​Ten years ago, a National Women’s Soccer League game at a baseball stadium was a sign of just how far the league had to go. A match during the 2016 season was played at a minor-league ballpark on a woefully small pitch, dubbed “shocking and embarrassing” by the league’s own stars.Come 2026, NWSL games at ballparks are showpiece events. Attendance records were shattered at Chicago’s Wrigley Field and San Francisco’s Oracle Park in the previous two seasons. Wednesday night added another milestone: Gotham FC’s 1-0 win over the Washington Spirit on a hot, hazy night at Citi Field, the regular home of Major League Baseball’s New York Mets, drew the second-largest crowd in league history (42,175) and set the record for the most attended women’s sporting event in the city’s history.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAfter a month-long pause during the men’s World Cup, the NWSL resumed play on 3 July. If any match seemed fit to be a table-setter for the rest of the season, it probably was this one. San Diego still lead the league, but Wednesday’s result pushed Gotham even on points with the Spirit and the Portland Thorns. (The Spirit sit second, via the goal-differential tiebreaker.) The East Coast rivals met in last year’s final and over the past three seasons have combined for two championships (Gotham), two second-place finishes (Spirit) and three trophies in other competitions.At the same time, the match dubbed the Queens Classic was also a microcosm, full of the things that have come to define the NWSL at this point in its 14-season history: stakes, star power, sky-high ambition and still some controversy.Rose Lavelle, the standout Gotham midfielder whose goal decided last year’s final, delivered a brilliant curler in the 37th minute for the night’s lone goal. The crowd favored the home team, but the stands were scattered with the No 2 jersey of star Spirit forward Trinity Rodman, who was captivating as usual but was unable to convert any of her five shots. The loudest cheer of the night came in the 63rd minute, when Australian striker Sam Kerr earned her first minutes since signing for Gotham after six-and-a-half years at Chelsea. It was a sort of homecoming: she starred in the era when the club was known as Sky Blue, scoring the goals that would help make her the NWSL’s all-time leading scorer while navigating off-field turmoil and playing in front of crowds that barely cracked 3,000.Related: What does Sam Kerr’s return to the NWSL mean for the league, Gotham FC and the player herself? AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“I feel so spoiled to play at this club, because we keep bringing in incredible players,” said Lavelle, referencing a transfer list that includes Kerr, Irish captain Denise O’Sullivan and Norwegian midfielder Guro Reiten in the past month alone. “I went up to her during a corner and said, ‘Welcome back, but chill,’” Rodman joked about Kerr’s return.When Kerr left Sky Blue in