{"id":988331,"date":"2026-08-08T05:46:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/988331\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T05:46:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:46:14","slug":"jaedyn-shaw-comes-back-to-haunt-san-diego-wave-as-gotham-fc-tighten-grip-on-nwsl-table","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/988331\/","title":{"rendered":"Jaedyn Shaw comes back to haunt San Diego Wave as Gotham FC tighten grip on NWSL table"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>HARRISON, N.J. \u2014 Gotham FC forward Jaedyn Shaw\u2019s goal against San Diego Wave on Friday night helped the 2025 NWSL champions strengthen their position at the top of the National Women\u2019s Soccer League table.<\/p>\n<p>The 21-year-old found the back of the net against her former club in the 44th minute, scoring off an assist from rookie Jordynn Dudley in Gotham\u2019s 1-0 win. Shaw calmly positioned herself in the right spot before bending the ball perfectly to slip through San Diego\u2019s crowded box.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor me, scoring goals is always amazing,\u201d a smiling Shaw said after the game. \u201cObviously, to play at home, finally, is just so nice \u2026 even through the rain, lightning, monsoon, whatever just happened a couple hours ago.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was honestly really, really amazing to score in front of our home fans, and I hope we can continue to help the team win.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mamdani on why the city partnered with Gotham FC for $5 tickets<\/p>\n<p>Lia Griffin<\/p>\n<p>The goal \u2014 Shaw\u2019s fifth of the regular season and first since May 16 \u2014 helped Gotham extend their win streak to three games. The team has a 12-3-4 (win-loss-draw) record with a seven-game unbeaten streak.<\/p>\n<p>Gotham has lost only one game since the NWSL\u2019s monthlong pause for the men\u2019s World Cup in June, falling 2-0 to San Diego on July 4. The Wave have been one of the most consistent teams in the NWSL this season and have floated at the top of the table. They are in fourth place with 32 points (10-7-2).<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of the match, acting Gotham head coach Shaun Harris emphasized the importance of creating goal-scoring opportunities in the attacking third. He described Friday night\u2019s win as a \u201creally good team performance,\u201d emphasizing Shaw\u2019s ability to come up in big moments for the club.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve spoken a lot and watched a lot of filming in the areas that she gets in,\u201d Harris said, referring to the specific shot she finessed by bending around San Diego\u2019s goalkeeper. \u201cIt\u2019s very, very difficult to defend, so that was something that we looked (at) and we worked on, so I\u2019m really pleased that she was able to execute today.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-media-max-width=\"560\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Jaedyn Shaw had that perfect bend on it \ud83e\udd0c<\/p>\n<p>Jaedyn Shaw puts Gotham FC ahead 1-0! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/EHvrEechBB\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/EHvrEechBB<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 National Women\u2019s Soccer League (@NWSL) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/NWSL\/status\/2085897624004284555?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">August 8, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Gotham has momentum in the second half of the season despite several weeks on the road and lots of change in the locker room.<\/p>\n<p>The team\u2019s head coach, Juan Carlos Amor\u00f3s, is on parental leave, and the club recently lost two of its most veteran players. Defender Emily Sonnett suffered a season-ending knee injury last month. The club also mutually agreed to terminate 2023 World Cup winner Esther Gonz\u00e1lez\u2019s contract, which ran through 2027. Citing personal reasons, the striker said she is stepping away from soccer to return to Spain.<\/p>\n<p>Former Chelsea star Sam Kerr, who played three seasons for the franchise when it was Sky Blue FC, recently re-signed with Gotham. The team also signed a pair of NWSL veterans in Ireland captain Denise O\u2019Sullivan and midfielder Meredith Speck.<\/p>\n<p>Gotham also welcomed back several players who have had long absences due to injury, including defenders Mandy Freeman and Bruninha. Midfielder Taryn Torres was also recently activated off the club\u2019s season-ending injury list, returning Friday night to roaring applause in her first home game since she tore an ACL last year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause it\u2019s my second SEI, I kind of knew what it was going to be like,\u201d Torres said, \u201cand the biggest thing that I focused on was staying present and taking it day by day. So, whether that was rehab, whether that was being positive, whether that was whatever came my way, I just stayed present. \u2026 Today, being able to be back out on the field, it\u2019s so rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Friday night marked Gotham\u2019s first match at Sports Illustrated Stadium since May 31, with an electric crowd flocking to Harrison despite severe thunderstorms and flooding in the area, making it difficult to get to the stadium.<\/p>\n<p>Gotham return to the pitch Aug. 14 against the Kansas City Current.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HARRISON, N.J. \u2014 Gotham FC forward Jaedyn Shaw\u2019s goal against San Diego Wave on Friday night helped the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":988332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,71059,5468,3549,88329,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,53703],"class_list":["post-988331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-america","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-gotham-fc","tag-nwsl","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-wave","tag-sandiego","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-womens-soccer"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117058311953199168","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/988331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=988331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/988331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/988332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=988331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=988331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=988331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}