By the time the skies opened up and a downpour enveloped Audi Field on Saturday afternoon, midway through the second half of Gotham FC’s 3-0 victory over the Washington Spirit, the visitors already had poured cold water on the home team’s winning ways.
Riding a three-game winning streak, the Spirit was fresh off a 1-0 victory over Orlando that snapped the defending champion Pride’s 22-game home unbeaten streak. And Gotham was playing the final match of a three-games-in-nine-days road trip.
But five months after the Spirit outlasted Gotham in a wild NWSL semifinal, its New Jersey-based opponent delivered a reality check before an announced crowd of 16,443.