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Gotham FC vs Boston Legacy FC preview: A rematch in New Jersey

Gotham FC will welcome expansion side Boston Legacy FC to New Jersey for the first time. This is the second and final meeting of the season between the two Northeast sides, with the Bats winning in Boston on opening day 1-0.
Jaelin Howell of Gotham FC
Jaelin Howell of Gotham FC | Icon Sportswire/GettyImages

NJ/NY Gotham FC will continue their May schedule as they welcome Boston Legacy FC to Sports Illustrated Stadium for the first time ever. This will be the second and final meeting between the two sides in the 2026 regular season, with the NJ/NY team looking for the season sweep after they defeated the Legacy 1-0 on the opening weekend of the season.

After being handed plenty of lemons in the form of injuries to five of the defenders, Gotham FC has been able to make plenty of lemonade, going on a three-game win and clean sheet streak despite the defensive absences. This has seen them jump up to fifth in the table after languishing in 13th following the opening five fixtures of the season. They will look to keep this form going against Boston and continue their march back up the league standings.

For Boston, they seem to have started to figure some things out after losing their first five games in club history. They've managed four points in their last two matches, including their first-ever win last Sunday over Denver Summit FC. While they still sit last in the standings, their fans are looking at the positive side of things for the first time this season.

As mentioned, Gotham is going for their fourth win in a row. If they manage to do so, it will only be the third four-match winning streak in regular-season play since Juan Carlos Amorós took over as the head coach before the 2023 season. Here is a preview of Saturday's matchup.

Gotham FC vs Boston Legacy preview

Date

The fixture will be played on Saturday, May 9.

Time

The match is scheduled to begin at 6:30 PM ET.

Location

The game will be played at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey.

How to watch

The fixture will be broadcast on Ion.

Weather

Despite as much as a quarter of an inch of rain being anticiapted for Saturday afternoon, the current weather forecast suggests that the rain will be over at some point during the game. Temperatures will hover around 60 degrees with humidity around 80%. Winds will be around five mph and cloud cover around 50%. Sunset is set for 8:01 PM, which should fall around the early stages of the second half.

Injury report

Bruninha (hamstring), Kayla Duran (knee - SEI), Mandy Freeman (lower leg), Rose Lavelle (lower leg), and Taryn Torres (knee - SEI) will miss the meeting with Boston. Emily Sonnett (lower leg) is questionable.

Players to watch

Rookie Jordynn Dudley is on quite a hot streak. Fresh off being named NWSL Rookie of the Month for April, she has a goal contribution in each of her last three matches and is more than capable of extending that to four games on Saturday. After seemingly being snake bitten to open the season, the floodgates have opened post-international break for the 21-year-old, with her confidence level seemingly now matching her talent level. As such, she is someone to watch.

From the opening weekend match against Gotham, where she looked like Boston's best player,
Aissata Traoré has continued on that path, earning a goal and assist in last week's win over Denver in just 19 minutes. They will need her to be on her A game again if they want to earn their second-ever win this weekend. She is another player to pay attention to.

Prediction

While Boston is in good form, the Bats will probably be too much for the expansion side. A 2-0 victory for Gotham FC is the prediction, with goals coming from Dudley and Esther González. While the talent deficit from top to bottom is smaller than it has been in recent years in the NWSL, there is still a pretty big gap between Gotham and Boston, even with the injury report.

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