Match Preview: NJ/NY Gotham FC vs. Portland Thorns FC
Exploria Stadium | Orlando, Florida – Sunday, September 25 at 4:00 PM ET
Players to watch:
Gotham forward Paige Monaghan is the only Gotham player to play in all 21 of the team’s regular season games this season but has been subbed off in 15 of those. Monaghan is tied for the most times having been substituted out of a match in NWSL this season with CeCe Kizer (10 times for the Current, 5 times for Racing Louisville. In addition, Monaghan and teammate Midge Purce are tied at the top of the team’s scoring charts (three goals).
Portland midfielder Taylor Porter scored her third goal of the season in the win over Chicago, becoming the sixth Thorns player with at least three goals in 2022. Portland is the first NWSL team to have six different players with three or more goals in the same season since the Courage in 2018 (eight players). Leading the way in scoring is forward Sophia Smith, whose 12 goals on the year are good enough for second in the Golden Boot race.
Match facts: Gotham FC hosts Portland Thorns FC at Red Bull Arena in the first of four games on Saturday night as part of the league’s final regular season weekend. Though the hosts are out of the playoff picture, a win for the visitors would guarantee them the Shield, even though it is still possible for the Thorns to achieve that with a draw or loss depending on other results.
With its 3-0 loss to North Carolina on Saturday, Gotham became the first team since the Spirit in 2018 to be shutout in five consecutive matches. Gotham has 17 losses in 21 NWSL games this season (W4 D0) and will need a result against the Thorns to avoid the most losses in a single season in NWSL history.
The visiting Portland, after a 3-0 win over the Red Stars on Sunday, now sits at the top of the NWSL table heading into the final weekend with 38 points and a goal differential of +25, an impressive achievement. There have been three times in NWSL history that a team has finished with a GD of higher than +20, the Courage in 2018 (+36) and 2019 (+31) as well as the Reign in 2014 (+30).
Since the start of the 2018 season, Portland is unbeaten against Gotham in league play (W6 D4) and also won the 2021 Challenge Cup Final against them after a penalty kick shootout. The only team with a longer active unbeaten run against a single club in league play is the Reign, who are 12 straight unbeaten against Orlando.
