HARRISON, NJ — Defending NWSL champions Gotham FC are set to make their fourth consecutive semifinal appearance after taking down 8-seed Seattle Reign 1-0. The match was a disappointing end to league original Jess Fishlock’s career, but she remains hopeful for the future of her now-former team.
“[Gotham] have a team of highly experienced players,” she said, speaking on her opponents’ ability to close out a tight game. “We’re still learning now, because we’re a team full of young great players. They just have to learn that last little bit.”
A fourth-minute own goal from 20-year-old Reign center back Jordyn Bugg following a near-post corner delivered by Gotham midfielder Jaedyn Shaw ended up being the difference-maker in this tightly-contested, low-offense affair. Gotham, the recently-crowned 2026 NWSL Shield winners, managed zero shots on target in this unconventional win, a first for them this season as well as a first in NWSL playoff history.
Pitch problems
Part of what made this match so difficult for both sides was the quality of the pitch, described as “atrocious” by Fishlock, “sandy and unstable” by Gotham midfielder Jaelin Howell, and “not great” by Gotham defender Mandy Freeman. Most notably, Sports Illustrated Stadium hosted a pair of rugby matches a week before this match, and its effects lingered through the three soccer games that the field has hosted since.
Gotham head coach Juan Carlos Amorós went as far as to open his post-match remarks by saying, “I feel the obligation to almost apologize for the state of the pitch. At this level, in this kind of game, we should be having a better surface.” He later claimed that, “Gotham Football Club did absolutely everything in their power to make sure that [having a professional-quality pitch for this game] was the case. Unfortunately, it wasn’t.”
Seattle Reign head coach Laura Harvey mentioned that Gotham had been fined for their pitch quality following last weekend’s Decision Day victory over the Utah Royals, two days after the rugby double-header. This was later confirmed by a Gotham spokesperson.
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Gotham entered this weekend uncertain about a semifinal venue, if they were to move on in the playoffs, due to a scheduling conflict with the New York Red Bulls, whose parent company Red Bull GmbH operates Sports Illustrated Stadium. The MLS side scheduled a friendly for the evening of November 14th but refused to allow the NWSL Shield winners to play 6 hours before on the same pitch. With other results this weekend, the scheduling conflict has cleared; however, the pitch conditions forced Gotham into another venue anyway.
The club announced that their historic first-ever home semifinal match, against Kansas City Current, will be played at the 5,000-seat capacity Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island in New York City. “This was an extremely difficult decision, and one we did not take lightly,” said Yael Averbuch West, the president of soccer operations for Gotham. “Unfortunately, we were faced with a difficult situation, and at the end of the day, the game is played on the field.”
“We as a team worked extremely hard to earn a home playoff berth,” mentioned club captain Tierna Davidson. “What we got was a field that is not the standard this club, this league or our fans deserve.”
Red Bull New York, owned by the company that operates Sports Illustrated Stadium, issued the following statement on the matter: “We wish Gotham FC the best of luck in their semifinal at Icahn Stadium. We look forward to our match on Saturday at Sports Illustrated Stadium.”
Beyond the scoreline
Both teams were subject to the pitch conditions, yet only Gotham was held to zero shots on target. “It was different to last year’s playoff, I believe, which means that we’ve grown dramatically,” noted Fishlock. “We came off Orlando last year and we were like, ‘You know what, we didn’t really play very well, and they probably deserved it.’ And today we lost but we performed so well.”
In addition to limiting their opponents to their single-lowest shot on target total this season (zero), the Reign also kept Gotham to 0.16 expected goals (xG), another season low. The home team is a side that likes to press high and spend a lot of time in the opponents’ half, yet the visitors were able to limit their ball progression immensely; the Reign managed more passes into the final third as well as passes into the attacking penalty box, which does not happen often against Gotham.
When asked where her team could have done better, Shaw mentioned that they could have been “more comfortable on the ball, facing forward and just being clinical in our passes.” Seattle limited Gotham to their second-lowest passing accuracy rate of the season — and their lowest since the first week of the season — and their lowest passing accuracy in their own defensive half. Seattle pressed high and kept Gotham uncomfortable in all areas of the pitch, limiting the latter’s ability to progress the ball forward and create meaningful attack past their fourth-minute game-winner.
Fishlock’s curtain call
The Tiny Dragon herself was also a huge part of Seattle’s performance — Fishlock led the game with her four shots and 0.22 xG, more than the entire Gotham team combined. She also bagged the first shot on target of the game, forcing an early save out of goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger to preserve her team’s lead. At the very tail end of her career, Fishlock still managed to pose a considerable threat to the number one team in the league.
“Jess is a legend — she is always intimidating to play against,” noted Freeman. “I hope she feels proud of her time and her career because she does a lot not only for the club but also for women’s soccer and the NWSL specifically.”
“There’s better people, more articulate people than me that have spoken about Jess in every way,” remarked Harvey. “I’ve just been so privileged to watch the journey.”
Speaking on the journey, Fishlock said, “I’ve loved it. I’ve loved playing for Seattle. I’ve loved being in this league for fourteen years, best league in the world by a country mile.”
“It’s the end of my career but I have nothing but joy and happiness about it, you know?”
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