Gotham FC draws with Portland Thorns in potential game-of-the-year contender

NJ/NY Gotham FC played out to a 2-2 draw with Portland Thorns FC in their second consecutive thrilling encounter with a Pacific Northwest opponent. This result, at the time of writing, brings the Bats back up to sole possession of first place in the NWSL table.

An early goal from Gotham FC was then matched and exceeded by Portland before an equalizer wrapped up the scoring in a thoroughly entertaining back-and-forth encounter. Going to Providence Park is never easy, as evidenced by Portland remaining unbeaten at home this season, but the visitors definitely had the ability to hand the Thorns their first home loss of the season.

Gotham had started well but slowly fell off as the match progressed, as evidenced by all of Midge Purce, Sam Kerr, and acting head coach Shaun Harris being frustrated by what they perceived to be a poor performance by their own standards. This speaks highly of where the team feels like they are as a club. Pushing Portland to the brink on the road would be something most other teams would be proud of. But not Gotham, as they have pushed the bar very high for themselves, which, given the collection of talent and proven winners on the squad, makes a lot of sense.

The Bats will now head to San Jose for a matchup with Bay FC in what is actually a pretty important match. This is Gotham's game in hand on both Portland and San Diego Wave FC, meaning a win would not only keep them above those teams in the table, but also potentially create a points gap between Gotham and those two.

Gotham FC played in a game-of-the-year contender

The match got started with a bang as Purce opened the scoring less than 90 seconds in. Guro Reiten got to the end line and sent a ball all the way across the box that Purce hit on the volley. It bounced into the goal off the far post that silenced the Providence Park crowd. That was the Gotham winger's first NWSL goal since September 26 of last season when Gotham won 3-0, also over the Thorns.

The euphoria was short-lived, though. Sadly, around five minutes later Emily Sonnett had to be stretchered off after what looked like a serious injury to her left knee. It's not 100% clear exactly how the injury occurred, but with her stretching her leg during the play combined with the artificial turf in place at Providence Park, it's not too hard to put two and two together and figure out what that potentially means. She was replaced in the game by Mandy Freeman.

Still, Gotham held on from there, generating some pretty good chances. Portland then managed to find an equalizer in the 21st minute when rookie Renee Lyles bagged her first goal in the NWSL. Lyles, going 1v1 with Purce down the right wing, sent what looked like an intended cross into the box that ended up much closer to the goal than anyone anticipated and ultimately ended up going in, leaving everyone seemingly frozen in time as the ball hit the side netting.

From then on, Portland really grew into the game and started taking control through to halftime. Gotham had a few chances, including a nice play from Savannah McCaskill where she nutmegged a Thorns defender, and then got off a powerful toe-poke shot that was saved by MacKenzie Arnold.

Coming out of halftime, the Thorns kept up the momentum they had built up late in the first half and quickly took the lead. In the 53rd minute, shots from Sophia Wilson and Lyles were blocked by the Gotham defense, which resulted in the ball falling to Jessie Fleming on the edge of the box. Fleming took a shot that deflected off of Purce and past the outstretched Ann-Katrin Berger, who dove originally in the other direction.

Less than 10 minutes later, the NJ/NY side scored the equalizer in this fun back-and-forth contest. A corner from Lavelle found the head of Tierna Davidson, whose header was originally blocked on the goal line by Thorns defender Marie Müller. Sam Kerr then pounced on the rebound and scored for the first time in a Gotham shirt.

The craziness was not done, for there was also a red card. In the 73rd minute, Kerr managed to get on the end of a clearance from Purce around midfield. She then spun past Portland defender Jayden Perry and was seemingly in a 1v1 with Arnold in the Portland goal. Perry then pulled Kerr down by her jersey and was shown a straight red as a result.

There was some conjecture over whether this was a DOGSO (denial of a goal-scoring opportunity) situation given how far from goal it was and the fact that there was another defender near Müller, but Kerr was behind, albeit slightly, the Thorns backline and Perry made zero attempt at actually playing the ball.

Alas, the visitors were unable to take advantage of this 20+ minute player advantage as the Thorns defense stood strong and not only kept Gotham off the scoresheet post-red card, but also did not give up very many dangerous chances during that time period either.

Nevertheless, the match ended by a score of 2-2, earning the Bats a pretty big road point and sole possession of first place. That could change depending on what both the Washington Spirit and San Diego do in their games on Sunday, but for now Gotham FC is back on top.

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