US international Rose Lavelle scored the winner as Gotham FC upset the Washington Spirit 1-0 to claim their second NWSL championship in three seasons on Saturday.

Lavelle swept in an emphatic finish 10 minutes from time to settle a scrappy championship game at PayPal Park in San Jose.

The victory was doubly sweet for the 30-year-old Lavelle, who was a member of the Seattle Reign team beaten by Gotham in the 2023 final two seasons ago.

The win completed a fairytale postseason campaign for Gotham, who only scraped into the playoffs as the eighth seeds while Washington had been ranked second.

"It's so surreal, we've worked so hard and that was such a tough game," said Lavelle, a key figure in the United States' triumphant 2019 Women's World Cup campaign in France.

"We know we didn't perf

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