3 goals and 3 points: Gotham FC secures road win against Utah Royals FC | OneFootball

After what was a controversial match against the Kansas City Current, NJ/NY Gotham FC snapped their four-game winless streak and beat Utah Royals FC 3-0 on the road. This was the team's fourth win on the season and third on the road.

Gotham easily could have put the final nail in the coffin for Utah's 2025 season. After what seemed like a promising outlook after their strong end to 2024 and impressive offseason, they have since followed that up with just one win from their first 12 games and sit tied for last in the standings, 10 points out of a playoff spot.

Meanwhile, the win is a positive step in the right direction for Gotham FC. This win puts them back into the playoffs in eighth and also sees one of their good performances rewarded with three points. They may fall back under the playoff line depending on other results this weekend, but this at least brings them closer to the pack of teams above and makes the task of moving back up the table much less daunting.

After a month without a win in NWSL play, getting back in the win column before a big break is always a good thing, Yes they have one more game before said break but the group knowing that they will not have to spend over a month sitting on a long winless streak surely feels like a huge weight lifted off of everyone's shoulders.

Gotham FC is back in the win column

In what ended up being a pretty low event first half, Gotham managed to get the lead quickly as Esther González scored the team's first goal in 418 minutes of NWSL play. After a great bit of build-up play from Bruninha and Mandy Freeman on the right wing, Sarah Schupansky sent in a cross that found the head of a wide-open González, who headed home to give Gotham the early lead. This was Schupansky's third assist of the season, which places her first among rookies and tied for second in the league among all players.

Utah's first and really only major chance of the half came in the 25th minute. A cross from the left side found Bianca St. Georges, who managed to get a shot off right in front of goal, but Ann-Katrin Berger came up big and made a great save in close to keep the Royals off the board. This would end up being Utah's only shot on goal in the first half.

Then, in first half stoppage time, Gotham doubled their lead. Geyse, while simultaneously fighting off a defender, managed to send a beautiful through ball to a streaking Jaelin Howell. Howell then managed to run unimpeded towards the goal, partially thanks to González, who was also making her way towards the goal and attracting plenty more attention from the Utah defense. Howell then found herself in a one-on-one with Utah goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn and managed to score low to McGlynn's left. This was not only her first goal for Gotham, but also her first goal in NWSL regular season play.

The second half started pretty tame until the 56th minute when González was fouled in the box and Gotham were awarded a penalty kick. González then stepped up and blasted the ball off the post and into the net to give Gotham a 3-0 lead, the first time they've scored three since their 3-0 win over Washington Spirit on April 26. This was also González's fourth brace of the season and her ninth goal overall to reclaim sole possession of the top spot in the Golden Boot race.

After this point, things started to unravel for Gotham. In the 72nd minute, Jess Carter pulled down Mina Tanaka on the edge of their 18-yard box. This initially warranted a yellow card, but after a VAR review, it was upgraded to red as it was deemed a denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity by the referee. While many Gotham fans are scarred by refereeing decisions after last week's debacle against Kansas City, this was a much more reasonable decision.

While Carter was not the last defender as Freeman was also back, she was decently far away from the play, and goalkeeper Berger was out of her net, which is probably why the defender felt the need to pull her down like she did. This was enough for the referee to feel like Carter's foul denied Tanaka a chance at goal and upgrade the yellow to a red.

This was then followed up by Berger going down with an injury. Now, those who have watched any Gotham game since the start of last season will know that Berger going down and receiving treatment, sometimes multiple times a game, is not an uncommon occurrence. This one, however, was serious enough that, at least precautionarily, she was subbed out seven minutes later and replaced by rookie Ryan Campbell, who got her first professional minutes and made a few saves in a relatively short time.

As this sub was taking place, Howell received a yellow card for reasons that head coach Juan Carlos Amorós could not answer in the postgame. Then, in stoppage time, she picked up her second yellow for a foul on Claudia Zornoza and was sent off, leaving Gotham with just eight players after Lilly Reale also left the game due to injury, and the team did not have any subs left in the game.

Therefore, there are mixed feelings leaving this one with the Bats getting back in both the scoring and win column, but also losing four players due to injury or red cards. While the injuries did not look serious, and it wouldn't be shocking to see both of them back in action next week against Bay FC, they will be without both Howell and Carter due to their red cards.

Importantly, though, Gotham FC managed to get all three points and put in a mostly complete performance over the 90 minutes. Hopefully, they are able to go into the summer break on a high and carry this momentum into next week's game at home to Bay.