Gotham FC Aims for Season Sweep of Washington

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (Aug. 8, 2025) - Gotham FC will look to complete the season sweep over rival Washington Spirit on Saturday afternoon as part of the NWSL’s inaugural Rivalry Weekend. Kickoff is set for 12 p.m. ET at Sports Illustrated Stadium, with national broadcast coverage on ESPN.

Gotham FC (5-5-4, 19 points) enters the matchup unbeaten in its last three games, with two wins and a draw, most recently earning a 1-1 result against Chicago Stars FC. Rookie forward Khyah Harper scored her first professional goal in the match, while fellow rookie Sarah Schupansky tallied her fifth assist of the season — the most by any Gotham player in 2025 and tied for the league lead alongside San Diego’s Delphine Cascarino.

Schupansky’s fifth assist set a new club rookie record and moved her within one of Gotham’s all-time single-season record, held by Katy Freels (six in 2013).

Gotham holds a 2-3-1 home record this season, with one of those victories coming after scoring the opening goal. That trend has been critical to success in 2025, as the club remains undefeated when scoring first, with a 4-0-2 mark.

Washington (8-4-2, 26 points) enters the weekend tied for second in the NWSL standings and coming off a dramatic 2-1 win over the Portland Thorns. Trinity Rodman scored the game-winning goal in second-half stoppage time in her return to the Spirit lineup.

The Spirit have been one of the league’s best road teams in 2025, posting a 5-1-1 away record. However, they are winless in their last two road matches, falling to Portland and drawing with San Diego.

Saturday’s contest marks the 42nd all-time meeting between Gotham FC and the Spirit, with Gotham holding a 14-17-10 record in the series. At home, Gotham is 8-9-2 against Washington and has won three of the last four meetings at Sports Illustrated Stadium.

Following Saturday’s match, Gotham FC will continue its three-game homestand by hosting the Houston Dash on Sunday, Aug. 17, at 4 p.m. ET.

Key Points:

• Gotham FC earned a 3-0 victory at Audi Field on April 26, marking the club’s largest margin of victory over Washington in all competitions. With that result, Gotham is aiming to defeat the Spirit in consecutive meetings across all competitions for the first time since June–July 2016.
• Gotham FC has faced just 44 total shots across its six regular-season home matches in 2025, averaging only 7.3 shots against per match. Since 2016, only North Carolina has faced fewer than 9.0 shots per game at home over a full regular season (7.1 in 2019, 7.9 in 2018, and 8.7 in 2017).
• Esther González has scored five goals in four all-time meetings against Washington in all competitions, including a brace in the 3-0 win on April 26. Since her NWSL debut in September 2023, no player has scored more goals against a single opponent in all competitions.