Gotham FC celebrates winning NWSL championship with parade, keys to the city from Mayor Eric Adams

Gotham FC lives by the mantra: “Always building, never finished.”

But the job was finished Saturday night, when Gotham won the National Women’s Soccer League title — its second in the last three years — with a 1-0 victory over the Washington Spirit in San Jose, California.

Gotham, which became the lowest-seeded team to win an NWSL title as the eighth and final team in the postseason field, was celebrated Monday morning with a ceremony at City Hall in lower Manhattan.

The event started with a short procession that began at Barclay Street and traveled north along Broadway to City Hall, where Gotham players and officials addressed fans. Mayor Eric Adams awarded the team keys to New York City.

“It is such an honor to be able to represent the New York/New Jersey sports market,” said midfielder Rose Lavelle, who was named MVP of the championship game after scoring in the 80th minute, to the crowd. “I think it's such a special thing to be a part of, and something we don't take lightly at all. So thank you [fans] so much for believing in us, for supporting us all season long.

“Hopefully this is not the last time we'll be doing this. Hopefully there's many more from this.”

Gotham FC identifies with both New York and New Jersey and plays its home games at Sports Illustrated Stadium (formerly Red Bull Arena) in Harrison, New Jersey. But plenty of Long Islanders were part of the championship celebration.

Sag Harbor’s Robyn Mott, 44, and her daughter Teagan, 12, left at 5 a.m. Monday and were part of a group that took the train from Ronkonkoma.

“We're just here to support the team and the people,” Mott said. “We've never been at one before. So we were like, ‘All right, let's go. Let's go in and see.’ … We're not avid soccer fans, we’re avid athletes. And women's sports is just great.”

Did the day match expectations?

“It really did, and then some,” Mott said. “And then some, for sure. Some really great speakers, powerful women.”

The speakers from the team included club governor Carolyn Tisch Blodgett, coach Juan Carlos Amorós, general manager Yael Averbuch West, forward Jaedyn Shaw, Lavelle and captain Mandy Freeman.

While the words “always building, never finished” may define the franchise, Shaw had a different, viral motto that epitomized the championship run. She said, “underdog, my [expletive],” after the team’s 2-1 upset win over top-seeded Kansas City Current, who had the most points in NWSL history this season, in the quarterfinals on Nov. 9. Katie Stengel scored the winning goal in the 121st minute, and Shaw had a goal and an assist.

Gotham FC then earned a 1-0 semifinal win over the Orlando Pride, the defending NWSL champions, on Nov. 16. Shaw had the winning goal in the 97th minute.

“They wanted to win, but they knew that to do that, they needed to do it not only for themselves, but for the person next to them,” Amorós said. “And that's what has driven us, not only to be the champions of the country, to be the champions of the continent, and we are never finished. Our next stage is we want to be the champions of the world.”

Gotham FC won the first CONCACAF W Champions Cup, an annual continental club competition, in May. In January, Gotham FC will participate in the semifinals of the first FIFA Women’s Champions Cup in London.

“It’s amazing,” said Mount Sinai native Ryan Maurer, 34, who attended the parade. “New York’s where sports are — 2023 Gotham, 2024 Liberty, 2025 Gotham again. We're just going to keep going. New York's where it’s at.”