Gotham FC earns their third straight win after beating Racing Louisville FC

Another game, another win for NJ/NY Gotham FC, who secured a 1-0 win at home to Racing Louisville FC to end a three-game week coming out of the international break. After a poor start to the season, the Bats have managed to rattle off three straight victories to see themselves in fourth in the table after eight games played.

Not only was it another victory, but it was also another game where the performance backed up the result. Gotham FC managed to have more possession, xG, shots on goal, and box touches, all areas that the team was struggling in during the early part of the season.

At the same time, the Bats made things for Louisville go from bad to worse. The team has just one win in their opening seven games. This loss, combined with Boston Legacy FC earning their first win in club history earlier in the day, means the two teams are tied at the bottom of the table with just four points. Louisville holds the tiebreaker of having the better goal differential.

Now, Gotham FC will get some much-needed rest with six days before their next game against Boston. The Bats got the better of the Legacy when the two met in the Legacy's inaugural match on the opening week of the season, so it's understandable for fans to be confident in another win coming their way, especially with this game coming at home.

A hat-trick of wins for Gotham FC

As the match started, Gotham FC, for the third game in a row, came out of the gates as the better side. They nearly scored the opener just four minutes in. Jaedyn Shaw put in a great cross from the right wing that was just out of reach of an open Guro Reiten.

The ladies continued to get decent chances, with Rose Lavelle creating a chance before getting one for herself. Then, in the 16th minute, Gotham found the opener with a great back-to-front goal.

The work started in the defensive third with Tierna Davidson doing a great job to hold the ball against the physically imposing Taylor Flint. She then sent the ball to Lavelle, who found rookie Jordynn Dudley down the right-hand side. Dudley put in an inch-perfect cross, megging one Louisville defender before finding Shaw for a tap-in and a 1-0 Gotham FC lead. This was Dudley's third goal contribution in the last three games.

10 minutes later, Gotham nearly doubled their lead. Reiten set Shaw up on a breakaway after a great long ball, where Louisville goalkeeper Jordyn Bloomer made a great save. The rebound found Lavelle, but Racing defender Courtney Petersen made a great last-ditch tackle to prevent the midfielder from doubling the home side's lead.

Gotham carried this 1-0 lead into halftime in what was another really strong first half. They generated 1.10 xG, marking the third consecutive game where they generated over 1 xG in the first half of a game, and also the third straight time heading into halftime with the lead.

As the second half got started, it might be fair to suggest fatigue started to play a role. This was the third game of a three-game week, which featured no rotation among the Starting XI, with it remaining the same in all three matches. While they were able to remain in control of the fixture, they did not quite have that same sort of push to score a second goal that was seen in the previous two matches.

They had their chances in the second half, getting off seven shots and one big chance, but as mentioned, it was not as overly dangerous as what they showed in the first half. Meanwhile, Louisville had no answer as they could only muster 0.10 xG and just one shot in total with zero on target. This was a thoroughly impressive defensive performance from a Gotham team that again was missing multiple defenders due to injury.

Louisville did start to put some pressure on the Gotham backline in what was a last-gasp push to try and find an equalizer. Alas, the backline held strong and held on to the end to secure a 1-0 victory. It marks Gotham's third straight victory and also their third straight clean sheet. They also managed to hold their opponents in these three matches to just one shot on target in each game.

Coming out of the international break, Gotham knew they needed to start finding victories if they wanted to start moving up the table. They had an easy schedule in the four games following the break, and they've so far taken advantage of it. Combining it with a very tight table from top to bottom and even just three wins can really make a huge difference, not just in who is where in the table but also the fans' mood about how they feel the team is doing, which has also done a 180 since the early part of the season.

Some milestones from this game saw Ann-Katrin Berger set a new league record for clean sheets to start a season, with her already earning her sixth in just eight matches. For reference, that means she's already halfway to her total of 12 from all of last season. And this game also saw Dudley record a goal contribution in her third straight game, tying Sarah Schupansky for the longest streak with a goal contribution from a rookie in Gotham FC history.

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