Gotham FC of NJ/NY and the Washington Spirit have one of the bigger rivalries in NWSL, and things usually get weird when opponents play each other for a 3rd time in a midseason tournament like the Summer Cup (NWSL/Liga MX Feminil), the women’s soccer counterpart to Leagues Cup. However this match had a much more remarkably relaxed vibe compared to what you would expect in this situation, likely due to both teams missing multiple players away playing for their countries at the Olympics in Paris. This was still far from an easy match punctuated with new history being made, yet also repeating itself. A Yazmeen Ryan penalty kick was the difference in a 1-0 victory for Gotham over Washington on Sunday at Subaru Park in Chester, normally the home of the Philadelphia Union but taken over for a day by Cloud 9 and the rest of the Gotham supporters that made the trip down the Turnpike.
The Spirit struggled to get much in the way of momentum going but did get their first shot on target off a corner kick in the 10th minute although it was easily saved by Cassie Miller. This was one of only two shots on target Washington was able to manage for the entire game. In the 18th minute Bruninha sent a shot forward that was blocked up into the air and headed by Katie Stengel towards the top of the net but it was knocked over the crossbar by Washington goalie Aubrey Kingsbury. In the 30th minute Yazmeen Ryan had another good look with a long range shot from outside the box that sailed just high over the crossbar. With neither team able to capitalize on any of those chances they finished up the first half scoreless at the Chester waterfront.
In the second half the tension in the match finally started to build up again slowly with a few more fouls starting to rack up in the first ten minutes of the half, then a corner kick in the 60th minute lit the fuse. Gotham sent the corner into the scrum where Washington was able to clear the ball out of the box but not all the way out as Nealy Martin was able to intercept the ball before the call cleared out of the Spirit’s third. Nealy sent a through ball up to Yaz Ryan who was able to dribble forward into the box but was pinned against the baseline by defender Jill Aguilera. Ryan tried to break the press and Aguilera sent her to the ground on the challenge and was whistled for the foul to set up a PK for Ryan. Ryan set up at the spot and fired her kick into the bottom left of the net to give Gotham a 1-0 lead.
Delanie Sheehan narrowly missed a second goal shortly afterwards in the 65th when her shot from close range was saved by Kingsbury. Bruninha got knocked in the leg around the 73rd minute but she remained in the game after receiving medical attention. In the 80th minute, just 11 days after Cavan Sullivan became the youngest player in MLS history entering a game at Subaru Park at 14 years and 293 days old, McKenna “Mak” Witham entered the game for Gotham. Witham signed with Gotham last week at 13 years old, just before her 14th birthday on Saturday making her just 14 years and 1 day old for her debut, shattering Sullivan’s recently set record as the youngest player in North American professional sports and the “Big Five” European soccer leagues. Unlike Sullivan, who had several cameras in his face for the entire game and had to dodge a boom mic to run onto the pitch, Witham’s achievement was far more subdued, with only one sideline videographer and a handful of reporters in the press box, realizing that I was now part of a meta geek trivia question as one of three writers (Jonathan Tannenwald of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Anthony Caruso III of the Capital Sports report) at the stadium to cover both historical events live.
Unlike the Cavan Sullivan circus, which had the profoundly strange sight of a 14 year old handling questions on the press conference with more clarity than players twice his age, Mak Witham was (mercifully, for her sake) not made available for the press.
News and notes:
- Defender Mandy Freeman tied Erica Skroski for the second-most Gotham FC starts in all competitions (regular season, playoffs, Challenge Cup, Fall Series and Summer Cup) with her 93rd. Sarah Woldmoe holds the record with 111.
- Goalkeeper Cassie Miller kept her third clean sheet in her eighth match in all competitions for Gotham FC.
- Midfielder Yazmeen Ryan scored the first Gotham FC Summer Cup goal ever, converting her first penalty kick on her first attempt in any NWSL match. Ryan has now scored in four different NWSL competitions (regular season, playoffs, Challenge Cup and Summer Cup).
- Forward Katie Stengel made her 125th appearance in all competitions, taking 5 shots, 2 on goal.
- Forward Ella Stevens appeared in her 75th NWSL game in all competitions.
- Forward Mak Whitham became the youngest player to feature in an NWSL match at 14 years and 1 day.
- Gotham FC out-shot Washington 18-4 and had edges of 34-8 in touches in the opposing box and 7-2 in corner kicks.
- Gotham FC returns home for their third and final Group Stage match at Summer Cup Friday, Aug. 2 to face Chivas de Guadalajara at Red Bull Arena (8 p.m. ET). With Washington’s 3-2 loss to Chicago on Wednesday, Gotham has clinched a top two finish in Group D and will move onto the knockout stage of Summer Cup.
JD Walker is one of the co-founders of Stream Punk Entertainment and has covered the Philadelphia Union, Big East Basketball, and New Jersey high school basketball since 2022. He has a wide-spanning career with experience in a variety of roles inside and outside the world of sports including basketball operations, gameday entertainment, promotions, broadcasting, and finance. He’s a Jersey Shore native sprung from a cage on Highway 9, and loves to geek out on the business and legal side of the games we all love.