Team News: Kerr, Reiten Enter Starting Lineup Against Portland

Guro Reiten returns to the starting XI while Sam Kerr makes her first start since her Sky Blue FC days when Gotham FC takes on Portland Thorns FC on Friday night.

The 2026 signings are the only changes made by acting head coach Shaun Harris following the club’s thrilling 3-2 comeback victory against Seattle Reign FC last weekend. Harris will lead the team for the next five weeks while head coach Juan Carlos Amorós takes parental leave.

Gotham FC (9-3-3, 30 points) enters the match level on points with the Washington Spirit at the top of the table. A victory would break the tie and be the fourth-straight win for the club in regular season play.

Kickoff is set for 10 p.m. ET at Providence Park in Portland, Ore., with Prime Video carrying the national broadcast.

Kerr will make her first start for the team since her return to the NWSL in place of Esther González on the attack, who is out with an excused absence per the availability report. The Australian international passed the 10,000 regular season minutes mark and recorded her 25th career assist in last Saturday’s victory.

Kerr will play in Providence Park for the first time since August 2019, with Midge Purce on the right and Jaedyn Shaw to her left. Purce will make her 81st regular season appearance, passing Kailen Sheridan for seventh in Gotham FC history. Shaw leads the club with three assists this year after recording two against Seattle for the first multi-assist performance of her career.

Rose Lavelle shifts back into the midfield to replace Sarah Schupansky after last week’s appearance as a left winger, paired alongside Jaelin Howell and Savannah McCaskill. Lavelle, making her 51st regular season appearance for Gotham FC, is coming off two consecutive game-winning goals for the club. Howell and McCaskill are two of four players on the team to have played every regular season match in 2026.

Center backs Emily Sonnett and captain Tierna Davidson anchor the backline, flanked by Jess Carter and Reiten in place of Mandy Freeman. Gotham FC has only conceded five goals away from home this season, tied with Angel City FC for the fewest road goals allowed in the NWSL this season.

Goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger will make her 16th regular season start and seek her 34th career goalkeeper win. A clean sheet would be her ninth of the season, tying the second-highest single-season total in club history and moving her within one of the club record she set in 2025.

Forward Jordynn Dudley returns to the matchday squad for the first time since sustaining a head injury against Washington on July 15. Gotham FC’s bench also includes goalkeeper Shelby Hogan; defenders Bruninha and Mandy Freeman; midfielders Sofia Cook, Denise O’Sullivan, Sarah Schupansky and Talia Sommer; and forward Andrea Kitahata.

Defender Kayla Duran (knee) and midfielder Taryn Torres (knee) are both on the season-ending injury list.

Gotham FC lineup vs. Portland Thorns FC

30 – Ann-Katrin Berger (GK)

27 – Jess Carter

6 – Emily Sonnett

15 – Tierna Davidson ©

18 – Guro Reiten

7 – Jaelin Howell

13 – Savannah McCaskill

16 – Rose Lavelle

23 – Midge Purce

20 – Sam Kerr

10 – Jaedyn Shaw

Substitutes: 1 – Shelby Hogan (GK), 2 – Jordynn Dudley, 3 – Bruninha, 5 – Denise O’Sullivan, 11 – Sarah Schupansky, 14 – Talia Sommer, 21 – Sofia Cook, 22 – Mandy Freeman, 24 – Andrea Kitahata