NJ/NY Gotham FC has been here before. In California, appearing in the National Women’s Soccer League championship match, having entered the playoffs as the last seed. And the last time all that happened, in 2023, they won. It was the team’s first NWSL Championship title, and it was Spanish striker Esther González’s first season in the league.
“[The 2023 final] is fresh in my memory and feels very similar,” Esther says. “The results weren’t great at the end of the regular season, but the playoffs came, and we were very determined. It feels like déjà vu because we come to this final with the same feelings.”
Esther has been a key part of Gotham’s road to the final this season. The 32-year-old was the Golden Boot leader for much of the year before an injury sidelined her towards the latter end of the season.
The Spanish striker made her first appearance for Gotham since mid-October in the team’s semifinal win against Orlando on Nov. 16, and she’s feeling good and ready for Saturday’s matchup against the Washington Spirit.
“Being able to finish the season on the field and having the opportunity to play 90 minutes [in the semifinal] against Orlando was a really good feeling,” Esther says. “I’m coming into the final with momentum.”
Entering the postseason as the eighth seed, Gotham had to knock off the Shield winners, Kansas City Current, in the quarterfinals before taking on the Orlando Pride to punch their ticket to the final. But the team never considered itself a typical eighth seed. Injuries marred Gotham for much of the season, and just a few narrow results breaking a different way could have had the team finishing in the top four. But Esther isn’t making any excuses. In fact, midfielder Jaedyn Shaw scoffed at the idea of Gotham being considered an underdog after the quarterfinal, and Esther agrees.
“I think that finishing in [the eighth seed] doesn’t reflect our true potential, or at least that’s how I feel,” Esther says. “It’s been a somewhat atypical season, but we’re not making excuses. Ultimately, we have faith in all the players we have now, and above all, we’re prepared and have a positive mindset, knowing that we have a great opportunity and we have to work hard because Washington is a great team.”
Esther’s teammate, Midge Purce, agrees, and while she sees some similarities to the 2023 season on paper, she knows that Gotham is a team built to compete and ready for this moment.
“I think to people looking in, it feels [similar to 2023] because we did a terrible job at securing our playoff seed, and that was unfortunate,” Purce said, speaking with the media ahead of the final. “2023 was truly a Cinderella story where we overcame, but I don’t look at this time now and think Cinderella.”
