The San Diego Wave defeated Gotham FC 1-0 in front of a record crowd of 15,058 at Red Bull Arena.
Makenzy Doniak scored the only goal of the match less than a minute into the second half to extend the Wave's unbeaten run to four games.
San Diego moves level on points with Portland, but sit second in the table thanks to an inferior goal difference while NJ/NY slip to fourth, level with Washington on points, but also with a worse goal difference.
The Wave also tie an NWSL record with their third straight clean sheet on the road and can set a new league mark if they manage to keep Racing Louisville off the scoresheet in their next match.
Story of the match
San Diego appeared to have the first chance of the match on four minutes as goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan launched a long ball to Alex Morgan, who got behind the defense and hit the post with her shot.
However, it had been determined that during Sheridan's pass, Morgan was judged to have been offsides, nullifying the attack.
In the 20th minute, the Gotham had a sight of goal when Lynn Williams took a pass close to midfield and spun in possession, crossed through the center of the field toward the right and played the ball to Yazmeen Ryan.
The forward then cut inside and onto her left foot but couldn't keep her shot down, sending it into the stands.
After the Wave won the ball inside the NJ/NY half, Sofia Jakobsson received a pass, rounded into open space and beat Gotham goalkeeper Abby Smith, but again the flag went up for offsides.
A minute from halftime, the visitors created another chance, this one for Kaleigh Riehl as she settled down a long played to the center of the box, but her strike went wide of the near post.
San Diego manager Casey Stoney introduced attackers Doniak and Jaedyn Shaw and their impact was felt just 46 seconds after the restart.
Shaw claimed possession near the midfield line, spotted Doniak and sent her a lovely through pass that the former University of Virginia standout latched onto, rounded Smith and fired into the back of the net.
Five minutes later, the Wave nearly doubled their advantage. An attempted counter from deep in their own half saw Jakobsson burst forward from inside her own half, kept space in front of her, but couldn't keep her shot down.
On 55 minutes, Morgan found herself on the end of a lifted through ball, but Smith was on hand to deny her.
With the game easing up slightly, San Diego turned up the pressure again as Shaw was played in by Doniak inside the box, but her left-footed shot was blocked by a NJ/NY defender.
The block fell to the feet of Shaw and with another crack at goal, her strike was superbly kept out by Smith.
In the seven minutes of stoppage time, the Gotham pressed for an equalizer as Williams, Ryan, Ali Kreiger and Jenna Nighswonger all tested Sheridan, but the Canada international was up to the challenge every time.
With stoppage time reaching a total of nine minutes, the Wave managed to see the game out for a third successive road victory.
Player of the match: Jaedyn Shaw
She assisted on Doniak's winning goal as the two linked up well together. and also had a couple of chances of her own while looking dangerous in the entirety of her 45 minutes on the pitch.