Gotham FC’s first NWSL Championship victory was sweet. The squad engineered a complete turnaround from last season, going from worst to first to put an exclamation point on captain Ali Krieger’s career.
Two other Gotham players also received a fairytale ending to the season: NWSL whistleblowers Mana Shim and Sinead Farrelly.
In late 2021, Shim and Farrelly exposed a longstanding culture of sexual coercion under their former head coach Paul Riley. Their stories of abuse led to widespread investigations and sweeping changes across the league, including changes in leadership and a groundbreaking collective bargaining agreement.
“I never really imagined that I’d have this full-circle moment and opportunity to go back as a player, and definitely not as a teammate of Sinead’s again,” Shim told The Oregonian. “I think we are both excited and this feels like a gift we are experiencing, being together again.”
Both Shim and Farrelly had retired from soccer after suffering from Riley’s mistreatment with the Portland Thorns and from injuries. But they both returned to play for Gotham together this season — and their joint comeback ended in triumph.
“I think it’s this full-circle moment of reclaiming back what we felt like we lost and the difficulties and things we’ve been through in the past with [Portland] particularly, but also just with this league,” Farrelly told The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Before the championship match began, NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman weighed in on the importance of Shim and Farrelly’s participation in the game.
“For me, personally, I’m so proud to see Mana and Sinead competing on the pitch tonight. I’m just so proud that we have created an environment that they feel safe and supported,” Berman said.
Along with achieving their dream of winning a title with Gotham FC, Shim and Farrelly were able to make the NWSL a safer place for players in the process.
“It’s just been a dream,” Farrelly told The Inquirer. “I haven’t even had time to process, but it just keeps being the best-case scenario that I could have ever dreamed of — that I didn’t even think was possible. So it’s just incredible.”
Victory in Portland. 🖤 pic.twitter.com/NPG2oAYD8K
— NJ/NY Gotham FC (@GothamFC) November 6, 2023
Gotham FC celebrated the first NWSL title in franchise history in raucous fashion, and midfielder Kristie Mewis chronicled all the action.
After defeating OL Reign, 2-1, in the championship match, Gotham players marked the occasion in the traditional manner: a team dogpile, followed by the trophy presentation and locker room party. But they added their own twists, throwing in a toss of retiring captain Ali Krieger, an on-field conga line and an improvised slip-and-slide.
A connoisseur of championship bashes, Mewis established her credentials in the aftermath of the Houston Dash’s 2020 Challenge Cup tournament victory. And she brought that experience to bear Saturday at San Diego’s Snapdragon Stadium.
She documented the celebration in a series of videos posted to her Instagram Stories, with teammates Kelley O’Hara and Lynn Williams among those featured. She also posted a photo and a video with just one caption between them: “Dudeeeeeeeeee.”
From Midge Purce receiving the match MVP award to Ali Krieger hoisting the new NWSL championship trophy to Gotham players attempting to drink from said trophy, check out some of the best scenes from the post-victory revelry.
No one can ever accuse Megan Rapinoe of following a well-trodden path, even in the final moments of her career. The pink-haired iconoclast, two-time World Cup champion and Olympic gold medalist wrote the final word in her illustrious career in a fashion no one could have expected, not even herself.
Her ending didn’t follow the fairytale story of the previous week. Instead, it went like this: She sat down in the sixth minute of Saturday’s NWSL Championship, shaking her head with a wry grin as she called for OL Reign’s trainers. She gingerly walked off the pitch in her final moments as a professional soccer player, having to watch on the sidelines as the Reign fell, 2-1, to Gotham FC.
“I wasn’t overly emotional about it,” Rapinoe said after the match of the moment immediately following the injury. “I mean, f—ing yeeted my Achilles in the sixth minute of my last game ever in the literal championship game.”
Rose Lavelle, a longtime Reign and U.S. women’s national teammate of Rapinoe, was the first person to reach her as she sat on the ground, shaking her head. Rapinoe didn’t mince words, telling Lavelle right away she was confident she had torn her right Achilles tendon.
