A year ago, Jaedyn Shaw brushed off anyone who doubted Gotham FC. After a playoff quarterfinal win over the NWSL Shield-winning Kansas City Current, the then-new recruit summed up her feelings about the labels placed on her team in three blunt words: "Underdog, my ass."
Twelve months later, few would argue with her. Gotham's Shield victory this season was the club's fifth major trophy in three years, and a sixth could arrive over the coming weeks as the playoffs get underway this weekend. For a franchise that spent much of its history near the bottom of the standings, the transformation has been striking. Even their 2023 championship felt like a genuine shock at the time.
Gotham won both of their titles as the lowest-seeded team in the postseason, playing the vast majority of their playoff matches from that position. That changes on Sunday, when they host the Seattle Reign at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, N.J., in a quarterfinal kicking off at 12:30 p.m. ET on ABC and the ESPN App. For the first time, they take the field as the clear favorites to win it all, with oddsmakers listing Gotham at -150, the draw at +265 and Seattle at +340. How they handle that pressure is an open question, but it is a problem entirely of their own making.
The spending spree in the winter of 2024 free agency set the foundation, but the roster has kept evolving since. U.S. women's national team defender Tierna Davidson now wears the captain's armband, her progressive passing central to head coach Juan Carlos Amoros' system. Rose Lavelle has become a standout as well, yet the biggest star has been Shaw, who has produced 14 goals and seven assists in 35 league appearances since arriving in September 2025.
Amoros has leaned heavily on Shaw's versatility, and he says her willingness to defend is what makes the attack click. "First, I think the commitment they have to defend and the commitment they have to work hard for the team despite being some of the best players technically in the planet," he said of Shaw and Lavelle after a September win over the Chicago Stars, noting the mutual respect that effort builds across the squad.
The pairing of Shaw and Lavelle has worked at club level even though their skill sets appear to overlap for USWNT coach Emma Hayes. The two often operate just behind striker Sam Kerr, taking on scoring duties themselves. Kerr ranks third in the league with 9.67 expected goals since returning to the NWSL on July 16 but has scored only four times, while contributing four assists in 17 games, one fewer than Shaw and one more than Lavelle in that stretch.
Shaw, 21, has openly drawn inspiration from Lavelle, who is a decade older. "I think her movement is some of the best in the world, honestly," Shaw said after that September match. "She's able to make stretch runs, drag players. She attracts so many players, opening up space for other players to get on the ball and then getting on the second one, I think, is one of her strengths and is something I'm trying to replicate off of her."
Both attackers return from minor injuries at the right time, and Gotham will need them against a defensively strong Reign side. Rookie Jordyn Dudley is out for the postseason with a foot fracture suffered last month, ending a debut campaign that produced four goals and three assists.
Most of Gotham's likely starters on Sunday joined after the 2023 title run, a list that includes 2024 goalkeeper of the year Ann-Katrin Berger, European champion Jess Carter, midfielder Jaelin Howell, left back Guro Reiten and two-time NWSL champion Denise O'Sullivan. The reinvention never stops, but this season the club finally found consistency to match its ambition. The underdog tag is gone, replaced by a bigger one: a third championship would pull Gotham level with the Portland Thorns as the most successful team in league history.
