Res. No. 578

Resolution celebrating the NJ/NY Gotham FC’s winning of the 2023 National Women’s Soccer League Championship.

By Council Members Hanif, De La Rosa, Hudson, Menin, Rivera, Cabán and Gutiérrez

Whereas, The New Jersey/New York Gotham Football Club (Gotham FC) won its first National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) Championship on November 11, 2023, at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego by a score of 2-1 over the Olympique Lyonnais Reign (OL Reign), rebranded in 2024 as the Seattle Reign FC; and

Whereas, Gotham FC had to win all three of its playoff matches on the road in away games rather than in its home Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey; and

Whereas, The NWSL Championship win marked an extraordinary turnaround for the Gotham FC, which had finished last in the league just one year earlier in 2022; and

Whereas, Gotham FC captain, Olympian, and two-time United States (U.S.) Women’s World Cup championship team player Ali Krieger retired from the sport after playing all 300 minutes of the playoff games leading to the NWSL Championship; and

Whereas, Both Gotham FC goals were scored off assists by Margaret “Midge” Purce, with one goal by Lynn Williams, who became the first player ever to play in four winning NWSL Championship games, and one goal by Spain’s 2023 Women’s World Cup championship team player Esther González; and

Whereas, One of only two players ever to record two assists in an NWSL Championship game, Purce was named the NWSL Championship’s Most Valuable Player; and

Whereas, The only OL Reign goal was scored by Rose Lavelle, who then joined Gotham FC in time for the 2024 season; and

Whereas, The NWSL Championship game was also the final game to be played by OL Reign star and worldwide soccer icon Megan Rapinoe, who left the field after being injured in the sixth minute of the game; and

Whereas, Gotham FC coach Juan Carlos Amorós is only the fourth coach to win an NWSL Championship in a coach’s first year with a team; and

Whereas, Gotham FC’s newest arrivals, like Lavelle, join a team already boasting World-Cup-winning U.S. Women’s National Team players, like Williams and Purce; and

Whereas, Gotham FC general manager Yael Averbuch West noted recently that his hope for the team’s future is a “big vision” to become “the global capital of women’s soccer”; now, therefore, be it

                     Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York celebrates the NJ/NY Gotham FC’s winning of the 2023 National Women’s Soccer League Championship.

LS #16320

5/1/2024

RHP