On a cool autumn day in Washington, D.C., NJ/NY Gotham FC were mere minutes away from making it to back-to-back NWSL championship appearances. All that stood in their way was a penalty shootout with their east coast rivals, the Washington Spirit.
A storied veteran with World Cup experience, Spanish international Esther stepped up to the spot first for the visitors. With her right foot, she shuttled the ball towards the bottom left corner of the net, but Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury was there to make the save. Gotham would not score a single penalty in the shootout, harshly ending the dreams of a second championship.
Even without a trophy, the club had a productive 2024 season by many measures. The team signed four U.S. women’s national team players along with a slew of international talent, constructing one of the deepest rosters in league history. Many dubbed it a super team of the modern NWSL era. Despite the semifinal loss, things were still looking up for the team that just two years prior was at the bottom of the NWSL standings.
Then, the departures began.
Through trades, free agency, and retirements, nearly a dozen players left including veterans like Crystal Dunn and Lynn Williams and up-and-coming stars like Yazmeen Ryan and Delanie Sheehan. Jenna Nighswonger, Maitane López, Sam Hiatt, McCall Zerboni, Cassie Miller and Abby Smith all left the club this offseason. Some were certainly seeking more playing time, others likely bigger contracts, but this amount of offseason movement did not seem normal.
As the departures continued, panic set in among fans and supporters—what could be going on at Gotham FC?
“We had amazing results on the field last year, and it wasn’t an easy year for us,” general manager Yael Averbuch West says.“There’s a lot of learning and growing that we are doing as a club.”
Averbuch West and the organization are taking on every challenge, whether internal or external, with the understanding that it will not always be a smooth, upwards trajectory, but they’re okay with taking on the challenges as they come, as long as the club continues to look to improve year over year.
“We are always assessing things in terms of what’s best for the club and the player—so everything we do is an ongoing and constant assessment of that,” Averbuch West says. “Obviously in this moment I’m aware of the uncertainty and the chatter surrounding it. I think one of the hardest things for me is to be aware of that but also feel the difference between that and the confidence we have in our roster here and the direction we’re going.”
Fostering joy and development at Gotham FC
It was certainly difficult to escape the chatter around Gotham’s offseason. During NWSL Media Day last month, Lynn [Williams] Biyendolo told Pro Soccer Wire that she and the club were no longer "a fit," noting that it was "all around, on the field, off the field." On podcast, while telling host Sam Mewis what she’s looking forward to playing for her new club, the Seattle Reign, she added, “I don’t want to get into everything with the end of Gotham, but I am really excited to be a part a team that looks like they're just enjoying each other and having fun and a culture that looks like it’s a healthy, fun, loving environment to be around. I think that that’s super important. At the end of the day, it’s a game, a sport, and we should be having fun doing it.”
Several former players have similarly alluded to a lack of joy at Gotham last season along with experiencing poor communication between players and staff. For Averbuch West, acknowledging areas for improvement is a necessary aspect of growth even when it’s hard, and that change in professional sports is an inevitable part of the process.