“I think when she first said that, I said, ‘Are you effing joking me?” Lavelle told the media after the game.
After a week of buildup, wherein the battle of retiring legends in Rapinoe and Gotham defender Ali Krieger provided the banner headline for the 2023 NWSL Championship, only Krieger saw out the rest of the match. The two good friends shared a hug as Rapinoe left the field, before the restart of play required a refocus from both sides.
“I was just like, ‘You need to wrap that up and get back out here, so just take a couple minutes,’” Krieger said after the game. “I just feel so gutted for her. Honestly, I never thought that that would ever happen, and I feel so sad because you know football is such a risk, right? And you never know if it’s going to be your last game, your last moment.”
True to form, though, Rapinoe didn’t let herself hide away in the locker room while her team pushed to regain momentum. After being given a boot and crutches, she re-emerged on the sideline, cheering her teammates and giving tips even as she had to perch piggyback-style on the back of backup goalkeeper Laurel Ivory.
“I don’t wanna sit there and sulk on the bench,” Rapinoe said. “It’s not just any player going out, it’s me, and it’s my last game ever. So I just wanted to try to stay in it and keep it light, and I just wanted to be in it for myself too.”
The Reign almost completed the comeback twice, after falling behind first on a goal by Lynn Williams and then again by Esther González. Despite clearly dealing with shaken emotions, Rapinoe’s teammates stuck to their game plan, keeping the game in front of them until the very last minute of stoppage time.
The Seattle club’s title hopes remained alive in large part due to the play of Lavelle. The Reign midfielder broke the Gotham line with a piercing run in the first half, drawing Seattle level 1-1. She then played facilitator, breaking lines again with searching passes that her teammates couldn’t put in the back of the net. Even as Gotham sat deeper in their full-team defense, Lavelle could find spaces through her vision and her dribbling ability, which proved worthy of the appreciation of the 25,000-plus fans in attendance.
But in the chaotic final moments of second-half stoppage time, Lavelle herself couldn’t quite land a direct free kick from just outside the box. She was facing field player Nealy Martin in goal after Gotham keeper Amanda Haught received a red card due to intentionally handling the ball outside the penalty area.
“I just told her I was sorry we couldn’t get it done for her,” Lavelle said of Rapinoe. “And it’s just been such an honor to be able to share the field with her and sit next to her in the locker room.”
Rapinoe’s final moments as a professional might have not gone as she’d pictured, but they weren’t defined by her slow walk off the pitch, or by the Reign falling short. Her legacy remains the same, upheld by her willingness to immediately get back out in front of the crowd, and her teammates, to try to will them forward in any way she could.
“I think the energy Pinoe gave us was huge,” Lavelle said. “I can’t even imagine that moment in her head. And I think to still be having such a good attitude and cheering us on through it all was like, I mean, she’s amazing.”
OL Reign defender Lauren Barnes, Rapinoe’s club teammate of 11 years, agreed, saying: “I think you’d never expect something like this to happen, and it does. And she carries herself like she always has. She is the heart and soul of our club.”
In the aftermath of Rapinoe’s final game, her teammates reflected on her impact.
“You guys know,” Barnes said of the legacy of the leaders at the Reign, including herself, Rapinoe, and Jess Fishlock.. “You’ve been writing it for 11 years what our legacy is, and we just want to embody that, and we truly want to share it with the fans as much as we possibly can. So these [tears] are real. We love each other. So yeah, it’s hard and it’s gonna be different. It’s never the same now.”
In the sixth minute of the 2023 NWSL Championship, her final match as a professional soccer player, OL Reign forward Megan Rapinoe exited with a leg injury.
After her team’s 2-1 loss to Gotham FC, Rapinoe’s head coach, teammates and opponents reacted to the unexpected ending to a legendary career.
Ali Krieger, Gotham FC defender
(On what she told Rapinoe immediately after the injury) “I was just like, ‘You need to wrap that up and get back out here, so go take a couple minutes.’ And I just feel so gutted for her. Honestly, I never thought that would ever happen.
