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SAN JOSE, Calif. — Rose Lavelle scored in the 80th minute and No. 8 seed Gotham FC beat the Washington Spirit 1-0 on Saturday night to win their second National Women’s Soccer League championship in three years.

Second-half substitute Bruninha drove into the box on the left wing and sent the ball across to Lavelle, whose left-footed shot sailed past Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury into the bottom corner of the net.

It is the first NWSL championship title for Lavelle, who had scored in the 2023 final when she was playing for the Seattle Reign against Gotham in a 2-1 loss.

After a strong opening 10 minutes of the match for Gotham, with three shots from Jaedyn Shaw, the final began to mature into a tense affair.

There were few chances and t

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