Players rip 'atrocious' SI Stadium pitch as Gotham sneaks past Seattle

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  Jeff KassoufNov 8, 2026, 05:39 PM ET

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  Jeff Kassouf covers women's soccer for ESPN, focusing on the USWNT and NWSL. In 2009, he founded The Equalizer, a women's soccer news outlet, and he previously won a Sports Emmy at NBC Sports and Olympics.

HARRISON, N.J. -- Sunday's NWSL quarterfinal match between Gotham FC and Seattle Reign FC was ugly by all standards -- including the field.

"Let's be real, there's no way a playoff game should be played on that s---," Seattle Reign FC head coach Laura Harvey told ESPN after her team's 1-0 loss to hosts Gotham FC. "I just can't believe they've allowed it. They knew it last week."

The NWSL fined Gotham FC $10,000 for the poor conditions of the field for last week's regular-season finale, Harvey said, and ESPN subsequently confirmed. Gotham is a tenant and does not control the stadium, which hosted a rugby match two days before the regular-season finale and a New York Red Bulls MLS match on Saturday night.

On Sunday, 18 hours after the MLS match ended at Sports Illustrated Stadium, the field for the NWSL quarterfinal was sandy with visible brown patches.

Gotham FC advanced despite putting zero shots on target, becoming the first team in NWSL history to achieve that feat. Jaedyn Shaw's corner kick deflected off Reign defender Jordyn Bugg for an own goal in the 4th minute. It was the eventual game-winner.

Both teams said the field affected how they played.

"I feel the obligation to almost apologize for the state of the pitch," Gotham FC head coach Juan Carlos Amoros said.

Seattle Reign FC midfielder Jess Fishlock, who is retiring and played her final game on Sunday with the Reign's loss, called the field "atrocious."

"It was so bad," Gotham FC defender Jess Carter said of the field as she walked through the tunnel after the match.

"It's pretty sandy out there and a little unstable," Gotham midfielder Jaelin Howell said. Howell was questionable for the quarterfinal after sustaining an ankle injury on the same field last week, but she started on Sunday. "I want to be able to give my all to the team, and everything I've got, so obviously you can't think about that. The other team has to play on that, too.

"We acknowledged it and we moved on. I think that our team managed it pretty well, for the most part."

Amoros said he felt compelled to talk more about the field because they won the game, and both teams had to deal with it.

"When you play on a pitch like that, you cannot be thinking of the next action of what you are going to do when you get the ball," Amoros said. "You need to be looking at the ball because it can bounce at any given time. Plus, it just changes the whole dynamic of the game, and it changes the dynamic of how we play."

Additional uncertainty has surrounded Gotham FC and the league all week as the NWSL has navigated potential venue availability issues for its 2026 playoffs.

Sports Illustrated Stadium is not available next Saturday for one of the two NWSL semifinal TV time slots. Multiple semifinal scenarios involved Gotham, the top seed in the playoffs and NWSL Shield winners, having to play a semifinal against the Kansas City Current at the 5,000-seat Icahn Stadium (which has artificial turf) in New York City. The Red Bulls are the primary tenants at Sports Illustrated Stadium, and they are hosting Mexico's Club America in a friendly match next Saturday.

With the Washington Spirit beating the Portland Thorns in Sunday's other semifinal match, Gotham could play on Sunday, Nov. 15, at Sports Illustrated Stadium forcing the Spirit to have to relocate their semifinal.

Audi Field, the usual home of the Spirit, is booked on Saturday, Nov. 14, for an NCAA Division III football game. The Spirit face the Utah Royals in their semifinal.

No. 2 seed San Diego Wave FC was eliminated in the quarterfinals on Friday by Utah, but also had a Saturday semifinal conflict with their home field, Snapdragon Stadium, due to an NCAA Division I football game.

If Gotham does play its semifinal against the Kansas City Current at Sports Illustrated Stadium next weekend, the field is unlikely to improve with the Red Bulls friendly scheduled for the night before.

"It makes the game just beyond annoying," Harvey told ESPN. "Because you look at it and go, 'Well, was the goal a little bit from the field? Probably. Were our chances that we created not taken because of the quality that they are trying to deal with? Probably.

"And I'm not trying to make excuses, but I just think like, we're 15 years in and we are letting that happen? What are we doing?

"That will sit with me for a long time."

Harvey said the Reign identified the issues with the field during warmups. She also conceded that both teams had to deal with the conditions.

"We can ignore it and not talk about it, or we can be really honest about it," Harvey said. "And if what we're trying to create is a product that people want to watch -- they don't want to watch that. Who wants to watch that?"