Gotham’s players — some of them, at least — lined up to receive their shiny new championship rings.
There were smiles and hugs, photo ops and cheers from a hearty home crowd.
Except, that was last year’s team.
This year’s team is still figuring it out.
On Sunday night, the work in progress of Gotham’s vastly changed All-Star roster meant a 1-1 draw with the Kansas City Current in front of 8,573 fans in the team’s regular-season opener at Red Bull Arena.
“If I’m any team out there, I would look at our roster and say, ‘Holy s–t, like, I’m scared of that,’ ” Gotham forward Lynn Williams said. “I think that it’s just going to take a second for us to jell, find our way. We’re three games in and … four points [at 1-1-1]. It’s not terrible.”
The game changed after halftime, when Crystal Dunn and Jenna Nighswonger were introduced as substitutes and Williams, who had been sidelined due to a thigh injury, came in to make her season debut.
“It is probably the best roster in the league,” Kansas City coach Vlatko Andonovski said before the match. “They have one of the best players or [international-caliber players] at every single spot, if not two in some of them. Which makes them a very, very tough opponent.”
Esther González equalized in the 51st minute, floating in for a beautiful header off Yazmeen Ryan’s corner kick.
Kansas City, which entered at a perfect 3-0-0 with 11 total goals, had gone in front in the 17th minute.
Temwa Chawinga hit some kind of video-game turbo button and sped past five Gotham players before slotting past an otherwise unruffled Cassie Miller.
“In the second half, we did play a bit better, and I think that is a glimpse of who this team is, we’re a hard team to beat,” Dunn said.
Then a stage was wheeled out and a ring celebration began, some five months after the trophy-winning fact.
Ali Krieger, the captain of last season’s team, was the night’s unofficial host, and was feted accordingly.
Other members of the 2023 squad were there in street clothes.
Dunn and Tierna Davidson, two of the offseason’s marquee free-agent additions, disappeared from the field.
Fellow newcomers Rose Lavelle, Emily Sonnett and Sam Hiatt, along with rookie Maycee Bell, watched from a distance.
“This is for the girls who won it last year, and that’s amazing,” Dunn said. “And you know, I’ve been successful in my years, I’ve won four, and I’m comfortable in who I am and what I’ve accomplished. And I feel like this is a moment where people can really celebrate and feel connected with the group that went on and won last year.”
And now they have a fresh reminder — the ones with new jewelry on their fingers and the sparkly roster additions who have been handed a chance to make more history — of the objective for 2024.
“I’ve played this game long enough,” Dunn said, “to know that sometimes the start of the season does not really give the full picture of what it’s soon to blossom into.”
