FootyPop: Gotham Wins 2026 NWSL Shield

In this week’s women’s soccer news, Gotham officially won the NWSL Shield; the NWSL playoff picture is set; the Washington Spirit got brutal injury news; and more!

High of the Week

Gotham FC officially won their first NWSL Shield on Decision Day with a 2-0 win over the Utah Royals. They got an early goal from Guro Reiten in the eighth minute to take the lead, and then in the 80th minute Jaedyn Shaw added the insurance goal to secure the win.

Gotham has had a really impressive season, and they ended up having a regular season record of 18-5-7 with 61 points and a goal differential of 16. They’ve been really impressive at home with only one loss, which was back in March. They do have some injury concerns going into the playoffs after midfielder Jaelin Howell suffered an ankle injury in the match against Utah and the fact that they lost rookie Jordynn Dudley for the season two weeks ago.

The reigning NWSL Champions will have the road to the championship come through their home stadium. They’ll host the eight-seed Seattle Reign on November 8 at 12:30 p.m. in the quarterfinals. In the previous two meetings between these clubs, Gotham got two wins; the first was a 2-0 win in May and the second a 3-2 win in July.

Low of the Week

Unfortunately, the Washington Spirit were hit with a huge injury blow just before the playoffs. The team announced this week that midfielder Hal Hershfelt was placed on the season-ending injury list after suffering a torn ACL in their 2-1 loss to the Kansas City Current last weekend.

This season Hershfelt had played in all 29 games for the Spirit totalling 2402 minutes with one goal and one assist on the season. Since joining the Spirit in 2024, the midfielder has been a huge part of their success. She’s played in 72 matches and was instrumental in helping Washington make it to two straight NWSL Championships.

Losing a defense-minded midfielder like Hershfelt is going to be difficult for this team, but someone is going to have to step up if they want to make a playoff run. Washington has struggled as of late, but losing a player like Hal just before the playoffs is gut wrenching for this team. They have a tough task in front of them if they want to make it to the NWSL Championship and try to win a trophy in front of their home crowd at Audi Field.

News of the Week

The 2026 NWSL Playoff picture is officially set, with the date and times for all four quarterfinal matches announced. Gotham FC secured the Shield and the top seed, so they’ll host the Seattle Reign, who slid into the eighth spot with a win on Decision Day.

San Diego just missed out on the Shield, but they ended the regular season on high with a 1-0 win over in-state rivals Bay FC to secure the second seed. The Wave will host the Utah Royals on November 6 at 10 p.m. ET. During their two regular-season meetings, the Wave got two wins against the Royals with 2-1 and 4-2 scorelines. Utah comes into the game winless in their last four games, and they’ll be going against a Wave team that is building momentum.

The Washington Spirit earned the three seed after a 2-0 win over the Chicago Stars. They’ll host the Portland Thorns on Sunday, November 8 at 3 p.m. ET. This game is going to be tough for this Spirit team that has struggled as of late, especially offensively at times. Portland is going to come in and try to ruin the Spirit’s quest to win an NWSL Championship in their home stadium. Washington will certainly be feeling the pressure, but Audi Field is a tough place for opponents to play at so the Spirit will lean on the crowd to give them the advantage in this one. These two clubs opened the season against each other with Portland getting a 1-0 win and then in the second meeting Washington got their revenge with a 2-1 win.

The Kansas City Current secured the last top four seed with a 2-0 win over Racing Louisville, and they’ll host the five seed Angel City on Saturday, November 7 at 12 p.m. ET.  Angel City got a big 4-1 win over Boston Legacy to gain momentum heading into the playoffs. Angel City has looked really good in the second half of the season and haven’t lost a match since August 26th. They’re playing really well, and this is a team that can walk into the Current’s stadium and get the win. In their first meeting, Angel City got a 2-1 win and then in their second meeting of the regular season, the two clubs played to a 1-1 draw.

Anything can happen in the NWSL and especially the playoffs, so it’ll be exciting to see which teams make it to the semifinals.

Win of the Week

Angel City got a commanding win in their last regular season game of 2026 with a 4-1 scoreline over the Boston Legacy. Angel City is a team that could be a bit of a dark horse in the playoffs with the team in really good form. Nealy Martin got the scoring started, and it was a beautiful long range goal that also happened to be her first career professional goal. Then Boston was able to find the equalizer late in the first half thanks to Amanda Gutierres to tie it up going into halftime. The second half was all Angel City though, with Evelyn Shores getting the go ahead goal. Sveindís Jónsdóttir added their third goal in the 72nd minute, and then Claire Emslie got her first goal of the season in the 84th minute to wrap up the win. Getting a win like this is huge for this team that just missed out on the chance to host a quarterfinal match, but they’re able to bring the momentum from this big win into their match against the Kansas City Current next weekend.

Player of the Week

Sophia Wilson came up big for the Portland Thorns, scoring both goals in their 2-0 win over the Houston Dash. The first goal came off a tap-in in the middle of the box, and then the second was a converted penalty kick. With the two goals, she brought her season tally to 15, which is a single-season best for the forward. Six of those 15 goals have come in the last eight games for the Thorns. Having a player like Wilson gain momentum going into what is going to be a really tough match for the Thorns against the Washington Spirit in the quarterfinals is huge for this team. If they’re going to pull off the upset and knock the Spirit out of the Championship race, they’ll need Wilson to be at her best and continue her goal-scoring form.

Assist of the Week

Vanessa DiBernardo took a perfectly placed corner kick, sending the ball curling into the box for Haley Hopkins to get her head on and send it into the back of the net. It was a wonderful ball, and the assist was the midfielder’s 35th in her career, which is just one behind the league record.

Social Media Post of the Week

When Angel City is playing at home, you never know who might be in the crowd. They continuously get famous people from all facets of pop culture in their stands, and Decision Day was no different. Legendary actress Jane Fonda was caught in the stands watching Angel City get a dominating win. Fonda is best known for her role in the movie 9 to 5 or Monster-in-Law and so much more. It’s awesome to see her supporting women’s soccer and Angel City.