“And I feel so sad because you know football is such a risk, right? And you never know if it’s going to be your last game, your last moment. And to happen to such an incredible player, in that moment, when there was such a buildup and for us talking about this game for the past week, or actually since Sept. 13. It just is so sad and I feel for her and I’m gonna be there every step of the way for her recovery because I know how hard that can be and it’s devastating. … And I never wanted that to happen because I wanted to celebrate with her at the end.”
Midge Purce, Gotham FC forward
“It was when I saw her put her head back, I knew, I’ve seen Pinoe go down, and it was just really sad.
“And then one of the girls on their team started crying, and I turned to (Yazmeen Ryan) and I said, ‘Let’s go at her,’ because she was clearly upset. I mean, I think that definitely affected them a lot. I think it affected their concentration. And that’s sports.
“So I’m so sorry that that’s how it ended. But I don’t think it defines or in any way characterizes her impact that she’s had on myself, on this league, everything.”
Rose Lavelle, OL Reign midfielder
“It seems like a sick joke that it has to end that way. It’s just been such an honor to be able to share the field with her. So I wish we could’ve gotten it done today for her but yeah, she’s amazing and she didn’t deserve that. … I feel like she just takes it on the chin and she was still our biggest fan out there.”
Lauren Barnes, OL Reign defender
“You want Pinoe on the field as long as she can be. She is the tactic. … You’d never expect something like this to happen, and it does, and she carries herself like she always has. She is the heart and soul of our club.”
Laura Harvey, OL Reign head coach
(On Rapinoe returning to the sidelines on crutches to cheer on the team) “Pinoe, you know, she cares about the team. She cares about the club. She’d never have it any other way. And obviously everyone was devastated for her.”
With less than two minutes of stoppage time left in the 2023 NWSL Championship, the cameras found Gotham FC captain Ali Krieger. She was smiling.
Her team had maintained a one-goal advantage since the first half. But between Krieger’s smile and her final victory, there was a free kick in favor of OL Reign. A red card on Gotham goalkeeper Mandy Haught for a handball outside the box provided the opposing team with a dangerous chance for an equalizer.
Reign midfielder Rose Lavelle stepped up to take the shot, but her blast bounced off the wall of Gotham players shielding the net.
At the sound of the whistle, Krieger raised her arms outward and raced to the center circle. The 39-year-old defender was swallowed by a sea of white jerseys embracing her in celebration.
“I knew we would be in this position,” Krieger said. “And I knew that everyone was willing to buy into the plan, to the process, and also to themselves.”
Krieger’s club, the last-place finisher in the 2022 NWSL season, came out of nowhere to secure the trophy in the final match of her storied career.
“I’m so happy for her. So happy for her to be able to go out like this on an incredible career,” Krieger’s former U.S. women’s national teammate and Reign star Megan Rapinoe said. “It’s obviously very sad for us but an amazing accomplishment for them and an incredible season and incredible turnaround from last year.”
Before the postgame ceremony, Krieger’s eyes sparkled with tears and she shook her head over and over. On her last day as a professional soccer player, she did something for the first time: She won an NWSL championship.
As she hoisted the trophy in front of her teammates, fireworks burst and gold confetti rained on the victors. Krieger experienced a fitting end to her career and added another trophy to her case.
“I’ve dreamt of this for so long,” Krieger said. “To play club soccer in my own country and to win it in front of 25,000 people, and it’s only going to get better and better. This is just the beginning.”
A red card on goalkeeper Mandy Haught in stoppage time nearly spelled disaster, but the Gotham FC held on for a 2-1 win over OL Reign in the NWSL Championship.
Haught reached an arm outside the box to bat the ball away, which earned her a handball violation and an ejection for denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity after the first VAR review in NWSL Championship history. With Gotham out of substitutions, defender Nealy Martin took her place in net, donning an oversized goalkeeper jersey.
The ensuing free kick from Reign midfielder Rose Lavelle bounced off the wall of players between her and the net. The final whistle blew moments later, sealing victory for Gotham.
