The Rose Lavelle touch finds Esther – Equalizer Soccer

Photo Credit: Mike Watters-Imagn Images

Gotham has not had a lot to cheer about in 2025, especially as it pertains to scoring goals. But the first of the two they netted in Orlando over the weekend was a work of beauty. It showcased not only several of the tenets that head coach Juan Carlos Amoros preaches, but also the subtle brilliance of USWNT midfielder Rose Lavelle. Let’s take a look.

For starters, to watch this goal is to be reminded how unusual it is for NWSL teams to pull back and reset an attack that has reached the final third. In these first two stills, the ball has been advanced up near the opposing 18 and then played all the way back to an admittedly high-sitting keeper, Ann-Katrin Berger. The Pride broke up the play just after the first, but Gotham won the ball back immediately and, spearheaded by Lavelle, took the patient route and reset the play.

After Gotham recycled back to their keeper, the deliberate play continued. Berger played the ball to the left side, and with minimal pressure from the Pride, it made its way over to the right. From there, Emily Sonnett decides to break lines and pass to midfield. Look how open Josefine Hasbo is to accept the ball from Sonnett. If the Pride were not focused on pressuring the Gotham back line, and there was no one close enough to spit on Hasbo, where exactly was the defense?

After Hasbo collected the ball, she took a few dribbles and found Bruninha hugging the right flank. Bruninha took a few dribbles of her own and returned the ball to the center of the park for the first of two picturesque Lavelle touches. Below is Lavelle, under token pressure, just before a one-touch pass to Gabi Portilho, who is the player just above her and near the edge of the 18. There is one Pride player between them.

Lavelle never stopped moving after the ball left her foot, and she hustled to get in place to take the return pass from Portilho. Haley McCutcheon has position on Lavelle, but Lavelle muscles through her mark to make a 50/50 challenge out of what appeared to be a disadvantageous position. That 50/50 ball went to Esther Gonzalez, and the Spanish wunderkind did the rest.

Esther’s 12th goal of the season gave Gotham a lead they would not relinquish and placed her ahead of Kansas City’s Temwa Chawinga in the Golden Boot race.

Below is the full sequence. And for this week’s bonus track, KK Reem will have more clinical finishes, but this one helped her displace Olivia Moultrie as the youngest goal-scorer in NWSL regular season history.