Gotham FC Tie With Houston Dash On The Road
Gotham FC earned its second draw and first clean sheet of the 2025 season Friday night in a 0-0 road result against the Houston Dash at Shell Energy Stadium.
Houston Dash 0 Gotham FC 0
Report by GothamFC.com
Gotham limited Houston to the fewest shots of any NWSL team this season, conceding the first shot on target in the 88th minute and holding the Dash to a meager 0.11 expected goals. The visitors did so despite losing star center back and captain Tierna Davidson to a leg injury in the 44th minute.
With the draw, Gotham FC is now 9-1-6 over its past 16 road games across all competitions dating to May 2024.
“We are very, very proud of the performance in every aspect of the game apart from obviously scoring the goal that would’ve given us the win,” Gotham FC coach Juan Carlos Amorós said. “I think the team showed our identity. The players performed in a very difficult place really, really well. Defensively the team gave a masterclass for 80 minutes playing in such a difficult place.
“For the team to come back and do how they did – it’s never easy when the captain and center back needs to come off in the moment she did. And the team didn’t change one bit. Credit to (defender Mandy Freeman) and to the rest of her teammates. I’m very proud of them. I’m just obviously gutted we didn’t get the three points.”
Clean Sheet
The draw moves Gotham FC (0-1-2, 2 points) into a tie for eighth place in the NWSL standings with matches still to be played this weekend. Gotham led in most key statistical categories, including shots (9-3), possession (59.1%) and crosses (24-6).
Defender Emily Sonnett, in addition to helping lead the backline to a clean sheet, attempted 76 passes, the most by a Gotham FC player in the regular season this year, completing 73 of them (96.1%).
“There’s definitely value with clean sheets,” said Sonnett. “If you’re looking at metrics, our Orlando game was really, really good in terms of in-play defense if you’re talking about that. I think being able to build on that going into this game was really, really good.”
Gotham FC Line Up
Gotham FC (4-3-3)
30 – Ann-Katrin Berger (GK); 27 – Jess Carter, 15 – Tierna Davidson (C) (43’ 22 – Mandy Freeman), 6 – Emily Sonnett, 4 – Lily Reale; 7 – Jaelin Howell, 8 – Taryn Torres (58’ 14 – Nealy Martin), 11 – Sarah Schupansky (58’ 18 – Gabi Portilho); 3 – Bruninha (‘81 17 – Mak Whitham), 9 – Esther González, 13 – Ella Stevens
Head coach: Juan Carlos Amorós
Houston Dash (4-3-3)
1 – Jane Campbell (GK) (C); 15 – Avery Patterson, 14 – Paige Nielsen, 25 – Katie Lind, 4 – Natalie Jacobs; 24 – Danielle Colaprico, 23 – Maggie Graham, 8 – Delanie Sheehan (61’ 28 – Ramona Bachmann); 10 – Bárbara Olivieri (61’ 7 – Evelina Duljan), 11 – Yazmeen Ryan, 21 – Ryan Gareis (76’ 6 – Messiah Bright)
Head coach: Fabrice Gautrat
Next Up For Gotham FC
The league takes next week off for international play. Gotham FC’s next match is on April 13, when it faces the North Carolina Courage at 4 p.m. ET at Sports Illustrated Stadium.