Jason Anderson

Last year, got a Marine Layer waxed canvas, fleece-lined coat that I'm mostly happy with. Gotta wear a hoodie or other layer underneath for it to fit right, the next size down was not for thick-neck types

I thought of it hours ago and never had time, it had to come out of my brain and go on the internet

Spirit’s run ends again in NWSL final, this time vs. Rose Lavelle and Gotham FC The star U.S. midfielder scored in the 80th minute for the New Jersey-based team as Washington fell, 1-0, for the second straight year.

“I think it’s a big shock. This group completely believed that we would win. There was really no scenario where we didn’t lift that trophy today.”

The Washington Spirit’s run ends again in the NWSL final — this time against Rose Lavelle and Gotham FC. Reporting from PayPal Park:

It's after 1:30am ET, I'm not in San Jose with my woso pals, so that means I've had one (1) beer and made the stupidest thing I could make

Tell me more about this beverage pls

g+ GameFlow: NWSL Playoffs Washington Spirit v NJ/NY Gotham FC on November 22, 2025. #WASvNJ/NY ⚽️🤖

Appreciate it!

‘Gotham DNA’: Gotham FC Cements Status As NWSL’s Most Clutch Team Under Pressure Gotham won its second NWSL Championship in three years, defeating the Washington Spirit 1–0, with a mix of star power and pure determination.

“I think every single person on the field had that dawg in them"

Midge Purce, Cuban cigars, big moments, thriving under pressure and "Gotham DNA".

My story from another legacy building night for Gotham FC as they win their 2nd #NWSL Championship Final in San Jose.
www.si.com/soccer/gotha...

How was the pie? I was going to get one but the Taco Bell I tried didn't have them

An absolutely beaming Juan Carlos Amorós:

"A dream come true for everyone, for the players, for the staff, for the club... I'm just a guy from a neighborhood in Madrid that loves soccer, and I'm here winning my second championship."

Asked a nerd question about denying access to Spirit 10s, and Emily Sonnett said Gotham's shape was "a little bit different today" with that in mind.

"We still try to get a press on, because we knew that would probably hurt them, or make them play in a way that we wanted them to play."

You think people forgot about Lodeiro more than Miklos Molnar?

Another masterstroke for sure. That team pre-Gomez was either just Moreno accompanied by a back-alley brawl, or when they wanted to play a bit it was a child playing the 10

The Gotham players are outside their bus with a massive boombox, partying to the men's Champions League theme song aka Handel's 'Zadok The Priest'.

Top 5 in a league this old, no. But like, top 5 instant impact? I think so, yeah. It's like him, Messi...and then you have to go back to Jaime Moreno's arrival midseason in 96 or something?

Aubrey Kingsbury:

"Ultimately, I think we just didn't do enough to threaten Gotham... For whatever reason – Gotham's press was good, maybe just a little nerves, but I just don't think we saw the absolute best of the Spirit."

(? from @sandraherrera.bsky.social)

Adrián González on the Hershfelt substitution:

"With Hal's situation, we were receiving information that she wanted to continue, that she was trying [to do so]... It is circumstances that we need to learn [from]. Obviously now we can say the sub was late."

(? from @jeffreycarlisle.bsky.social)

Pre-game, Kelley O'Hara mentioned Schupansky (who is largely recognized for her assists) in talking about denying the Spirit access to their 10s.

Those Santos stats I pulled are a product of tactics, but it took a Howell+Schupansky masterclass to make the tactics work.

Trinity Rodman on love from Spirit fans:

“I’ve always talked about how great the @spiritsquadron.bsky.social is, and DC as a whole, and we’re really bummed we couldn’t be having a parade now going back hopefully they’re still proud and we can try again next year.”

Mandy Freeman deserves a lot of praise for hanging on through the darkest days, and has also truly raised her game and evolved in that time to get to the point where she's captaining a champion.

Doing my level best to simply not let info on Whitecaps-LAFC to enter my brain.

MLS playoff scheduling has been a mess, but this particular game overlapping the NWSL championship...I cannot condone this behavior.

Trinity Rodman on the back knock she took at the end of the game, “I need the year to be over. To be honest, I need a break and a reset. the knock didn't feel great, not too happy about it, but I have off time now, so that's all I care about.”

Gotham forced Leicy Santos, one of the world's best playmakers, into this stat line as a passer:

30-for-45 (66.7%)
0 key passes
1-for-3 long balls
0-for-2 crosses

She basically became a ball-winner only. Did well at that side of things, but was cut out of the game.

Lots of talk about the Spirit's striker situation in the context of two 1-0 losses in finals.

Last year with 27 shots, I get it. This year? 5 box entries in 90. That's not a striker problem.

Of the 21 non-NWSL/Bay staff folks on the postgame zoom, there are 8 every-week Spirit media members, and at least 3 more are at PayPal Park.

Warms my heart tbh. Not to "back in my day" it but there was a point in early 2019 where I was the Fresh Prince empty room meme at the Plex.

This is the flip side of the substitution: the Spirit have had an unshakable faith in one another, it's where all those last-second game-winning/equalizing goals came from this year.

Definitely easy to say "make the sub" for media as outsiders, we don't have those same bonds with that group.

The other, less discussed thing I think is that Purce's return as a starter was a big upgrade over their other wing options. Geyse and Portilho are good players but Purce's willingness to be an actual winger opens up so much for those in the middle

Do you want to be one injury to a notoriously injury-prone player from falling that far?

Spirit are a useful contrast on that front, given the names they were missing all year.

Execution wasn't there in this one, moreso than last year (where they created 27 shots). I strongly feel that the other 55 or so games over the last 2 seasons indicate a lot more than 2 finals, & that the 2 finals played out rather differently under the hood, but that's a hard sell at the moment

It was definitely not a great final in terms of winning over new folks. Not the scrappiest NWSL final ever (2017 was basically a fist fight) but close to it.