Back at home for the first time since early April, Kansas City looked to keep the 19 game CPKC winning streak alive. With a whopping 11,500 fans (sold out game!) in attendance for the Mother’s Day festivities, the stadium environment was electric. In accordance, the Currents’ partner, Helzberg Diamonds, provided fans with a free bag charm and offered free ear piercings. Free flowers were handed out to mothers as well. In addition to all of the other families choosing to spend the holiday at CPKC, the Mahomes family was in attendance, along with the national audience watching live from ESPN. It is safe to say that all eyes were on Kansas City.
With the recent 1-2 road loss against Chicago still fresh in their minds, revenge was the name of the game. So naturally, once the players’ moms had led the traditional “KC Baby” chant at the whistle, the Current hit the ground running. Despite Debinha being moved to the D-45 list, the team moved down the field like they had been shot out of a rocket. Michelle Cooper and Temwa Chawinga put forth several early opportunities with runs down line and crosses into the box, including a shot just barely off the post from Cooper in the twelfth minute. The two, combined with the vision and pace of Croix Bethune, attacked Chicago’s defense relentlessly. It was only a matter of time until Cooper split the defense perfectly to find Bethune wide open in the box, and after some chaos, Chawinga put the finishing touches into the back post. Despite an argument from the Stars’ goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher of the goal being offsides, Kansas City remained up 1-0 in the 22nd minute. Following the goal, Chicago found a few chances but failed to make it into the back of the net. The half ended with Lorena barely breaking a sweat.
Quite early into the second half, the trio at the helm of KC’s offense doubled the score. This time, Bethune found Cooper out wide, and a cross tipped by Naeher fell directly into Chawinga’s lap, making an easy finish for the two-time Golden Boot winner. In the press conference after the game, following a question from 9.09 The Bridge’s Jillian Carroll Letrinko, Cooper let on that she had read a previous save from Naeher in the first half, and decided adjust the next cross into a spot where the keeper would have to tip it away instead. Just like she had written it up, Chawinga was there waiting for the rebound and the Current had a 2-0 lead in the 47th minute.
Croix Bethune, Lo’eau LaBonta, and Temwa Chawinga
throw up peace signs to celebrate goal #2
Just three minutes later, on an attack started on the left side of the pitch by Croix Bethune, Ally Sentnor found Bayley Feist just outside of the box. Feist curled the ball into the top of the box to Cooper, where a cheeky left footed flick landed right at Chawinga’s feet to mark the final goal of her hat trick. With a hat tip to the crowd, later said by Chawinga to be Croix Bethune’s doing, “TeMVP” had scored her first three goals of the season and cemented the start to her 2026 Golden Boot campaign. Several more opportunities followed, including another shot from Cooper off of the woodwork thanks to a perfectly curved ball into the box from Ally Sentnor.
Chawinga and Cooper celebrate together after Chawinga’s third goal
Despite the lopsided scoreline, the Stars did have opportunities to score, although many of them dashed by stellar defensive performances from Elizabeth Ball and Kayla Sharples, along with a few clutch saves from Lorena. Each firing a couple shots were Chicago’s Pinto, Gomes, and Hayashi, but nonetheless, the goalkeeper notched the 15th shutout of her career. Another contributing factor of Kansas City’s shutout was Laney Rouse, who earned her first start of the season and played for a full 90 minutes. As the match drew to a close, Chris Armas made a few substitutions to give the starters a rest and the younger players some extra minutes.
When the final whistle sounded out, the Current had finished with nine out of 18 shots on goal, putting the team in the position to lead the league with shots on target this season. However, if not for the aggressive goalkeeping by Alyssa Naeher and a two save performance by the goalposts, the sheer score of the game would have heavily overshadowed any other statistics. Even more impressive, Kansas City managed to put on such a performance despite having less than half of the possession in the match. For the time being, with its 20th consecutive win at CPKC, the team resides at the sixth spot in the NWSL standings.
Following the match, the consistent theme of the press conferences was the focus on the emotional side of the game. Given that the Current had already lost to Chicago this season, Chris Armas let on that “mentality was the key” in how they started the game, and if that meant the mentality was revenge, then so be it. Michelle Cooper made similar sentiments in her portion of the conference.
Chawinga leads her team to victory in their “Revenge Match”
Now that the Current seems to have built some momentum this season, albeit at a slower pace than last season, the perspective shifts to how the team is able to get themselves there. PJ Green of the Kansas City Star asked about how the team is able to find joy in the ups and downs of the season.
“I think it’s definitely a trust the process kind of thing,” Cooper said. “The joy is always going to be here…that’s honestly what carries us through the harder times or the times where we aren’t getting points when we know we should be.”
The Current return to CPKC’s pitch on Friday, May 15th at 7:00 PM CST to take on the ninth place Houston Dash. Kansas City dropped the last match between the two teams 0-1 at Houston in October. Friday’s game will mark the second home game of four that will take place during the month of May.
