Gotham FC and Orlando Pride Play to 0-0 Draw as Berger and Moorhouse Shut Down the Champions' Rematch

The last two NWSL champions met on a Sunday night in Harrison, with Barbra Banda and Esther González on the field and a 2025 semifinal rematch on the marquee. Ninety-plus minutes later, the scoreboard had not moved once.

Gotham FC and the Orlando Pride played to a 0-0 draw at Sports Illustrated Stadium in front of 6,009 fans. Gotham owned the ball and the corner count, Orlando had the sharper looks at goal, and Ann-Katrin Berger and Anna Moorhouse made sure neither approach paid off. Per Gotham, it was the first draw between the clubs since 2023.

Orlando Fires First

For a game with no goals, the opening half hour had a surprising amount of goalkeeping. Orlando went straight at Berger, with Angelina forcing a low save from outside the box in the seventh minute off a Haley McCutcheon pass. Oihane Hernández sailed one over after a corner in the 16th, and in the 26th minute Jacqueline Ovalle tried her luck from a tight angle on the right, only for Berger to save it at the top corner.

Gotham took a while to find its feet, with Katie Lampson and Savannah McCaskill both flagged offside early. Rose Lavelle eventually dragged the hosts into the game, shooting over in the 27th minute and then, in the 35th, slaloming past a couple of defenders and picking out McCaskill in the middle of the box, where Moorhouse saved her volley. Lavelle had another go after a fast break in the 39th minute, firing over again, and González pushed a shot just wide in the 41st after Lampson set her up.

Banda, meanwhile, was mostly contained. She fired over from distance in the 34th minute and needed a brief stoppage for treatment in the 37th, but she never found the kind of space she usually feasts on. Scoreless at halftime.

Gotham Turns Up the Pressure

Gotham's head coach, Juan Carlos Amorós, went to the bench early in the second half, sending on Midge Purce and Jordynn Dudley for Sarah Schupansky and Lampson in the 54th minute. It changed the shape of the game. Gotham won four corners between the 53rd and 58th minutes, Kayla Duran had a shot blocked in the 56th, and González had an effort from the right side of the six-yard box blocked off a Purce cross in the 58th.

Then came the best two-shot sequence of the night, and it belonged to Orlando. In the 61st minute Ovalle forced Berger into a save from outside the box, and moments later Banda got a shot away from the right side of the area that Berger got down to stop at the bottom right corner. Seb Hines responded by sending on Luana and Julie Doyle in the 62nd minute.

From there, Gotham laid siege to the Orlando box without breaking it. The hosts won four corners between the 64th and 66th minutes alone and finished with 11 to Orlando's one. Luana missed twice for the Pride from the center of the box, once in the 71st minute and again in the 79th, and Hernández pulled a set-piece chance just wide in the 82nd.

The Turning Point That Never Turned

The closing stretch belonged to Gotham, and still nothing. Dudley and González both had shots blocked in the 88th and 89th minutes, and deep in stoppage time Lavelle teed up substitute Sofia Cook for a shot from outside the box that Moorhouse held in the center of the goal. That was the closest the hosts came to a winner, and it summed up the night: a lot of pressure, very little that truly troubled the keeper.

The Keepers and the Captain

Berger made four saves and earned Gotham's third clean sheet in four matches, according to the club. The stop on Banda in the 61st minute was the save of the night. Per Gotham, it was also her 50th regular-season match for the club, making her the 23rd player in club history to hit 50 regular-season appearances and the 14th to reach 50 starts.

Moorhouse only needed two saves, but she made both count and recorded her second straight clean sheet, per the Pride. Orlando said both defenses held Banda and González to three shots apiece, and Gotham noted it was the first time this season Banda had been kept off the scoresheet.

Lavelle was the most creative player on the field. She made her 100th career NWSL regular-season appearance, according to Gotham, and she was involved in nearly every dangerous Gotham move, setting up McCaskill and Cook and firing two shots of her own from distance.

Stats That Matter

• Possession: Gotham 60.5 percent, Orlando 39.5 percent.
• Corners: Gotham 11, Orlando 1.
• Shots on target: Orlando 4, Gotham 2.
• Saves: Berger 4, Moorhouse 2.
• Clearances: Orlando 36, Gotham 20.

What It Means

Both teams sit at 1-2-1 with five points. For Gotham, the draw closed out a three-match homestand, and the attack is the problem: it has not scored since its 1-0 opening win at Boston Legacy FC, going three straight games without a goal. "For us, finding ourselves again and having a good performance was key," Amorós said. "At the same time, we're disappointed we couldn't get the three points." Gotham visits the Kansas City Current on April 4.

Orlando is unbeaten in three and took four points from a two-game road swing that started with a 3-0 win at the Chicago Stars, per the club. "Hard-fought point. We will take it," Hines said, adding that against "the current champions right now," keeping Gotham quiet was a positive. The Pride host Angel City FC on April 3.

Closing Take

Amorós called it "another step forward," and from Gotham's side that is fair: 11 corners and long stretches of control are signs of a team rediscovering itself. But the scoreboard does not award style points. Orlando came to the champions' house, took their best punches and flew home with a point. Hines put it best: "Four points away from home is a good foundation to build on."

Stats from ESPN's match data. Postgame quotes and additional details from GothamFC.com and the Orlando Pride's official site.