Denver Summit FC became the first expansion side in four seasons to beat the defending NWSL champions twice in a season after a thrilling 3-0 win over Gotham FC at Centennial Stadium in Colorado on Sunday.
The statement win brought Denver within two points of Angel City FC, which as of Sunday afternoon occupied the eighth and final playoff spot.
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Gotham and Denver were in a largely even battle for the first 45 minutes on Sunday until Denver forward Yuzuki Yamamoto took advantage of being wide open in front of the net to strike the ball with a stunning half-volley.
Denver carried the momentum for the rest of the match, sealing the win with goals by NWSL rookie Olivia Thomas and ex-Gotham forward Yazmeen Ryan in the final eight minutes.
“I would say this is like a top-five win for us, maybe even top-three,” Denver defender Ayo Oke said. “In this point in the season, we’re really trying to get a playoff spot, and these next (eight) games matter, so trying to get three points, or at least a point, every game is really important — and keeping our goal differential up, we really stress that in the locker room.”
This is a second straight win for Denver — 10th in the NWSL standings with an 8-8-6 (win-loss-draw) record — after topping last-place Chicago Stars FC 6-1 last week.
Denver’s win also snapped Gotham’s 10-match unbeaten run, which helped the team float to the top of the NWSL table in recent weeks. It was Gotham’s first loss since July 4 and the first match since head coach Juan Carlos Amoros returned from a five-week parental leave.
Gotham remains at the top of the table, with its 45 points providing a two-point cushion ahead of the Washington Spirit.
It was the second time Gotham fell to Denver this year and the first time an expansion side topped the defending champions twice in its inaugural season since Angel City topped the Washington Spirit twice in 2022.
In March, Denver topped Gotham 2-0 in what felt like a massive upset at the time. It was Denver’s first win in franchise history, which poetically came at the expense of the defending champions at home.
Now, Denver has eight wins and serious hope for a playoff spot. That they won the match at Centennial in front of their seventh sellout crowd of the season made it that much more special.
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“We were focused on ‘what are we good at’ — how can we build out, what are our strengths, and how do we put them onto Gotham and make them play in our environment,” Denver goalkeeper Kat Asman said after the game.
“There’s never going to be a team that gets to come in here and say, ‘Oh, we get to go play in Denver.’ You’re going to be saying, ‘Oh, we have to go play in Denver, and that’s exactly what we want.’ … We were fully focused on us and putting it on them, to tell them, ‘If you think you’re going to come here and get three points, you’re just dead wrong.’”