The action-packed match included goals from Lynn Williams and Esther González for Gotham, both off assists from Championship MVP Midge Purce. Lavelle scored the lone goal for the Reign, who played most of the match without retiring star Megan Rapinoe after she exited with a suspected Achilles injury in the sixth minute.
Just Women’s Sports writer Claire Watkins broke down the action in San Diego.
Oh wow. We have VAR for a handball on Mandy Haught, who may have punched the ball outside of the box. She has been ejected.
— Claire Watkins (@ScoutRipley) November 12, 2023
Mandy Haught is sent off after VAR review and @OLReign have a last opportunity 👀
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) November 12, 2023
Get to @CBS NOW!#NWSLChampionship pic.twitter.com/UncaiINKns
Gotham does not have any subs to give. A field player is going in goal to end regulation.
— Claire Watkins (@ScoutRipley) November 12, 2023
Rose Lavelle hits the wall, I have absolutely no idea how much time is left. NWSL never ever ever change
— Claire Watkins (@ScoutRipley) November 12, 2023
While Megan Rapinoe’s career ended in injury in the 2023 NWSL Championship, the two-time World Cup winner leaves the game a legend.
Her career brought with it triumph and controversy, as Rapinoe became a lightning rod for criticism due to her outspoken activism. But she left the pitch for the final time as an icon. Her final regular-season home game set viewership and attendance records for the NWSL, and players and fans alike have had nothing but good things to say as the 38-year-old forward prepared to make her goodbyes.
“I think we always knew that the most powerful voice in the room was Pinoe,” OL Reign coach Laura Harvey said of Rapinoe in October. “And she never shied away from that. She was always willing to put herself in front of all the bullets that everyone was willing to throw at her to try and better the club internally.”
OL Reign’s goal to get Rapinoe her one and only NWSL championship did not come to fruition. But maybe that’s OK.
After all, this is a player that has seen, won and done almost everything else. She’s won two World Cups, an Olympic gold medal, the Ballon d’Or, Best FIFA Women’s Player and more. She even has a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
And she will go down in history as one of the greatest to ever play the game.
So much has been said about Rapinoe and what she has meant to this game since she announced her retirement ahead of the World Cup. And now she says goodbye to the game. But it’s not goodbye for good.
“I’m going to be a part of this next phase of women’s sports, not just soccer hopefully, but even beyond that,” Rapinoe said in October. “So many players in this generation have had such a huge part in building the foundation and the beginning stages of what is a really exciting time in women’s sports.
“I’m not going to miss out on the fruits of that labor, and just disappear and not be a part of it. I think I have so much to offer.”
Ali Krieger leaves Gotham FC and the game of soccer better than she found them.
Gotham FC aimed to send their captain off with an NWSL title, and they accomplished their goal, capping Krieger’s final season with a 2-1 win against OL Reign in the NWSL Championship.
Krieger announced her retirement in March, ahead of the 2023 season. One of the few players who has been a part of the league since its beginning in 2013, the 39-year-old defender has appeared in 180 league matches, including 35 for Gotham.
In her time with the club, Krieger helped to establish a winning legacy. In her last season, she helped engineer a stunning turnaround, as Gotham went from last place in 2022 to title-winners in 2023.
She also has 108 international appearances, having played for the USWNT from 2008 through 2021. She not only is a two-time World Cup champion but also a UEFA Champions League winner, having won in 2008 with Eintracht Frankfurt.
In short, there’s not much in Krieger’s career that she hasn’t accomplished. And through it all, she’s been a great teammate, as the Gotham FC captain’s current teammates can attest.
“[Krieger] has been there for me in times where I don’t really allow people to be there for me,” USWNT and Gotham forward Midge Purce said. “Honestly, that’s the best testament I can give to her. She’s someone I trust to let in and can be there for you when you need her.”
And Krieger is planning to stay connected with the game in retirement, telling The Athletic that she wants to help the NWSL continue to grow.
