San Jose, California - Rose Lavelle scored the winner as Gotham FC upset the Washington Spirit 1-0 to claim their second NWSL soccer championship in three seasons on Saturday.

Lavelle swept in an emphatic finish 10 minutes from time to settle a scrappy championship game at PayPal Park in San Jose.

The victory was doubly sweet for the 30-year-old Lavelle, who was a member of the Seattle Reign team beaten by Gotham in the 2023 final two seasons ago.

The win completed a fairytale postseason campaign for Gotham, who only scraped into the playoffs as the eighth seeds while Washington had been ranked second.

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"It's so surreal, we've worked so hard and that was such a tough game," said Lavelle, a key figure in the US' triumphant 2019 Women's World Cup campaign in France.

"We know we didn't perform to our potential during the regular season – so I think these playoffs was about showing to ourselves most of all what we can do."

Lavelle's US international teammate Trinity Rodman, meanwhile, made her return from a knee injury after coming on as second-half substitute for Washington, but could not inspire a breakthrough.

Rodman's return ended in disappointment with the forwards limping off after appearing to fall awkwardly in injury time as Washington chased an equalizer.