Lynn Williams has brought life and scoring back to NJ/NY Gotham FC, with six goals across the regular season and Challenge Cup in 2023.
In doing so, she has surpassed Sam Kerr for the most goal contributions (goals and assists) across all competitions in NWSL history, with 103 to Kerr’s 102. She also sits in second place in all-time regular-season goals, her 61 trailing Kerr’s record 77.
Her most recent goal, which broke the goal contributions record, came in Sunday’s 2-1 win against the Chicago Red Stars.
“Everybody kept being like, congrats on this record. And I was like, what are you guys talking about?” Williams said on the latest episode of Snacks.
When she realized she had broken Kerr’s record, she told her USWNT and Gotham FC teammate Kristie Mewis to pass along a message to Kerr. Mewis is dating the Australian star.
“I beat Sam Kerr. And so I told Kristie that she has to tell Sam she’s a peasant to me now,” she joked.
Traded to Gotham in the offseason, Williams hasn’t missed a beat joining her new squad. And teammate Ali Krieger, who joined the latest episode of Snacks, called Williams’ addition to the club “amazing.”
“She’s like scoring all the goals, carrying the team on her back,” Krieger said. “It’s like, it’s insane. Now I don’t have to defend her, which is really nice. I can breathe a little. … It’s exciting also playing in the back and just watching you play too. Creating chances and we didn’t necessarily have that last year. You’ve just elevated the front line completely.”
For Snacks co-host Sam Mewis, Williams’ scoring was the “biggest story of the weekend.”
“Lynn can’t stop scoring. That was the headline,” she said, before addressing Williams: “Lynn, people do desperate things to try to stop you sometimes.”
With six goals through eight games for Gotham in 2023, she has more goals than Gotham scored during the 2022 season. But if you ask Williams, she’s not even playing some of the best soccer of her career.
While she’s scoring at a higher percentage, “which is great,” she still feels like she has room to grow.
“In the NWSL I’ve only played kind of one system, which is the two front in North Carolina,” she said. “And then obviously in Kansas City I played one game, so that doesn’t really count. I feel like right now my defensive pressure has been pretty good.
“I feel like I am just continuing to get better and better. I feel like I’m getting back to myself, but I’m not there yet. So I feel like every game I’m like, okay, my fitness is getting a little bit better. Taking on people is getting a little bit better. My shot’s better. But it’s been like a year.”
Williams is focused on “grinding” right now and taking baby steps as she continues to recover from the hamstring injury that kept her out for almost all of 2022.
“I feel like when you get too high, it’s like it can fall off at any moment. And when you get too low, you’re like, you can’t get out of it,” she continued. “So, yeah, I think it’s awesome. I’m scoring goals, but I just think I need to stay here and what I’ve already done is in the past. And so I just have to keep doing it every time.”