Denver Summit FC has one more obstacle before its first home opener Saturday.

Summit FC is seeking its first win when it faces reigning NWSL champion Gotham FC at 5 p.m. Wednesday in New Jersey (Victory+). Summit has one draw and one loss after falling to Bay FC in the season opener March 14 and drawing 1-1 with Orlando Pride on Friday. 

While there is much anticipation for Denver’s home opener, “The Kickoff,” on Saturday at Empower Field, the team is focused on a veteran Gotham FC team, which has one win and one draw after capturing its second NWSL championship in three years last season. 

“I feel like Gotham is a dynamic team,” said Denver goalie Abby Smith, who played for Gotham FC from 2023-24. “They have a solid group of high-level players. … So we are aware of their threats but are really focusing on ourselves going into this game because we played significantly better in the last game. We are constantly building.” 

Gotham brings several top talents, including 2025 NWSL championship MVP Rose Lavelle, striker Esther Gonzalez and defender Lilly Reale, the 2025 NWSL Rookie of the Year. Gotham allowed only 25 goals during the 2025 season, while Gonzalez had 11 first-half goals for the second most in league history.  

Lavelle, who was named the 2025 U.S. Soccer Player of the Year, scored her second NWSL championship goal — the first coming in 2023 — tying her for fourth in league history and one within the all-time record.  

“There are top players all over the Gotham pitch,” Summit coach Nick Cushing said. “Difficult, but that’s why we are in it. We want to face the best, so we know exactly where we are at, leading into the home opener we are excited about.

“We’ve got to make sure we are good with the ball. If we turn the ball over in our own half, Gotham will be a real threat. They really feed off those moments.”

The expansion team is seeing improvement across two matches, particularly in sustained pressure, while also balancing a changing roster.  

Denver has already lost one player in midfielder Jasmine Aikey, 20, who was placed on the season-ending injury list after an ACL tear in her right knee. Aikey signed with Summit FC after a successful career at Stanford, where she earned the Hermann Trophy and was named the TopDrawerSoccer Player of the Year in 2025. 

“It’s disappointing for us, but it’s part of the game,” Cushing said of the injury. “Not something we ever want to see, but for us it’s about support and about making sure we give ‘Jaz’ every possibility to come back even better than she is now.” 

The team added forward Yazmeen Ryan and midfielder Delanie Sheehan, who it acquired from Houston last week. While the Houston deal “came out of nowhere,” Cushing is pleased to bring more depth and experience to the midfield.

However, Cushing emphasizes that while there is a healthy culture among the team, the honeymoon period is over. Now they are focused on building a championship team.

“At the moment it’s good, but we’ve got to stay realistic,” Cushing said. “If you want that real intensity and real desire and ambition to be a top team, you have to have a sort of competition in the group to be able to support your peers when you don’t play but also chase them down for the jersey.”

In Saturday’s road match against Orlando, Melissa Kössler scored in the 23rd minute, her second goal of the season, the second time an NWSL player has scored the first two goals for a franchise (Sam Kerr, WNY in 2013). Summit led 1-0 at halftime but allowed a goal by Barbra Banda and didn’t score again for a draw. 

“We were far more organized in our ability to contain Orlando in the first 50 minutes, but we need to sustain that,” Cushing said. “You’re not going to get many points on the road if you can only sustain a level of performance for 50 minutes.” 

Smith, a two-time NWSL champion, made her sixth save of the game, the 250th of her career. 

Smith is one of three goalkeepers for Denver, with Pauline Peyraud and Aurora native Jordan Nytes also competing for the starting position. Cushing says that Nytes is “exceeding expectations” but that Smith has the opportunity to defend her spot with consistency. 

“For me, competition for places goes one of two ways,” Cushing said. “In my experience with winning trophies with teams, competition for places brings consistency in your performance level because the players that are in have to sustain that level; they set the standard for themselves and have to sustain the level for the team, which helps you get results.” 

Wednesday’s game will be a faceoff between Broncos legend and Denver FC part owner Payton Manning and his brother Eli Manning, part owner of Gotham FC. Eli shared a video on social media Tuesday to hype up the match.

As Summit faces Gotham, Denver will be preparing for The Kickoff, which has over 50,000 tickets sold to shatter the single-game NWSL attendance record of 40,091, set by Bay FC against the Washington Spirit at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Aug. 23, 2025. 

“We can’t get too far ahead of ourselves,” Smith said. “I think we are just excited to keep progressing to Wednesday and we know everyone back home is prepping for Saturday and that’s really exciting, but we are taking it one day at a time.”