July 6, 2024 – National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL)
Kansas City Current News Release
KANSAS CITY – The Kansas City Current (10-1-5, 35 pts., 2nd place) saw the club’s 17-match unbeaten streak come to an end Saturday night in a hard-fought 2-1 defeat against the Orlando Pride (11-0-5, 38 pts., 1st place). Saturday’s showdown between the top two clubs in the NWSL lived up to the billing, producing a back-and-forth affair decided by a game-winning penalty kick from Orlando’s Marta in the 63rd minute.
Orlando forward Barbara Banda, who began the day tied with Kansas City forward Temwa Chawinga atop the NWSL Golden Boot leaderboard, opened the scoring in the 37th minute before Chawinga equalized with a brilliant individual effort seconds later. The Current fought valiantly in front of another sellout crowd at CPKC Stadium to push for an equalizer, but the Pride emerged victorious in Saturday’s battle of the unbeatens.
“We have ten games to go, playoffs ahead of us and hopefully we meet them in the finals,” said head coach Vlatko Andonovski.
The attacking talent of both sides was on display throughout the opening 45 minutes. Goalkeeper AD Franch made a pair of sparkling saves in the second minute to help keep the match scoreless, and Michelle Cooper headed a cross from Izzy Rodriguez just over the Pride net in the seventh minute. In the 14th minute, Orlando defender Carrie Lawrence received a yellow card for a foul on Chawinga as she was breaking through on goal.
Lawrence’s foul set the tone for a physical match that featured 29 total fouls and seven total yellow cards between the two teams.
Debinha made history in the 26th minute, becoming the first Brazilian player to reach 10,000 career minutes played in the NWSL. In the 31st minute, Hailie Mace reached the 5,000-minute threshold for her NWSL career.
In the 38th minute, Banda put the visitors ahead. A long-range strike from Adriana was blocked by Elizabeth Ball, but the ricochet fell perfectly to Banda. She took a touch forward to the Current’s penalty spot and fired her effort past Franch for the first goal of the contest.
The goal put Banda atop the NWSL Golden Boot leaderboard, but her stay at the top lasted less than two minutes later, Rodriguez found Chawinga at midfield. Chawinga, who had her back to goal, turned past a Pride defender and bolted to goal. Near the top of Orlando’s penalty area, Chawinga swerved through multiple Orlando defenders before getting a good look at goal. To cap her…