later, she secured her first NWSL title in similar style.

The playmaker made the difference for Gotham FC in a tense final on Saturday, taking advantage of a rare scoring chance and placing her shot to the far corner in a 1-0 victory over the Washington Spirit. The strike was a rare moment of attacking incisiveness in a match between two of the league’s fiercest rivals, with Gotham capitalizing on a period of indecision by Spirit manager Adrián González.

“Oh my gosh. It’s so surreal,” Lavelle told the CBS broadcast after the whistle.

Gotham has now won two of the last three NWSL Championships, with Lavelle having been on the wrong side of the club’s first triumph over the Seattle Reign in 2023. On that occasion, Gotham was an undeniable underdog, clinching a playoff berth on the final day and riding the mid-season acquisition of World Cup champion Esther González to a surprising title.

In 2025, a late-season swoon put Gotham in a similar spot. Four straight defeats to close the season sunk the New York/New Jersey club to the eighth and final spot in the bracket. Many were quick to brand Gotham as the long shot once again. This summer’s headline signing, Jaedyn Shaw, offered a memorable rebuttal – “underdog, my ass” – that has since doubled as the club’s rallying cry.

It wasn’t just the momentary delusion that most teams need to earn a trophy. It was a reminder that just 18 months ago, many saw Gotham as a superteam, and a title like today’s as inevitable.

Lavelle left Seattle for Gotham shortly after that 2023 final, arriving in a winter transfer window along with three of her United States teammates: Emily Sonnett, Crystal Dunn, and Tierna Davidson. The hope was to build Juan Carlos Amorós’ side into a dynasty.

Instead, all four players featured little in 2024, missing significant time and training reps as the United States won Olympic gold. Even when the full superteam was assembled, their game model seldom progressed with an ideal flow. Nevertheless, Gotham reached the 2024 semi-final before falling to the Spirit, who harnessed the power of “rowdy” Audi Field to win an epic penalty shootout.

The home-field advantage couldn’t be replicated this time around at a neutral-site final. With both teams flung across the country to San Jose, Saturday’s match saw them hold their ground in front of a sold out, if oddly pleasant for an occasion like this, crowd at PayPal Park.

Intrigue escalated once Trinity Rodman checked in for the Spirit in the 55th minute. The US star was limited to nine starts this year due to persistent back issues, and had been kept out in recent weeks by a sprained knee – recovering in time for a crucial late game cameo. Just as she was integrating into the attack, though, Spirit defensive midfielder Hal Hershfelt suffered a leg injury that left her on the ground for several minutes before limping to the sideline. Rather than replacing her, the Spirit played shorthanded until Hershfelt attempted a gutsy return to the pitch.

One minute later, Gotham pushed a counter up the right channel that Hershfelt was tasked to patrol, overwhelming the hobbled midfielder and leaving the Spirit’s defense out of shape after it blocked an initial shot. Lavelle scurried on to the ball with yards of open terrain to set up her shot and curled it perfectly between goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury’s reach and the far post.

Gonzalez immediately replaced Hershfelt before play resumed, albeit a decisive moment too late.

It was a goal forged from the kind of space and time that the great ones find on the biggest occasions, far easier than their mortal peers. With one left-footed stroke, Gotham’s dynastic dreams are back on track.

The 90 minutes offered little reprieve for a Spirit team that was under constant duress throughout 2025. Washington’s locker room was surprised mid-season when head coach Jonatan Giráldez – formerly of FC Barcelona – departed in June for another of owner Michele Kang’s clubs, eight-time European champion OL Lyonnes. Around the same time, Rodman exited the team to treat her back. Soon after she returned, she suffered that MCL sprain.

Questions about Rodman’s future heightened, as she starred in an off-field subplot over the last two weeks as teams in Europe pursue her signature as she nears free agency at year’s end. Reports sprung that the Spirit were meeting with NWSL brass in hopes of loosening the league’s salary cap, trying to find a way to keep a player who could doubtlessly earn more by leaving her domestic league.

The final minutes of stoppage provided another unfortunate turning point. After the league had gone all-in on promoting its game around the star it’s desperate to retain, Rodman was left face-down in the final minute clutching her back after contact. Questions about her back and contract alike will carry into the weeks and months to come.

For now, the Spirit will be left wondering what could have been had they been quicker to replace Herschfelt. Gotham, now the league’s fourth two-time champion at their rival’s expense, will run it back in 2026.

Header image: [Photograph: Eakin Howard/NWSL/Getty Images]