Gotham FC's Mandy Freeman: "Nothing bonds a team like an international trip"

Gotham FC defender Mandy Freeman met with reporters on Friday, speaking from Spain after the first week of preseason training with her squad.

The club is training at the immaculate Marbella Football Center in Spain, with two closed-door scrimmages on tap while there. Freeman talked about Gotham's nine new additions and how the team is jelling in its first two weeks together ahead of the 2025 NWSL season.

“Nothing,” Freeman said, “bonds a team like an international trip.”

With the returns of a number of key players and the addition of five standout rookies, plus Olympics star Gabi Portilho, veteran midfielder Jaelin Howell and goalkeeper Shelby Hogan, Freeman said she was excited about the possibilities for Gotham’s 2025 squad.

“I think the potential is limitless at this point,” Freeman said. “We have a new squad, and it's a lot to build off of, but we also have a core group and a lot of experience still. We've got [Emily] Sonnett and Tierna [Davidson] holding it down in the back line, so our back line is still something that we want to keep solid. We had a pretty good record defensively last year, so that's a standard that we really want to continue to uphold. Offensively, we have a lot of creativity up top, so having exciting games [and] scoring goals is still always going to be at the top of our to-do list and really honing in on our style. We have a lot of new faces, so [we’re] training [towards] our specific style, [including how] we like to high press. There's going to be a little bit of a learning curve when it comes to that, but I think we still have the potential to finish high this year.”