“I’m very intrigued by the game, and I love talking tactics and analyzing and all the things,” she said. “And stay in connection with the NWSL, and really help them improve the league and get these teams the standards that they really deserve and these players what they really deserve. I think using me as a resource would be really beneficial. So I hope I can stay connected with the NWSL somehow, in some way, to continue to fight outside of the training pitch.”
Gotham FC’s Midge Purce juked one OL Reign defender by the sideline and another by the goal box. She charged into the box with the ball on her foot and with her team outnumbered by the cage.
As Purce looked up to pass, Lynn Williams sprinted into the box just in front of the net. Williams tapped the ball from Purce into the net to open the scoring in the NWSL Championship, becoming the second player in NWSL history to contribute a goal in three different championship matches.
The early scoring didn’t stop there, as Gotham carried a 2-1 lead over OL Reign into halftime at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego. And despite a frantic end to the match, that would stand as the final score, giving the Gotham its first title in franchise history.
.@100Purcent ➡️ @lynnraenie ⚡️@GothamFC takes the lead in the #NWSLChampionship! pic.twitter.com/vMHj5W5AOh
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) November 12, 2023
Four minutes after Williams’ opening tally, OL Reign midfielder Rose Lavelle broke through a line of white-clad defenders and booted a breakaway goal for the equalizer.
.@roselavelle takes advantage of the space in front of her and pulls @OLReign level again! 👊#NWSLChampionship pic.twitter.com/xdmU92eJvP
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) November 12, 2023
Purce, though, did not let her team go to the locker room tied. In the second minute of first-half stoppage time, the Gotham FC forward loosed a corner kick high into the goal box. The ball curved toward the front of the net in the air and Esther González jumped to meet it. The 2023 World Cup winner headed the ball into the netting to give New York the advantage at the half.
World Cup stars came up big for their respective squads in the NWSL Championship — at least one national team player cashed in on each goal, with Williams and Lavelle from the U.S. women’s national team and González from Spain.
And while Purce missed out on the World Cup with a quad tear, the USWNT forward put her name in the NWSL history books with her two first-half assists. She is just the second player to record multiple assists in an NWSL final, joining Lauren Holiday, who did so for 2014 champion FC Kansas City. She won the NWSL Championship MVP award for her performance.
The buzz leading into the game centered around the retiring stars, Megan Rapinoe for OL Reign and Ali Krieger for Gotham FC, but the next wave of international stars stepped into the spotlight during the NWSL Championship.
Going 🆙, @Estheeer9! ⚽️@GothamFC restores its lead just before the break!#NWSLChampionship pic.twitter.com/W7wipa2A4Q
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) November 12, 2023
Megan Rapinoe exited the 2023 NWSL Championship — and the final game of her illustrious career — in the sixth minute due to an injury.
While chasing after the ball, the 38-year-old OL Reign forward fell to the ground by the sideline at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, then clutched her lower right leg. She was helped off the field by trainers, putting minimal weight on the leg.
Already, Rapinoe suspected an Achilles injury, as she had felt “a huge pop” in the back of her leg. She told teammate Rose Lavelle as much at the time, and she reiterated that suspicion after the match, though she will get an MRI to confirm her self-diagnosis.
“I wasn’t overly emotional about it. I mean, f—ing yeeted my Achilles in the sixth minute in my last game ever in the literal championship game,” Rapinoe said with self-described “dark humor” after OL Reign’s 2-1 loss to Gotham FC.
Nothing in her preparation for the match foreshadowed the injury, she said, noting she felt “really good” during warmups. She also absolved the Snapdragon Stadium pitch of any responsibility for the injury.
“I guess I just rode it until the wheels really came right off,” she said.
As Rapinoe exited the field, she received a hug from Gotham FC captain Ali Krieger, who also was playing in her final professional match. Bethany Balcer replaced Rapinoe for OL Reign.
While Rapinoe went into the locker room immediately after the injury, she returned to the sidelines on crutches to support her team.
“You don’t always get to have the perfect ending,” she said. “I’ve had so many perfect endings.”
We love you, Pinoe 💙 pic.twitter.com/W9hwe5vJuF
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) November 12, 2023