As the NWSL draft took place on January 12, Lynn Williams was on the other side of the world in New Zealand for the US women’s national team camp. The player was focused solely on her first experience under Vlatko Andonovski, before suddenly learning she formed part of a trade between the Kansas City Current and Gotham FC.
Williams found out in real time, like everyone else, that she was on the move.
“It was a shock, it wasn’t on my radar. I’m in New Zealand at my first camp, and it just kind of threw me for a second,” she told the media in an introductory press conference with Gotham on Tuesday.
“In this world and in soccer, you have to be able to compartmentalize and that’s exactly what I did at the time. I was with the national team, so I focused on the national team. And now that that camp is over, I put all my energy into Gotham.”
She joins Gotham after just one year with the Kansas City Current, where she managed one game before suffering a right leg injury to miss the remainder of the 2022 NWSL campaign. But Williams is back and better than ever, ready to join Gotham as the team bolsters the roster.
Despite finishing the 2022 season in last, the club ownership believes in the team’s potential. The front office has made a number of impressive trades so far this offseason, adding Williams, Kelley O’Hara and Svava Rós Guðmundsdóttir to the team.
Williams emphasized the team’s dedication to its players, adding the communication is “top-notch.”
“That’s what I think any player would want. Soccer is a business, I completely understand that, but there’s definitely a human side to things and Gotham so far has gone above and beyond to not only get Lynn the soccer player, but Lynn the human here as well. And I think that we’re building something really special here,” she said.
“You just have to find something that’s yours that you can keep consistent in your life. And for me, that’s stuff that’s outside of soccer. So as long as that’s going well, then you can get comfortable with being uncomfortable in the soccer world.
“At the end of the day, you want to be somewhere where a team wants you. And I want to be at Gotham because they want me.”
Lynn Williams and Gotham FC kick off the 2023 NWSL campaign on March 25. The team schedule will be announced at a later date.
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