Racing Louisville W v NJ/NY Gotham FC W — prediction, stats and goal analysis

NWSL (W) · Friday, 11 September 2026. Final score 1–2 (half-time 1–1). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 46% for over 2.5 goals. This match is older than our frozen ratings ledger, which keeps 30 days, so that figure is a reconstruction from pre-match data rather than a number we published at the time — a distinction worth making, because only the frozen ones prove what we actually said beforehand.

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Our ratings for this match

MarketYesNoOur call
Over 2.5 goals46%54%Under
Over 3.5 goals25%75%no pick
Both teams to score51%49%Yes

The result model puts Racing Louisville W at 27%, the draw at 29% and NJ/NY Gotham FC W at 44%, from expected goals of 0.99 and 1.33.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. NWSL (W) has produced over 2.5 goals in 47% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Racing Louisville W have 17 in 23 this season (7 of 11 at home), NJ/NY Gotham FC W 7 in 23 (4 of 11 away). Those records are pulled toward the league rate with the weight of about 24 matches — enough that two or three unusual games cannot swing a rating — giving 60% and 39%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 23 and 23 games played this season, last season's rates are still blended in and fade out entirely by game 40 — the point at which our testing showed they stop adding accuracy. A single season is part luck, so each club's record is first pulled toward the league average by 34 games' weight. That moves the two figures to 54% and 41%.

The mix. Weighted 40% home side, 40% away side and 20% league — the split that beat every alternative across 30,582 matches of testing — that gives 47%.

Head to head. These sides have met 5 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 20%. That nudges the number 5% of the way toward the head-to-head pattern — deliberately small, because fixtures change more than reputations do — landing on 46%.

Goal expectation. Separately a Poisson model built from attack and defence strength — using real expected-goals data where the league has it — puts this match at 41%, from expected goals of 0.99 for Racing Louisville W and 1.33 for NJ/NY Gotham FC W. Folding in 30% of that view gives 45%.

Calibration. Tested against 97,729 past matches, our ratings below 55% have run consistently too pessimistic — a figure in the high 30s, for instance, has come in about four points higher. So ratings in that range are lifted part-way back, giving 46%.

This breakdown is generated from the same inputs the rating uses, so it cannot describe a calculation we did not perform. The full model is set out in the methodology.

Season form

TeamGamesO2.5O3.5BTTS
Racing Louisville W2374%43%74%
NJ/NY Gotham FC W2330%13%30%

Head to head

3 May 26NJ/NY Gotham FC W 1–0 Racing Louisville WU2.5
19 Oct 25NJ/NY Gotham FC W 2–2 Racing Louisville WO2.5
10 May 25Racing Louisville W 1–0 NJ/NY Gotham FC WU2.5
15 Jun 24Racing Louisville W 0–2 NJ/NY Gotham FC WU2.5
28 Apr 24NJ/NY Gotham FC W 1–1 Racing Louisville WU2.5
27 Aug 23NJ/NY Gotham FC W 0–0 Racing Louisville WU2.5

More: Racing Louisville W season stats · NJ/NY Gotham FC W season stats · NWSL (W) table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.