Match Preview: Washington Spirit vs. Gotham FC
Audi Field | Washington, D.C. – Saturday, September 17 at 7:00 PM ET
Players to watch:
Washington Spirit forward Ashley Hatch successfully converted a game-winning penalty against San Diego in the 100th minute of a regular season game, 10 minutes into stoppage time. It’s the latest game-winning goal in any NWSL match, including playoffs, that did not go into extra time. The goal served as Hatch’s eighth goal of the year and the second from the penalty spot. Also up front and impactful have been fellow playmakers Trinity Rodman and Ashley Sanchez, with Rodman adding four goals and Sanchez chipping in two goals and five assists.
Gotham midfielder McCall Zerboni played in her 185th NWSL regular season match on Sunday, second only to Lauren Barnes (186) in NWSL history. Including the playoffs, Zerboni has appeared in 194 NWSL matches, one more than Barnes for most in league history. Though Gotham has failed to score in their last two games, the previous four were all marked by a different goalscorer with defender Taylor Smith, Zerboni, midfielder Sam Mewis and midfielder Paige Monaghan all finding the back of the net.
Match facts: The Washington Spirit host Gotham FC at Audi Field on Saturday night in the first of four games across the league and the only game of the night airing exclusively on Twitch worldwide.
Coming off a massive confidence boosting win are the Spirit, who won their first game since winning their season opener against OL Reign in May, as they defeated San Diego in a 4-3 thriller. The result snapped a 16-game winless streak which stands as the longest run of games between wins in a single season for any team in NWSL history. The club’s four-goal performance is its only of the season, and only the second team they had scored three or more all year.
Gotham, meanwhile, has won just once in its last 13 games (L12), which ties the most losses in a 13-game span in a single season in the league (Washington, 2013). Gotham has conceded at least one goal in each of those 13 games, with the last time the club kept a clean sheet coming against Washington in June.
Coincidentally, that clean sheet is also the last time these two have been as Gotham defeated Washington, 1-0, at home. In the last 10 league meetings between the Spirit and Gotham dating back to 2017, only one game has been decided by more than one goal, which was a 2-0 win for Gotham when visiting Washington in April 2019.
