Gotham FC vs Vancouver Rise FC Academy preview: Visiting the neighbors up north

NJ/NY Gotham FC will play their maiden competitive match in Canada on Tuesday night when they take on Vancouver Rise FC Academy in their third CONCACAF W Champions Cup group stage match. The NJ/NY side currently has two wins from two games in this year's competition and sits second in Group B behind the Washington Spirit on goal differential.

This is an opportunity for Gotham to extend their winning streak to five and unbeaten streak to seven in all competitions. In that run, they have outscored their opponents 11-2 and have kept four clean sheets. They will most likely have to rely on the "B Team" to get this win, as a large amount of squad rotation is expected, similar to how they lined up two weeks ago against Alianza FC Women.

Meanwhile, Vancouver might enter the game hoping for a goal. While this team does have some older players in their squad, a large portion of players are under the age of 18 since the team itself is the development squad. They have lost their one and only match so far to the Spirit by a score of 4-0 in Washington and were idle during matchweek 2.

A win on Tuesday could see Gotham FC earn a spot in the top two of Group B. The win would put them on nine points through three games, and if Wednesday's match between C.F. Monterrey Femenil and Alianza were to end in a draw or a win for Alianza, then it would guarantee the Bats' place in next Spring's semifinals as neither of those two teams, nor Vancouver, would be mathematically able to reach nine points in their remaining group stage games. Here is a preview of Tuesday's fixture.

Gotham FC vs Vancouver Rise Academy preview

Date

The game will be played on Tuesday, September 16.

Time

The match is scheduled to begin at 10:00 PM ET, 7:00 PM local.

How to watch

The fixture will be streamed on Paramount+ in English and ESPN+ in Spanish. It can also be viewed on TV in Spanish via ESPN Deportes.

Location

The game will be played at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.

Weather

The temperature at kickoff will be 77 degrees before dropping to 73 by the end of the match. Humidity will hover around 55% with wind playing a minimal factor as it is forecasted to reach a maximum of 2 mph. There is a 0% chance of rain.

Injury report

CONCACAF does not require teams to release an official injury report like the NWSL does. As such, the most up-to-date injury report available is from Friday's game against San Diego Wave FC, as seen below.

Tierna Davidson (SEI – knee) and Ella Stevens (knee) continue to remain unavailable.

Players to watch

This time, Gotham FC fans should watch multiple players. So far, the team has scored four goals from four different players in Champions Cup play. Bruninha, Khyah Harper, Geyse, and Kayla Duran have one apiece for the Bats in this competition, and given Geyse played 84 minutes on Friday and both Bruninha and Duran are defenders, Harper seems like the most likely of the four to earn her second. This could also be a game where Harper and others can really boost their goal contribution numbers, as this looks like a pretty huge talent mismatch between the two clubs in the favor of Gotham.

Fans should also watch a promising young player, forward/midfielder Lacey Kindell. The 15-year-old played all 90 minutes against Washington in the team's first group stage match and scored five goals for Vancouver in 13 matches in the League1 British Columbia Women's Division. If one breaks down the 13 matches to minutes played, 931, she averages a goal around once every two games, an impressive feat for such a young player.

Prediction

While a win is basically as close to a guarantee as possible for Gotham FC, it would be great if they could win big and improve their goal differential. A 4-0 win is the prediction for this one. Goals will come from Sarah Schupansky, Katie Stengel, and two from the aforementioned Harper. As mentioned earlier, this is expected to be another "B Team" match. However, they should have an easier time scoring goals in this game than they did against Alianza.