Gotham FC loses to San Diego Wave FC in return to NWSL action

NJ/NY Gotham FC's six-game NWSL unbeaten run has come to an end in the regular season thanks to a 2-0 loss to the top-of-the-table San Diego Wave FC. It was a disappointing return to NWSL regular-season play after the league went on break for the month of June, even though this was far from their worst performance of the season.

Regardless, this was always going to be a tough game for Gotham FC to return to league play with. Just about everybody knew that travelling cross-country to take on the team at the top of the table wasn't going to be easy. That ended up being proven true. They are still within arm's length from the top, just seven points off of first with games in hand on multiple teams above them. Alas, they need to get back in the win column in order to not fall too far behind.

For San Diego, this was the perfect start to the second half. After losing arguably their most dangerous forward, Dudinha, for the season with an ACL injury, and still not having their record signing, Catarina Macario, due to injury, they did not seem to allow that to impact them.

As mentioned, the result was not great, but the performance was not awful, either, and that's the main thing to take away. It is not like it was at the beginning of the season, when the attack looked nonexistent. If anything, it was the defense in this match that let them down. They have the players and the know-how to remedy that, which combined with an improved attack from the beginning of the season, which will soon include Sam Kerr, and this match should not be a major cause for concern.

A less than ideal return to play for Gotham FC

One of the big talking points in the immediate lead-up to this match was who San Diego decided to start in goal. After being the consistent starter in the weeks leading up to the summer break, Didi Haracic was dropped in favor of 19-year-old Colombian international Luisa Agudelo, who had yet to appear in an NWSL match.

This was a bit of an interesting decision given the timing. Not just the fact she would be playing a strong Gotham FC team, but also San Diego has Spanish international and former Barcelona goalkeeper Sandra Paños joining the club in the coming weeks.

As the match started, San Diego had a very good chance early on with Ludmila in a one-on-one with Gotham FC's Ann-Katrin Berger, but she held firm and came up with a huge save in just the sixth minute. Ludmila then had another chance after a miscommunication on the backline between Jaelin Howell, Tierna Davidson, and Berger. Howell's backpass led to another one-on-one for Ludmila. The Brazilian managed to round Berger and set herself up with an open net, but she hit the post with her shot, keeping the game scoreless.

In the 36th minute, Gotham had their best chance of the first half when Jaedyn Shaw managed to fend off multiple Wave defenders in midfield before finding Jordynn Dudley with a pass. Dudley then had a good shot that Agudelo managed a nice save on.

Then, two minutes later, there was a bit of controversy after a heavy touch. Wave defender Kennedy Wesley committed a studs-up challenge on Guro Reiten while trying to win the ball back. Wesley was only called for a foul, and the play did not go to VAR even though there have been multiple similar instances in the past that did.

Sadly, before halftime, the Wave got their goal. Melanie Barcenas let off a left-footed thunderbolt from nearly 30 yards out that beat Berger. It seemed like the Gotham keeper thought the shot was going wide, so she didn't make much of an effort to save it.

Still, even if she had, she likely would not have been close to stopping the goal. While the NJ/NY side produced over 1 xG in that 1st half, 0.3 more than San Diego did, it would be fair to say that the home team was the better team in that first half, but not by a wide margin.

In the second half, San Diego pulled a bit of a Gotham and shut up shop and held firm on their 1-0 lead. The Bats had had their moments and came close on a few occasions, but the Wave did just enough to keep them off the scoresheet.

Nevertheless, the visitors pushed hard right at the end, with efforts from Rose Lavelle and Dudley being saved and just missing the goal in the 90th minute and into stoppage time, but it was not enough.

And in second-half stoppage time, San Diego doubled their lead when Berger, up near midfield, had her pass blocked by Tatum Wynalda. The ball fell to Lia Godfrey, who came up short on a shot toward the empty goal. Luckily for the Wave, though, the ball landed perfectly at the feet of Trinity Byars. She made no mistake and slid it into the empty net, sealing the victory for San Diego.

Gotham definitely did not play poorly in this match, especially considering who the opposition was and that they had to travel to the other side of the country for the game. At the same time, San Diego is at the top of the table and really showed why in this match. It just felt like they always had an answer for what the NJ/NY team threw at them in pretty much every aspect of the fixture.

At the very least, it will be a short week as Gotham will be back in action on Friday against another top team: Utah Royals FC, also on the road.

Some positive news to come from this game saw both Mandy Freeman and Bruninha make their regular-season debuts, coming on as substitutes in the 77th minute. Freeman did play 15 minutes last week in the NWSL Challenge Cup, but this was Bruninha's 2026 NWSL season debut for Gotham FC.

Add us as a preferred source on Google