The NWSL Playoffs have started off with a bang. The No. 1 Kansas City Current came into their matchup with No. 8 Gotham FC as arguably the best team in league history and favorites to win the championship. But the New York/New Jersey-based club had other plans as they walked away with an impressive 2-1 victory.
With both teams playing without their injured top stars, the NWSL's two leading scorers in reigning MVP Temwa Chawinga for the Current and Esther González for Gotham, the contest seemed a little less predictable and more evenly matched.
Forward Jaedyn Shaw put the first point on the scoreboard in the 68th minute, which held as the only goal of the game until KC Current winger Ellie Wheeler scored in the seventh minute of stoppage time. Wheeler's goal became the latest equalizer in NWSL playoff history and forced extra time, but it wasn't enough to stop Shaw from assisting on Katie Stengel's game-winner in the 121st minute.
Shaw, who Gotham just acquired in September for an intraleague-record $1.25 million, explained after the contest that she enjoyed subverting the odds with her teammates. “It's been so fun being a part of this club,” Shaw said. “I think just coming into this game, we all knew that we were going to come into this game and give everything that we had.”
As the reigning Concacaf titleholders and NWSL champs just two years ago, Gotham may have come into the postseason as the strongest eighth seed the league has ever seen despite ending the regular season on a four-game losing streak and clinching their last-place spot at the last minute. And that's a fact that Shaw was very well aware of.
“We're not an eighth-place team,” Shaw asserted. “I'm sorry, but underdog, my a**. We are not an underdog.”
On the other side, the NWSL-best Current weren't able to avenge last season's heartbreaking semifinal loss to the eventual champion Orlando Pride. The absence of Chawinga, as well as forward Michelle Cooper, was too much to overcome.
“If there was even a slight chance for Temwa to play the game, even one minute, she was probably going to be on the field,” Current head coach Vlatko Andonovski confirmed. “[But by Saturday morning,] it was obvious that [we'd be] risking [a] bigger injury.”
However, the Current aren't allowing two straight years of disappointing endings define their identity as a team.
“I've been saying this for two years,” Andonovski added. “We're not here to have one good season and go away. We're not here to have a couple of good games and go away. We're here to stay. This club is going to be here, and we'll make sure that we make a mark every season.”
Gotham FC will take on the No. 3 Pride in a semifinal battle between the NWSL's last two champions.
