Savannah McCaskill’s profession has come full circle in returning to New Jersey as a member of the reigning NWSL champions and Concacaf W Champions Cup winners, Gotham FC.
on January 2 from San Diego Wave FC for $175,000 in intraleague switch funds.
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Having represented the membership in its earlier incarnation, Sky Blue FC, the 29-year-old midfielder has acknowledged the unimaginable transformation that the membership has made on the pitch and off the pitch in changing into a number one ladies’s soccer group.
Again in 2018, the monetary viability of the NWSL and its golf equipment wasn’t on the firmest of floor. Having been drafted by the Boston Breakers because the second total decide within the 2018 NWSL School Draft, McCaskill and her Boston teammates had been scattered throughout the league because the Breakers folded weeks earlier than the 2018 preseason.
A dispersal draft was held, which despatched her to Sky Blue FC. On the time, the membership that might ultimately blossom right into a modernized, elite-level franchise in Gotham wasn’t the jewel of the NWSL.
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In reality, it was a membership that nobody wished to play for, and that repute was identified all through the league. Gamers needed to make do with amenities that had been nowhere close to youth summer time camp requirements, by no means thoughts the requirements of knowledgeable membership.
McCaskill Remembers Troublesome Experiences With Sky Blue FC
Tinton Falls apply fields weren’t geared up with showers, and gamers had been compelled to make use of trash cans for ice baths. There was an absence of laundry companies, and rental homes had been shabby buildings with cardboard for home windows, the place gamers slept in bunk beds.
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The expertise caught with McCaskill, and for some time, Gotham was faraway from her listing of potential locations when alternatives to maneuver golf equipment appeared.
“Once I first joined Sky Blue, we had been enjoying our video games out of , and we didn’t have a everlasting coaching facility,” McCaskill informed Athlon Sports activities. “We didn’t actually have a constant coaching facility. I shied away from coming again right here for a very long time due to my expertise when it was Sky Blue.”
Sky Blue FC Savannah McCaskill in the course of the NWSL soccer match between the Orlando Delight and New Jersey Sky Blue FC on August fifth, 2018 at Orlando Metropolis Stadium in Orlando, FL. (Photograph by Andrew Bershaw/Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Photos)Andrew Bershaw/Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Photos
(Andrew Bershaw/Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Photos)
McCaskill credited the membership’s possession, in addition to present Gotham normal supervisor and head of soccer operations, Yael Averbuch West for revolutionizing Gotham into a company that strives for excellence, the place gamers really feel supported each step of the way in which.
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“I by no means actually thought of it after I was transferring,” McCaskill stated. “Once I moved from LA as a free agent, I went to San Diego. In the end, I didn’t actually think about [joining Gotham] due to my expertise at Sky Blue. Seeing how the brand new possession group got here in. Yael has executed an awesome job of constructing out the roster – how aggressive they’re within the league in the course of the common season, however then additionally competing in Champions Cup and Concacaf. All of these tournaments present that the workforce desires to win, the membership desires to win. You may’t win all of these issues with out help.”
Flash ahead to 2026. Current-day Gotham is defending a trophy double, and the Bats had been on the prime of McCaskill’s listing when she had the chance to maneuver from the San Diego Wave.
“Clearly, as a participant I wish to win,” McCaskill stated. “I wish to win championships, I wish to win video games, I wish to win the league. I’m a competitor; I wish to win. At any time when I used to be trying to make a transfer, Gotham was on the prime of the listing.”
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McCaskill Appears to be like To Add Veteran Expertise to Gotham’s Star-Powered Roster
She is keen to assist Gotham attain its targets by placing in lung-busting, box-to-box performances in midfield.
“The best way that I play within the midfield can actually assist spotlight the forwards and goalscoring talents of our strikers, but in addition serving to out the workforce defensively – whether or not it’s working again, whether or not it’s making 100-yard runs to assist defend or get into the field, it was these areas that I used to be taking a look at that I knew I might assist contribute,” McCaskill said.
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“On the finish of the day, this can be a nice workforce. This can be a nice aspect with excessive upside. I can even add numerous worth right here. That was the combination that I used to be searching for. It labored out, and I used to be capable of make the transfer.”
San Diego Wave FC midfielder Savannah McCaskill dribbles the ball in the course of the second half in opposition to Racing Louisville FC at Lynn Household Stadium. EM Sprint-Imagn ImagesEM Sprint-Imagn Photos
(EM Sprint-Imagn Photos)
McCaskill witnessed how Gotham’s workers and gamers brazenly talk and collaborate in the course of the membership’s preseason coaching camp in Sotogrande, Spain.
“When you will have a high quality workforce, the coaching classes type of run themselves, but it surely was cool to see that the workers was additionally including worth to the coaching classes,” she recalled. “It’s not simply the gamers driving requirements, it’s the coaches driving them as effectively. Coaches can say this X, Y and Z is the usual, but when it’s not carried out by the gamers, they’re simply talking at you. It’s actually a collaborative effort of who’s Gotham, and I believe that was actually evident after I first got here in.”
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Although Gotham fell in need of successful the inaugural FIFA Ladies’s Champions Cup, the excessive requirements of professionalism and successful tradition on the membership had been obvious in each coaching session.
“The primary week in Spain with the group, it was very apparent that we had been there to arrange to attempt to win in London,” she stated. “Clearly, we got here in third. There was no shying away from it. It was alright, that is the place we’re going, that is how we’re gonna get there, and clearly, you exit on the sphere and also you’ve received to do the job.
“It’s an awesome steadiness of having the ability to have a workforce purchased into the place the teaching workers desires to go. The house owners and everybody who is part of Gotham is aligned. Having that basically aligned is what finally goes to assist the membership proceed to win.”
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Her experiences as a Sky Blue rookie in 2018 had been far completely different in comparison with the skilled atmosphere the place present Gotham first-year gamers Jordynn Dudley, Talia Sommer, Teagan Wy and Andrea Kitahata can get their careers off to the very best begin.
“With the ability to see how dedicated the membership is to successful every little thing that they presumably can whereas additionally growing gamers, getting gamers in with their nationwide groups, they’re dedicated to the entire bundle,” McCaskill stated. “That’s finally what actually made me wish to come again.”
McCaskill is coming into her ninth NWSL season. As a veteran midfielder, she might be leaned upon by Juan Carlos Amorós within the membership’s quest so as to add extra trophies in 2026.
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Gotham opens the 2026 NWSL away in opposition to Boston Legacy FC within the growth membership’s debut match at Gillette Stadium on March 14.
This story was initially revealed by on Feb 18, 2026, the place it first appeared within the part. Add Athlon Sports activities as a