Gotham FC Earns First Clean Sheet of 2025 Season in Scoreless Draw at Houston

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.

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.”

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.”

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.

Key Match Points

• Gotham FC now holds a record of 11-9-6 against Houston and a 5-3-4 record away from home against the Dash.
• Gotham held Houston to three shots, with the first shot coming in first-half stoppage time.
• Goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger earned her first clean sheet of the 2025 campaign and her ninth career clean sheet for the club.
• Defender Mandy Freeman passed Erica Skroski for second in club history with her 97th regular season appearance. She passed Kelley O’Hara to become fifth in club history in regular season minutes played (now 7,177).
• Midfielder Jaelin Howell led all players in duels won (8) and possessions won (9).

Gotham FC at Houston Dash

Friday, March 28, 2025

8 p.m. ET kickoff

Shell Energy Stadium, Houston

Attendance: 5,658

Weather: 70 degrees, partly cloudy

Gotham FC (0, 0 – 0)

Orlando Pride (0, 0 – 0)

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

Stats Summary

GFC / HOU

Expected Goals: 0.38 / 0.11

Shots: 9 / 3

Shots on Goal: 2 / 1

Saves: 1 / 2

Corner Kicks: 2 / 2

Fouls: 20 / 15

Offside: 0 / 4

Misconduct Summary:

Gotham FC

36’ Bruninha (Yellow Card - Reckless Offense)

Houston Dash

52’ Bárbara Olivieri (Yellow Card - Tactical Foul)

80’ Maggie Graham (Yellow Card - Reckless Offense)

Officials

Referee: Shawn Tehini

Assistant Referee 1: Darren Bandy

Assistant Referee 2: Seun Yinka-Kehinde

4th Official: Jordan Gray

VAR: Kevin Broadley

AVAR: Christian Clerc

Key Quote

Forward Sarah Schupansky:

Thoughts on tonight's match…

“It was definitely a physical match. Houston came out with a really good game plan. They played us very well. I thought defensively we did great tonight. Our back line adjusted very well. Unfortunately Tierna (Davidson) went down pretty early on, but Emily Sonnett and Mandy Freeman came on and did a great job keeping us strong back there and making sure we went through the rest of the game with confidence. Juan keeps reiterating that this is a process and it’s just step by step. We needed to be a little more effective in the final third, but with time that will come. We’re doing all the hard work, now we just have to finish it off.”