Gotham FC are NWSL Champions! Winners and losers as USWNT legend Megan Rapinoe retires injured while Midge Purce rises to occasion

Gotham’s first-year manager was named Coach of the Year on Thursday, and cemented his status as the league’s best with the team’s win tonight. Amorós’s attractive, possession-based style has rarely been tried in the NWSL, and never with the degree of success the Spaniard has found. The Reign had no answer as Gotham’s movement and passing—they completed 345 passes to Seattle’s 286—thwarted Laura Harvey’s famously effective press.

Rapinoe’s early exit was the kind of wrench that can change the course of the game, and could have easily thrown off Gotham’s plan or injected overconfidence into their squad, especially as Bethany Balcer was excellent taking Rapinoe’s place. Instead, all 11 Gotham players stayed locked in for 90 minutes, a testament to the mentality instilled by Amorós and his staff.

That Amorós’s team won in the fashion they did shows that fast-paced, transitional soccer is no longer the only game in town in the NWSL, and foreshadows the next evolution of the American league.

The longtime Reign boss has been here before: in 2014 and 2015, she led her team to the championship, only to fall by a margin of one goal, both to Vlatko Andonovski’s FC Kansas City. Prior to their 2023 run, Seattle had not won a playoff game since 2015, so this loss feels like a reversion to the mean for Harvey.

In their first two championship appearances, Reign were the regular-season champions, and those two teams are still among the most dominant in NWSL history—but each time, they choked when it mattered most, and Harvey had no answers for the questions posed by midfielder Lauren Holiday, in particular.

The nightmare repeated this time around, with Gotham forward Midge Purce playing Holiday’s role: Purce is the first player since Holiday in 2014 to record two assists in a championship match, and the Reign defense looked taken aback by her dominance. Harvey’s second-half response was a head-scratching series of subs, pulling hardworking forward Veronica Latsko for defensive midfielder Quinn and moving No. 8 Jess Fishlock, who had had a middling game to that point, to the forward line.

The English manager has long had a tendency to lean on her veterans in big moments, even when the moment doesn’t call for it. Tonight, with one veteran - Rapinoe - down for the count, and two others giving mediocre performances, that tendency backfired.

It was a storybook ending to a difficult year for Purce, as the 28-year-old—suffered a torn quad early in the season that had her sidelined for more than two months—was awarded Championship MVP for her contribution to Gotham’s win.

The stat sheet shows Purce’s contributions clearly enough: the winger tallied two assists on two goals, first beating three defenders on a run up the right wing to serve Lynn Williams the ball on a platter for the team’s first. Her second was a pinpoint corner kick to Esther that the Spanish forward connected with just outside the six-yard box.

But Purce’s influence went much further than the two assists. She seemed to be present everywhere on the field, intercepting a pass or blocking a shot one moment, beating a defender on the dribble or opening up space for teammates with her movement the next. Purce’s time at Gotham hasn’t always been easy, but she’s come into her own in New Jersey—and tonight’s performance was her crowning achievement to date.

Seattle was a defensively stingy team in the regular season, conceding just 24 goals, but their brick wall looked more like a sieve tonight as key mistakes led to two goals for the Bats. Most obvious were the series of missed tackles against Purce on Gotham’s first goal, as she effortlessly dribbled past left back Phoebe McClernon, midfielder Jess Fishlock, and center back Lu Barnes to put the ball in Williams’s path.

Just as much at fault, though, was the usually excellent midfield pairing of Emily Sonnett and Jess Fishlock, who looked overeager and error-prone throughout the game. Gotham found it far too easy to do what they do best: drag opponents around to create space and build attacks using quick passing and fluid movement. If Gotham was locked in, the Reign defense was out in space.

The USWNT legend and Gotham captain earned a well-deserved first NWSL championship tonight to go alongside her two World Cup medals. The 39-year-old wasn’t just the heart and soul of her club in her last season, but remained a key contributor on the field until the final whistle tonight in San Diego, recording four clearances and an interception in her finale.

In the mixed zone, Krieger was forthcoming about her personal challenges this year - news of her recent divorce quickly became gossip - and said focusing on her job at Gotham has been “a really healthy, positive distraction.”

“I am so happy that I could just finish out on top,” she continued. “This is a dream.”

Krieger, like Rapinoe, has been here before: in 2016, her Washington Spirit fell in the championship to the upstart Western New York Flash in a penalty shootout. This time around, the chips fell in her favor, and she leaves the game with one more trophy for the case.

Listen: It's unfair to call Rapinoe a loser here, because in no way is it her fault for suffering a horrific freak-accident injury three minutes into the match. Despite that, though, it was beyond evident that Seattle missed their star winger on the pitch Saturday evening.

Postgame, Rapinoe confirmed that she 'probably' tore her Achilles in the non-contact incident, but throughout the entire match, the 38-year-old was see on the sideline cheering on her team.

It's just such a bummer that the USWNT legend didn't get a proper run-out in her final career game, however, sometimes that's how things go. One has to wonder if the result ends differently if Rapinoe is able to play 90 minutes, though.