Gotham beats Seattle 1-0 on an own goal without a shot on target and reaches the NWSL semifinals

HARRISON, N.J. Jordyn Bugg’s own goal in the opening minutes gave Gotham FC a 1-0 win over the Seattle Reign on Sunday, and the NWSL Shield winners reached the semifinals of the NWSL Playoffs without recording a shot on goal.

Gotham (18-7-5) entered as the No. 1 seed after winning the Shield for the league’s best regular season record, and the club reached the semifinals for the fourth straight year. Seattle (14-5-11), the No. 8 seed, had taken the last playoff place on Decision Day. The numbers ran against the hosts for most of the afternoon. Seattle outshot Gotham 11-5, held an expected goals edge of 0.53 to 0.16, and put three shots on goal to Gotham’s none.

The only goal came from a Jaedyn Shaw corner kick in the opening minutes. Shaw drove the ball low toward the front post, and Bugg, attempting to clear, sliced it past her own goalkeeper, Claudia Dickey, and into the net. The official scoring summary credits the goal to the 4th minute.

Gotham’s match report calls Gotham the first team in league history to win a playoff game without a shot on goal. Ann-Katrin Berger made three saves to hold the lead, and Dickey finished without a credited save, on a day when the winning team’s attack produced five shots and none on target.

Jess Fishlock produced Seattle’s best first half chances in the final match of her career. She spotted Berger off her line and tried to chip her from near midfield, and Berger recovered to make the save. In the 36th minute Fishlock intercepted a Tierna Davidson pass and struck a shot that rolled just wide of the near post. In first half stoppage time, her flick from a Nérilia Mondésir corner put Sofia Huerta in at the edge of the area, and Huerta’s first time effort rose over the crossbar.

Seattle pressed harder after halftime. Mondésir shot from a tight angle at the near post in the 49th minute. Mia Fishel rolled Davidson with a turn and shot left-footed toward the top corner, and Berger denied her with a fingertip save. In the 51st minute Huerta picked out Fishlock near the top of the box, and Fishlock’s curled effort missed the top corner by inches. Seattle put the ball in the net in the 59th minute, Mondésir finishing after Fishlock latched onto a through ball from Maddie Mercado, but the goal was ruled out because Fishlock was offside when Mercado played the ball. Berger’s third save came in the 71st minute, a diving stop on Mercado after Fishlock had intercepted a pass and played her into the box. Substitute Sally Menti cut a shot back across goal in the 84th minute, beating Berger and missing the near post by inches.

Gotham’s closest chance at a second goal came in the 58th minute, when Davidson’s header from a corner kick took a deflection on its way through and Dickey scrambled to pull it away. The official stats line credits Dickey with no save in the match.

“If you look at the commitment and the work from absolutely everyone on that pitch to make sure that they were not scoring that goal to equalize, outstanding,” Gotham coach Juan Carlos Amorós said.

Fishlock, 39, came off in the 75th minute for Menti. Seattle’s match recap calls her the club’s last remaining player from its 2013 originals, and Sunday was the last match of her career. She finished her final season with four goals and an assist, per the same recap.

Up Next: Gotham hosts No. 4 seed Kansas City in the semifinals on Sunday, Nov. 15, at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island in New York City, at 3 p.m. ET on ABC. The league moved the match from Sports Illustrated Stadium after the pitch there was judged unfit following the quarterfinal. Seattle’s season is over.

Scoring summary: Gotham FC 1, Seattle Reign FC 0. Goal: Gotham, Bugg own goal 4. Halftime: Gotham 1, Seattle 0. Attendance: 11,328.