DENVER, COLO. — Gotham FC’s club-record unbeaten run came to an end Sunday afternoon.
After 10 consecutive regular-season matches without a loss, the Bats fell 3-0 to Denver Summit FC at Centennial Stadium, suffering their first regular-season defeat since July 4.
Gotham and Denver played a tightly contested first half, with both teams creating opportunities but neither able to find the breakthrough.
“It was a very even game,” Gotham head coach Juan Carlos Amorós said. “We knew that the first goal was going to be important.”
Denver found it five minutes into the second half.
Yuzuki Yamamoto finished off a cross from Ayo Oke five minutes into the second half to give Denver a 1-0 lead and put Gotham on the back foot.
Gotham struggled to find an equalizer as Denver continued to put pressure on the Bats. Despite maintaining possession, Gotham could not create enough clear opportunities in the final third.
That eventually caught up with the Bats in the 82nd minute.
Olivia Thomas received the ball just inside Gotham’s half, carried it into the box and fired a shot across goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger and inside the far post to double Denver’s lead.
Six minutes later, Yazmeen Ryan put the match out of reach.
Ryan exchanged passes with Natasha Flint before receiving the ball back near the top of the box. She drove toward the middle and finished past Berger to make it 3-0.
Gotham finished with nine shots and four on target but could not find the back of the net.
“We need to create more clear-cut chances,” Amorós said. “We need to have more final-third entries, more clear-cut chances where we can produce more goals.”
The defeat ended Gotham’s club-record 10-match regular-season unbeaten streak and dropped the Bats to (13-4-6) on the season. Gotham remains atop the NWSL standings with 45 points.
While the streak is over, Amorós knows losses are inevitable over the course of a long season. What matters now is how Gotham responds.
“We know how this league is. It’s a very competitive one,” Amorós said. “It’s very difficult to do what this team is doing in terms of an unbeaten run and winning every game. But this thing, losing a game can happen. It happens to all the teams.”
Gotham will have a chance to respond Friday when it continues its three-match road stretch against Racing Louisville FC at Lynn Family Stadium.
