Gotham FC’s championship core will carry the club’s momentum into the international window next month.
Defenders Lilly Reale and Emily Sonnett and midfielders Rose Lavelle and Jaedyn Shaw were named to Emma Hayes’ 26-player U.S. Women’s National Team roster for the 2026 SheBelieves Cup. Gotham’s four selections are the most of any NWSL club on the roster.
The quartet were key pieces in Gotham’s 2025 season, when the club won the NWSL Championship and the Concacaf W Champions Cup before adding a bronze medal at the 2026 FIFA Women’s Champions Cup in January. Gotham became just the fourth club in league history to win multiple NWSL titles, doing it with a roster that blended veteran experience and emerging talent.
Lavelle and Sonnett bring that experience to the national team. Lavelle has 116 caps and 27 goals for the USWNT. She scored the latest regulation game-winning goal in NWSL Championship history to secure Gotham’s title and finished the regular season with five goals and two assists. She was later named U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year after a season in which she consistently controlled matches in midfield.
Sonnett, who has 113 caps, started all 26 regular season matches in 2025, becoming the first player in club history to do so. She anchored a back line that recorded 11 clean sheets and allowed 25 goals in 26 matches. Her steady presence was central to the defensive consistency that defined Gotham’s title run.
Shaw’s call-up follows a strong finish to the season. She has 31 caps and nine goals for the USWNT and tied a Gotham playoff record with three goal contributions during the 2025 postseason. That included a stoppage-time free-kick winner in the semifinal, one of several moments in which she delivered when Gotham needed it most.
Reale’s selection continues her rapid rise. The 2025 NWSL Rookie of the Year and U.S. Soccer Young Female Player of the Year appeared in all 26 regular season matches and led Gotham with 36 interceptions. Her reading of the game and ability to break up plays strengthened one of the league’s top defenses in her first professional season.
The USWNT will open tournament play against Argentina on March 1 at GEODIS Park in Nashville, Tennessee. The team will face Canada on March 4 in Columbus, Ohio, before closing the tournament against Colombia on March 7 at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey. The final match gives Gotham supporters a chance to see four of the club’s players represent the national team on their home field.
This year’s SheBelieves Cup features an updated format. Matches tied at the end of regulation will go directly to penalty kicks, with an additional point awarded to the shootout winner.
