NWSL Championship: Trinity Rodman’s quiet potential final game shows the inconsistencies of star power

As Trinity Rodman stood on the touchline at PayPal Park early in the 56th of the NWSL Championship, it was hard not to notice she was giving the audience what they were waiting for. The noise from the sellout crowd swelled, their largest cheer of the night thus far audible despite the cacophony that is the signature of a sports broadcast.

Quite simply, she is the star many had traveled from different parts of the country to see, the standout who motivated others to turn on their screens on a Saturday evening. Rodman is the headline-grabber in a league full of them, the elite athlete commissioner Jessica Berman said the NWSL “will fight” to keep, the type of player who forces existential questions of a new type for a growing league. Rodman is a classic game-changer in a match that needed one, still goalless with about a half-hour left on the clock.

Her star power, though, was not enough.

It was not a failure of her creation, truth be told. Gotham FC’s 1-0 win over the Washington Spirit on Saturday came as a result of the eventual NWSL champions’ remarkable ability to grind an opposition defense down and render them irrelevant no matter their might, this time limiting the Spirit to just 0.49 expected goals and zero shots on target despite having the likes of Gift Monday, Croix Bethune and Sofia Cantore on the pitch before Rodman’s arrival. Rodman was a victim of the grueling exercises Gotham’s defense puts attackers through, coming up with zero shots in a quiet return to the NWSL Championship a month after sustaining an MCL sprain.

The result, in some sense, was a showcase of the NWSL’s greatest attribute – its collection of stars and champions, spread out across the league’s 14 teams. Rose Lavelle’s game-winning goal in the 80th minute was a classic example of individual brilliance. Gotham, too, were struggling in attack and only ended the game with 0.39 expected goals of their own, the game desperately calling out for a game-changer who would live up to the billing. Lavelle, who scored in the Women’s World Cup final six years ago with the U.S. women’s national team, had another big moment in a final and collected her first NWSL title – and MVP honors – in the process.

Gotham are just as star-studded and accomplished as the Spirit. Jaedyn Shaw has played a serious role in the team’s playoff run with three goal contributions on their four total goals in the postseason, while international title-winners like goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger and center back Emily Sonnett stood out on Saturday. They may have entered the postseason as the lowest-ranked seed but underdog was a misnomer of a label for a team like this one, fully living up to the hype to win their second title.

The sheer number of stars makes star power inherently unpredictable – someone’s individual talents will eventually break through but it becomes hard to guess whose will, one of the NWSL’s greatest sources of entertainment value. That quality will not fade if one, or two, or three stars leave the league; the number of high-profile players plentiful in NWSL for the time being. Not all stars are created equal, though, and Rodman’s status is as clear an example as any of that concept.

The NWSL is in a natural period of transition, previous standouts like Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe coming to the end of their storied careers, paving the way for the next generation. While the full collection of rising talents continues to take shape, Rodman is clearly the leader of the pack – her on-field ability and accolades speak for themselves but she has the mix of tangibles and intangibles that command attention, making her a covetable player by just about every team on the planet. There is no question that the mantle is hers to take – who she chooses to take along with her on the ride is not a question for the future but now the NWSL’s top concern, the 2025 season done and dusted.

Rodman said she has yet to make a decision but her quiet 33-minute showing on Saturday is almost a perfect setup for what’s to come. With interest in England’s Women’s Super League and the USL Super League, a fellow Division I league in the U.S., Rodman has fully placed her fate in the NWSL’s hands. Update the salary cap rules that currently restrict her return to the Spirit and Rodman can share her talents with the NWSL once again, the pair growing together as women’s sports’ undeniable rise continues. Should Rodman take her skills elsewhere, the NWSL’s moment of transition becomes a lot harder to navigate.

Rodman’s performance on Saturday may not have done so but the roar of 18,000 fans in San Jose offers a stark reminder of what’s at stake for the NWSL in a new chapter of the women’s game, one that no longer asks the power-that-be simply to pay attention but to be intentional and impactful in their investment. The league’s next decisions may revolve around Rodman but it will also lay the foundation for the stars that come after her, whether they currently play in the NWSL or not.