The foundation of Gotham FC’s championship success has been built on an undeniable culture of self-belief that exists within the walls of the dressing room and is unleashed when the Bats take the pitch.

Ahead of the new NWSL season, midfielder Jaelin Howell spoke one-on-one with South Ward Central about how Gotham FC summoned an unbreakable team-wide mentality when the going got tough late in the 2025 regular season that carried them to winning the NWSL championship.

“Talent doesn’t always mean everything,” Howell told South Ward Central. “I keep saying that last year we had a lot of downs, even with the ups. You see the tip of the iceberg is us winning the championship, but we struggled as a team at some points, but we always kept the same culture, and we always stuck together. We always knew that we could do it. We always had the belief that we could do it.”

Yet on the final day of the 2025 regular season, few outside the dressing room could envision a scenario where Gotham would take home the NWSL’s ultimate prize and be paraded in a ticker tape parade through the Canyon of Heroes to New York City Hall.

Howell: Gotham FC Thrives When Backs Are Against the Wall

Gotham suffered a 3-2 away defeat on Decision Day to the North Carolina Courage, which plunged the Bats into the eighth and final playoff seed. After Gotham slumped to a four-game winless drought to close the season, leading experts and television analysts counted them out before their quarterfinal round matchup with the top-seeded Kansas City Current.

“That was a major down point for us,” Howell recalled when speaking about the Decision Day defeat. “I think we were third or fourth for the last couple of months, and then just being able to squeak into the playoffs — we never thought of ourselves as an eighth-place team in the league. We never thought of ourselves as a last seed team. We always knew we could win it, and we talked about that throughout the year. We just knew that the right puzzle pieces had to be put in the right places.”

The Current charged into the playoffs with countless backers after they established new league records with 21 wins, 65 points, 16 clean sheets and a 17-match unbeaten streak.

Adversity and challenging moments will test teams throughout the twists and turns of a demanding 26-game regular season, but how teams respond to those tests is what ultimately matters. The championship trophy was still up for grabs. The NWSL’s parity has shown that anyone can beat anyone on any given day. When playoff time came around, Gotham was ready to respond to the noise and the doubters with unwavering self-belief.

“The conversation after that [the North Carolina defeat] we kept it really positive,” Howell remembered. “We were like, you know what, we’ve got to beat all the teams anyway, so you may as well go to Kansas City and beat the very best team this season.”

And that’s exactly what Gotham did. Katie Stengel (now known as Katie Lampson after her offseason marriage) propelled Gotham past the Current with a dramatic 121st-minute goal. Then came Jaedyn Shaw’s 97th-minute winning free kick against the then-defending champion Orlando Pride in the semifinals.

Howell: ‘You Saw That Swagger in How We Played With a Chip on Our Shoulder’

When Gotham were pitted against the Washington Spirit in the NWSL championship game, inspirational midfielder Rose Lavelle delivered an 80th-minute strike to clinch the club’s second NWSL title.

“You saw that swagger in how we played with a chip on our shoulder,” Howell said. “I think our team actually plays our best when our backs are against the wall. Our culture didn’t waiver through it all. So I think that was the main part of it – the culture that we have as a team and the character of each girl, and how we’re able to come together as a team through those tough times. I think that adversity helped us in the end. So I think end of the day, talent is amazing and experience is awesome because we get to lean on those players who played in World Cups and Olympics, but when it comes down to it, the willingness to work for each other that we have in this team is pretty rare.”

Not one to rest easy on her accomplishments, Howell is striving to improve after a season where she lifted the 2025 NWSL championship and the 2024-25 Concacaf W Champions Cup.

“I’m going to continue to do me,” she said. “I’m going to continue to work hard every day and continue to bounce off the year that I had last year. I’m so grateful to be part of a club that continues to push me.

“I’m really happy. I’m playing with freedom and joy. The most important part is when you have that. I’m going to continue to do what I do every day. Now, I think it’s about bringing it all together and being able to play games against lower table teams and having that same standard and performance throughout the season.”

Gotham FC kicks off the 2026 NWSL regular season against expansion newcomers Boston Legacy FC on Saturday, March 14, at Gillette Stadium. The match will kick off at 12:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on ABC, the ESPN app and Disney+.

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