Welcome to this week’s edition of Goalside Gossip!

Five games left for most of the league, and the table is starting to squeeze. Gotham booked a playoff spot with a stoppage time winner in Cary, San Diego ended a long wait against Kansas City, Houston won the first game after a coaching change, and Utah had a night they'd rather forget.

Off the pitch, Trinity Rodman tied a league record, Savannah DeMelo sued the doctors who treated her before her collapse, new filings showed eight misconduct complaints to the league this year, and Vlatko Andonovski picked the last place team as his next project.

Let's get into it.

Game Summaries (NWSL):

News:

Kansas City arrived at Snapdragon on an eight game scoring streak and left without a goal, largely because Sandra Paños kept the first half scoreless. San Diego won 2-0 for their first ever home win over the Current.

The breakthrough came five minutes after the break. Melanie Barcenas whipped a cross to the back post and it went in off Kansas City defender Laney Rouse, an own goal that set the tone for her night. Rouse picked up a second yellow late, and San Diego made the extra player count almost immediately.

Kenza Dali swung in a free kick in the 91st and Kennedy Wesley headed it home. The Wave now hold club records for wins (14), home wins (8), and points (45), with five games still to play.

Gotham needed a win to lock up a playoff place and got it about as late as possible. Rookie Jordynn Dudley scored twice, the second one minute into stoppage time, and with other results going their way, that clinched Gotham's fourth straight trip to the postseason.

Dudley opened it in the 8th minute, carving through the Courage back line off a layoff from Sam Kerr. North Carolina thought Ashley Sanchez had leveled right after halftime, but VAR ruled the buildup offside, so she stays stuck on 19, one short of the record. Natalia Staude did get the Courage level in the 69th, smacking in a rebound off a corner.

Then Kerr headed a recycled corner back across goal, Rose Lavelle kept it alive, and Dudley bundled in the winner in the 91st. It was the first brace of her career, in front of a sellout crowd of 10,551, one of the biggest the Courage have ever drawn. Gotham are five points clear at the top.

Utah's evening was effectively over by the 24th minute. Captain Paige Cronin was sent off after a VAR check in the 11th, Ana Tejada followed 13 minutes later, and the Royals lost 3-0 at home after playing with nine for more than 65 minutes.

Ally Sentnor buried the penalty that came with the second red. Substitute Taylor Suarez made it two just after halftime off a Gisele Thompson pass, and Sveindís Jónsdóttir stripped the ball deep in Utah's half and finished in the 67th.

Angel City had 74% of the ball and 23 shots. Mandy McGlynn made seven saves to stop it getting uglier. The result lifts Angel City into sixth and drops Utah to fifth.

A week after parting ways with head coach Fabrice Gautrat and technical director Twila Kilgore, Houston went to Rhode Island and won. The 2-1 result snapped a four game winless run and gave interim coach Jaime Frias a win in his first match in charge.

Danny Colaprico opened the scoring right before halftime, her first goal for the Dash and her first anywhere since 2022. Boston answered in the 59th through Aïssata Traoré, who has now scored in five straight games.

The winner came in the 85th. Substitute Messiah Bright headed a Khyah Harper cross off the woodwork and tucked in the rebound. Boston kept coming, but Jane Campbell made 10 saves and passed 100 for the season along the way.

A week after her DC to Queens sprint, Trinity Rodman was back at her day job, and she's still very good at it. She scored in the seventh minute at Chicago, lifting a shot over Alyssa Naeher off a Hal Hershfelt pass, and the Spirit won 3-0.

That goal was her ninth game winning contribution of the season, which ties the league single season record. She added an assist late, lofting a cross for substitute Tamara Bolt, whose header was her first NWSL goal. Andi Sullivan scored the other from the spot, her first regular season goal since May 2024.

Sandy MacIver made five saves for her tenth clean sheet, a club single season record. Washington sit second, and Rodman has 11 goals with five games to go.

On the one year anniversary of her collapse in Seattle, Savannah DeMelo said publicly for the first time what happened: an undiagnosed cardiac arrhythmia sent her into cardiac arrest. The same week, she sued two doctors and University of Louisville Health, alleging they missed it.

The complaint says she reported chest pain, dizziness, and shortness of breath in March 2025 and was sent to a cardiologist, six months before the collapse. She's seeking damages for lost income and what the suit calls a permanent impairment to her ability to earn. None of it has been tested in court, and UofL Health has declined to comment on pending litigation.

It was the second cardiac scare of the 2025 season, after Angel City's Savy King collapsed that May, and Racing's medical partnership with UofL is expected to end this year. The better news: DeMelo is back in full training and could return as soon as Friday against San Diego, with most of a new contract already agreed. All of this while Racing's ownership explores a sale or relocation of the club.

The NWSL received eight complaints of sexual misconduct, sexual harassment, or retaliation between February and July, according to documents obtained by Defector. The filings go to the attorneys general of Illinois, Washington DC, and New York, which the league must update twice a year under its 2025 abuse settlement.

What's actually in them is mostly black ink. Clubs are coded as Teams B, C, D, and E, and the accused, the club names, and every outcome are redacted. The only unredacted words tied to Team C describe sexually inappropriate comments.

It's a jump from last year, when the same window produced five complaints, none involving sexual misconduct. There's a paper trail problem, too. The settlement requires player safety survey results to be shared with the states, but records custodians told Defector the league shares them in live presentations, so no documents exist. Neither the league nor the NWSL Players Association responded to requests for comment.

Ten days after leaving Kansas City, Vlatko Andonovski has a new job, and it may be the hardest one in the league. The Stars hired him as chief soccer officer four days after being eliminated from playoff contention, with the club on track to break its own record for goals conceded.

He's not pretending otherwise. He told ESPN that Chicago will very much be a project, and that's the appeal. He talked to six clubs before choosing the Stars. First jobs: hire a technical director and a head coach, then rebuild the roster for 2027. He points to Gotham and Orlando, both struggling not long before they won titles, as proof it can turn quickly.

Club president Karen Leetzow says money was never the problem, bad sporting decisions were. She'd already started hiring staff who worked with him in Kansas City before she knew he'd be available. Majority owner Laura Ricketts is backing the spend.