Gotham ride excellent role players to win first-ever NWSL Shield with playoff run, title defense in sights originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
HARRISON, NJ— Every NWSL fan knows that Rose Lavelle and Jaedyn Shaw provide the star power for defending NWSL champions Gotham FC, but the club's first-ever NWSL Shield came thanks to much more than the dynamic duo.
Their clinching 2-0 victory over Utah Royals was a perfect example of that dynamic, as Gotham finished three points clear at the top of the NWSL table at the end of the 2026 regular season.
Needing a win or draw to secure the regular season title, a goal from unheralded iron woman Guro Reiten provided the offensive firepower, while the midfield did the rest. Midseason acquisition Denise O'Sullivan and substitute Savannah McCaskill were excellent in the engine room, with McCaskill coming on to replace an injured Jaelin Howell midway through the first half.
McCaskill just the other day told The Sporting News "I just want to win. I will do whatever I need to on a team in order to win." She embodied that today, starting on the bench and entering only when Howell became the latest to suffer an injury on this embattled but resilient roster.
"She's here to win, whatever it takes," said head coach Juan Carlos Amoros of McCaskill's team-first mentality. "Today, obviously it's hard to play those minutes, some other days she's had to play a lot of 90 minutes, sometimes you don't play, but that is what a team is about.
"That's what we pride ourselves on, making sure that every single player is ready. It doesn't matter if you're a world class famous player, or you're a rookie, we make sure that everyone is as prepared to possible, that's our job, and then their job is to go on the pitch and demonstrate that, and that's why they are a group that's strong.
"It's something that as coaches it makes us really proud, because that's the only way you're going to win."
This has been the team's dynamic all season long, with players stepping up at every position, allowing Amaros to chop and change effectively wherever required, something that would unsettle many rosters throughout the league. It goes all the way back to January when Gotham started their season before any other NWSL club when they flew to London for the FIFA Women's Champion's Cup.
On the final day of the regular season, both Lavelle and Shaw began on the bench, one game after they were rested as a precaution in the season's penultimate game against Orlando. Unlike last time out, both came into the game off the bench for the final 25 minutes, and Shaw found the back of the net for the team's second, clinching the first NWSL Shield in club history.
"I'm so proud of this team," said a beaming Shaw after the game, with her NWSL Shield medal draped around her neck. "We've had so many players come in and out, so many injuries, so much adversity this year, and to still come out on top starting before any other team this year, being able to grind through all the nitty-gritty moments, I think it really just sums up this year."
Shaw was famous last year for declaring "underdogs my ass" as eighth-seeded Gotham made a run to the NWSL Championship. Now, after winning the regular season title, she's coming at it from a different point of view. "That's also an amazing place to be," she said with a cheeky laugh. "We're all really proud of how much we've accomplished this year, but we obviously know that the target's on our back so we have to come out and continue to put out performances for the next three weeks. I think we all believe in ourselves and believe in this team."
This game — and by extension this season, really — was defined by Gotham's role players, who will all be critical to the team's push for a title defense through the coming postseason. Both goals in the game were assisted by Midge Purce, another unheralded but critical part of the squad who has the sixth-most minutes this season of anyone on the team. McCaskill, who saw her minutes decrease after the midseason arrival of O'Sullivan, stepped in admirably when team minutes leader Howell was forced off.
"It really shows that at any given moment, you're going to get a call," said captain Tierna Davidson after the win. "To have all of our players on the roster be locked in to our tactics and our game play each training, that's so important, but throughout the season that's been the case. It's almost an expectation on our team at this point that you have to be ready to play whatever role is asked of you, whether it's something you're used to doing or not, and I think so many players have done that."
It was an overall sensational performance, even if not a flashy one. Tierna Davidson and Jess Carter were once again excellent at the back, while the midfield handled Utah's press with ease. Reiten was a quality outlet on the wing, as was Purce on the opposite flank. Sam Kerr, while not a first-choice attacking option throughout the game, was strong in the hold-up department, helping release the pressure against Utah's press. O'Sullivan was brilliant in midfield both on and off the ball, as everything seemed to filter through her in possession.
With just eight shots of their own, while limiting Utah to five, it was the kind of grinding display Gotham fans have become accustomed to this season when the squad is at its best. It was an all-around team performance, the kind which can win an NWSL title if they can replicate it against higher-quality opponents come the playoffs. One which they have gotten used to throughout the season — it doesn't have to be pretty, it just has to be effective.
The potential loss of Howell, a vital part of the Gotham midfield, could be troubling, as she was seen in a walking boot after the match during the Shield celebrations. This team is highly tested, however, in papering over the gaps, which makes president of soccer operations Yael Averbach West, architect of the squad, extremely proud.
"We always talk about it takes a whole team," Averbach West said after the match. "Not just the players that go on the field, the players who don't get to go out on the field, the players who are out recovering from injured, the staff who sit on the bench, the staff behind the scenes, the ownership of the club, every little percent really adds up and when the margins are so small, it's the things that no one sees. The conversation in the locker room where a player who doesn't see the field talking to someone who ends up scoring the winning goal. All of those things really count."
Gotham will now begin its playoff journey with a quarterfinal matchup against eight-seed Seattle Reign, who just eeked into the playoffs with a two-point gap above North Carolina, the first eliminated team. Gotham knows just how dangerous an eight-seed can be based on their own title run last year, but they have a renewed vigor about them as Shield winners this time around.
"We celebrated it, we got to hoist it up, it's really pretty, and I'm going to look at it for a little bit," said Purce after the Shield celebration, "but I'm ready for the next one."
If they can complete the deal, "the next one" would be the most important one, the NWSL Championship. Triumphing in the playoffs would make Gotham the first back-to-back NWSL champions since North Carolina in 2018 and 2019. More importantly, it would make Gotham the first-ever domestic treble winners in NWSL history, after the Challenge Cup and the Shield.
That's all to come. For now, Amaros and his squad can revel in the moment.
