Gotham FC extends winning streak to four with victory over Kansas City Current
After an early scare, NJ/NY Gotham FC fought back to earn the 2-1 victory over the Kansas City Current, extending their unbeaten run to eight games and the winning streak to four. This result sees the team remain the pace-setters in NWSL play as they keep their top-of-the-table spot even with their rivals still to play this weekend.
While the goal given up means their clean-sheet run of 308 minutes comes to an end, the three points earned are the main prize, and the Bats earned all three from yet another game. This is also their 13th win of the regular season, and with 10 games to go, their 2025 record of 17 wins is definitely within striking distance.
Meanwhile, Kansas City's rocky form continues thanks to the Bats. Scoring first and not coming away with at least a point is most definitely going to be a point of contention and frustration for everyone at the Current, but it also continues their slide down the table with just two wins from eight games.
This also marks Gotham's first-ever victory over the Current in the NWSL regular season and keeps them firmly at the top of the table. The gap is now up to seven points, with the Washington Spirit yet to play this week. Regardless of their result, the NJ/NY side will at the very least retain their four-point advantage.
An early stumbling block does not stop Gotham FC
The match got started with one of the fastest goals in league history. Rookie Amelia White got on the end of a fantastic through ball from Croix Bethune and scored her second goal of the season just 24 seconds in. This was Bethune's ninth assist of the season, putting her in sole possession of first place in the assist leaderboard.
The lead was relatively short-lived. In the 13th minute, Midge Purce got on the end of a loose ball in the Current box and slotted home with a low first-time finish. Seven minutes later, Ann-Katrin Berger made a fantastic save in close on Haley Hopkins to keep the blossoming back-and-forth affair alive.
In the 27th minute, there was chaos in Gotham's box. After the ball went out for a corner, Elizabeth Ball received a red card for a shove on Jordynn Dudley. This stemmed from a coming together where it looked like Kayla Sharples may have lightly kicked-stepped on Dudley, with the Gotham rookie retaliating with a kick-out. VAR intervened and downgraded the red to a yellow for Ball. In all honesty, that was a pretty tame outcome from a sequence that could have seen all three of the players involved sent off.
The pool reporter of this game, Sean Hartnett of South Ward Central, got an answer to the reason for the reversal. Per the Professional Referee Organization, "The red card issued to Kansas City defender Elizabeth Ball has been rescinded because the force used to push the opponent was not with excessive force or brutality. The push was judged to be reckless in nature, and a yellow card was shown. No further disciplinary action was taken against any other players involved in the mass confrontation, as none of their actions rose to the level of misconduct.”
Nevertheless, Gotham took the lead in the 41st minute after a White cross went just behind Hopkins at one end, and the home side went up the other end. Savannah McCaskill found Jaedyn Shaw on the left side, where she made a player miss with a cut into the box, slid a pass over to Sam Kerr, who neatly tucked the ball into the goal to give Gotham a 2-1 lead going into halftime. That was her 31st in a Sky Blue/Gotham FC shirt, making her the club's all-time leading goal scorer.
Five minutes into the second half, the Bats very nearly suffered an unfortunate own goal. Tierna Davidson stretched across to block a KC cross, and the bounce off her foot fooled everyone and slowly rolled off the far post. Gotham then thought they had made it 3-1 on Jaelin Howell's first goal of the season.
Dudley received an outlet pass down the right wing where she first bulldozed past Sharples, then picked up the rebound from her blocked pass into the box, created space for herself before setting up Howell for a first-time finish at the top of the box.
Everything looked fine with the goal, but VAR spotted an offside on Kerr. Per the referee, via Hartnett, the official reasoning behind disallowing the goal was as follows: "Gotham attacker Sam Kerr was in an offside position when the shot was taken. Her positioning interfered with the goalkeeper’s ability to see and play the ball. As a result, the goal was disallowed for offside, specifically by interfering with an opponent."
From that point on, it was very similar to last week's game against San Diego Wave FC, where the Batas managed to shut up shop. After the second goal, Gotham conceded just one long-range shot that did not even hit the target.
Things then got interesting in stoppage time when Kansas City had a fast break with Debinha running in on goal. Behind the play, second-half sub Penelope Hocking made an off-the-ball shoulder check on Howell that very clearly caught the Gotham midfielder off guard.
The midfielder stayed down for a moment before popping back up and immediately getting on Hocking, with Kerr doing the same. It was a completely unnecessary play by the Current forward, who stopped what was one of their best attacking moves of the second half, with a real chance to equalize. This screamed of frustration from the Current player.
This probably stemmed partly from scoring less than 30 seconds in and not coming away with points from the game. It might also be due to the dust-up involving Ball, Dudley, and Sharples. Maybe it was last season's playoff loss after KC's historic 2025 regular season.
Yes, Kansas City did win the first matchup between the two this season, but the Current have only managed two wins from eight matches post-summer break. Gotham FC took advantage of this but also played well.
