Shaw becomes key contributor for Gotham, says team’s identity is ‘fluidity’

It’s hard to believe that Jaedyn Shaw is still just 21 years old. It feels like she’s been around forever.

She’s had an interesting pro career, from the Wave to the Courage and now to Gotham, where it appears she’s found a home in her first full season.

Shaw was just 17 when she joined the Wave in 2022 and became the youngest player to score in her debut match. She went on to score 13 goals in all competitions in 2023 for San Diego.

Traded to North Carolina before the 2025 season, Shaw never really panned out with the Courage, scoring three goals and one assist in 19 games. She was traded to Gotham in September 2025 for a National Women’s Soccer League-record $1.25 million in intraleague transfer funds.

Shortly after she arrived in Gotham, Rose Lavelle said: “When you bring in a player like that, you’re not only bringing in somebody with already so much experience — but at the same time, I think we’ve just scratched the surface of what she can do.”

Shaw now leads the team with nine goals, including a brace over the weekend in a game against the Chicago Stars — standing out on a Gotham team loaded with superstars like Lavelle and Sam Kerr.

Gotham sits atop the league standings at 16-4-6 (54 points) and was the first team to clinch a playoff berth as the regular season winds down. The win over the Stars extended the team’s unbeaten run at home to 11 games. The Wave (15-8-3) were a spot below Gotham with 48 points.

With the performance against the Stars, Shaw became the youngest player to reach 25 goals in the regular season.

“I’m not surprised she has achieved that and got that record because the way she sees the game and the way she plays the game, it makes it special. She puts that together with being a fantastic teammate, a fantastic player to coach, a fantastic human,” Gotham coach Juan Carlos Amorós said.

It was also Shaw’s first career brace.

“I feel like two very unselfish plays are a testament to my goals today. They are team goals as well, so it is just really nice to have that as an attacker at heart,” Shaw said. “I want to score goals for the team, so it’s really nice and it’s been a long time coming. But it was really nice to get my first brace, and hopefully more to come.”

Shaw has four goals and three assists in each of her five home matches with Gotham. She addressed how she’s fitting well into Gotham’s “fluid” system.

“We call it fluidity. We’re pretty fluid in our movement, sometimes too fluid. It is something that starts on the training pitch that we’ve trained all year and haven’t wavered from it, and that’s kind of become our identity,” she said. “Again, having such world-class players on the team makes that so much easier.”

LINKS

NWSL is instituting a new player development rule

Ben Shelton was at Trinity Rodman’s match on Saturday

A look at the Columbus team’s first president

The Athletic had a nice story on Denise O’Sullivan

Spain wins the under-20 Women’s World Cup

The U-20 World Cup’s impact on Poland

NWSL adds to Ana Tejada’s suspension

The NWSL’s struggling teams are falling behind

ESPN asks if the USWNT’s talent pipeline is running dry

Disney+ criticized for ad during Champions League match

Paul Green aims to make Bay FC a contender

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Soccer: Annie Peterson, @AnnieMPeterson, AP Women’s Soccer
Tennis: Joey Dillon, @JoeyDillon, Freelance Tennis Writer
Basketball: Howard Megdal, @HowardMegdal, The IX Sports
Softball: Maren Angus-Coombs, @Maren-Angus, The IX Sports
Golf: Marin Dremock, @MDremock, The IX Sports
Hockey: @TheIceGarden, The Ice Garden
Gymnastics: Jessica Taylor Price, @jesstaylorprice, Freelance Writer