NWSL Championship Saturday Outlook

188 games have been played this season, but it all comes down to one last match to crown the champion of the 2025 NWSL season. The 2-seed Washington Spirit are right where many expected them to be at the beginning of this playoffs, trying to avenge themselves from a 1-0 final loss in last season’s championship game to Orlando Pride. Gotham FC have defied all odds to get back to the title game, a place where they won their first and only chip just two years ago. They sat as the 8-seed when decision day matches concluded a few weeks ago, but they’ve beaten a historically good KC Current team and the reigning champions Orlando Pride to cement their rightfully earned place in the final. Both teams are looking to get their second NWSL Champion star on their badge, but who will pull through on Saturday?

Why Each Team Can Win It 

Washington Spirit

Their well-roundedness. Almost every one of their players have stolen the headlines at some point this season, and with Trinity Rodman most likely not going to start, they don’t have a bonafide superstar to lean on. Out of the 28 NWSL matchweeks thus far, a Spirit player has won player of the week 10 times, and nine (!!) different players have won it.

Their squad runs deep. They’ve made it to back-to-back finals after losing club captain Andi Sullivan, club record goalscorer Ashley Hatch, and veteran defender Casey Krueger all to pregnancy (which we wish them all the best in!). They’ve brought in young reinforcements like Sofia Cantore and Gift Monday, and the injury plague that the squad has dealt with all season is finally starting to come to an end, with (almost) a full squad ready for San Jose.

Rosemonde Kouassi. She has been tormenting defenses this playoffs and you cannot expect her to stop for the final. She had a goal ruled out in the first game against Racing Louisville and then ran the entire pitch with the ball to unselfishly tap it to Gift Monday for the first goal of the night against Portland. She is a speed demon, but you cannot count out her defensive contribution. She has one of the highest work rates in the league, so expect her to run all over Gotham.

Gotham FC

Their resilience. This team never seems to give up. Twice they were doubted, and twice they pulled out winners in stoppage time. They have the underdog title and they embrace it as their own. Gotham has not slowed down since the beginning of the playoffs, and now they have a chance to complete a historic underdog story.

Their rock-solid defense. They conceded only 25 goals this season, despite finishing in eighth, only bested by league leaders KC Current. Emily Sonnett won the 2021 Championship with her weekend foes and lost the 2024 Championship to her current team, so this one will mean a lot to her. Expect her to play like it. She also has England international Jess Carter, Rookie of the Year hopeful Lilly Reale, and young star Bruninha holding down the back line with her. One of the best keepers in the world at the moment in Ann-Katrin Berger will be commanding that back-four, so it is hard to see how this team will concede.

Jaedyn Shaw. She arrived in New York in September, her third team in as many years, and she seems to have immediately found a home. A beautiful assist to win the quarter-final and a last minute free-kick goal to win Gotham the semi-final, she has arguably solidified herself as player of this postseason. Not yet 21 years old (but she will be by Saturday!), Shaw cannot have a drink with her teammates, but she is bossing it on the biggest stage, hoping to continue her great form in the final. 

Prediction

I may be biased after covering the Spirit all year, but I have Washington edging this one out 2-1. Trinity Rodman is a lethal player off the bench, and I expect her to come on after about an hour or so and make a real difference. While the Spirit defense has shown lapses in concentration at points this season, they made a real statement against Portland, only allowing three (easy) shots on target and making Aubrey Kingsbury’s job very easy.

While Esther González is an extreme goal threat, she does not have a league goal in over two months, granted she has dealt with some injuries during that time. Tara McKeown & Co. have done a good job locking her and her teammates up in their past two meetings. Gotham does however hold the season edge, winning at Audi Field in April 3-0 with Esther getting on the scoresheet twice.

It is bound to be an exciting game. I do not think the expression “an unstoppable force meets an immovable object” has ever been more true than in the context of this game as the second ranked offense (Spirit) meets the second ranked defense (Gotham).

Saturday at 8pm EST, you will not want to miss it. You will not want to blink.

-Brian Rapuano