When the temperatures dip and the leaves fall, Gotham FC forward Midge Purce gets a hankering to win.
“During warmups, she’s like, ‘Playoffs. The air smells different,’ ” midfielder Taryn Torres said.
Purce has been one of Gotham’s most reliable players all season, but she lives for big moments. She’s the type of player teams want on their side when their seasons are on the line, who can make clutch plays and stabilize a team.
There’s a certain level of grittiness, resilience and confidence that the playoffs demand. It doesn’t always produce the prettiest soccer. But every team needs that one player who serves as a ceaseless energy source.
For Gotham, that’s Purce. She’s confident in herself and her skills, intense in her actions, direct in her communication and ultra competitive.
“[She] wants to win by any means necessary,” defender Mandy Freeman said.
The postseason officially begins Sunday, with top-seeded Gotham FC hosting the eighth-seeded Seattle Reign.
But those around Gotham will tell you it felt like the postseason started last month with the NWSL Shield race coming down to the wire.
Purce scored one of Gotham’s two goals in their Oct. 25 win against the Orlando Pride. Then, in the regular-season finale, Purce not only helped set up Guro Reiten’s goal in the ninth minute, but she was credited with the assist on Jaedyn Shaw’s insurance goal late in the 2-0 win against the Utah Royals.
Consider “Playoff Midge” already activated.
“She just turns into a different beast,” Freeman said. “She’s really good at getting the team amped up and on her energy level as well because we all try to match that competitiveness, that urgency that she brings. And again, just like a competitiveness that is just on a different level. Every game, every play could be her last and our last as a team.”
Purce is a foundational piece of Gotham’s championship culture. After being traded to Gotham in 2020, she helped end the club’s seven-year playoff drought in her first full season.
She’s been an integral part of Gotham winning two of the past three titles.
The legacy of “Playoff Midge” was cemented during the team’s 2023 NWSL championship win against Seattle, during which Purce dominated the right flank and assisted on both of Gotham’s goals.
Torres said she’ll never forget Purce’s brilliance that day.
“She comes up in really big moments, she’s everywhere,” Torres said. “She’s more than 90-minute fit and just her ability to be clutch in these big moments has been really cool to see and I have no doubt that she’s ready to do that again this year.”
Neither will Freeman.
“Her [one-on-one] ability was just on a different level,” Freeman said. “Very confident, always wanting to go at players, demanding the ball, and believes that every player that she goes against is going to be on the wrong side of her because she’s going to be running past them, ’megging them, getting in crosses, so her [one-on-one] ability in the flanks [or wing channel] becomes a huge asset for us in games.”
Gotham already won the Challenge Cup and NWSL Shield. The last trophy they need to complete the first treble in league history is a championship.
With Purce already locked in, Gotham likes their chances.
“I can tell that, especially after this past performance that she had,” Torres said, “she was everywhere and creating a lot of our offense that definitely we’re gonna see a special side of Midge throughout this playoff run.”
