After a heat delay that pushed the game from 1:00 pm into the evening hours, the Kansas City Current continued their league-leading run, playing to a scoreless draw against Orlando at CPKC Stadium on Saturday.
The Current’s defense was on full display, holding the visitors to just five shots and securing goalkeeper Lorena’s league-leading eighth clean sheet of the season. The Current’s fourth consecutive shutout was marked by strong play from the pairing of Hailie Mace and Kayla Sharples on the back line to defuse Orlando’s high-octane offense.
Kansas City remains the only team to reach the 40-point mark in the league this year, and with nine games left, they are only 15 points shy of matching last year’s record-setting 55 points.
Head coach Vlatko Andonovski expressed his satisfaction with the team’s performance, remarking, “I thought we played a very good game. Unfortunately we didn’t score a goal, but that’s all we didn’t [do] in this game.” He also noted, “Defensively I thought we were solid — we showed that once again. We got a shutout, which means we held one of the best teams, the reigning champions, to four shots. I thought that was brilliant.”
In the first home regular season game in eight weeks, the Current nearly scored in the second minute. Temwa Chawinga’s through ball led to a shot from Claire Hutton that rolled wide. Minutes later, Michelle Cooper and Debinha combined for a play resulting in a high header by Chawinga.
In the 6th minute, goalkeeper Lorena claimed a corner kick away from Current nemesis Barbra Banda, who overpowered KC’s defense in last season’s semi-final match. Banda left the game in the 14th minute after taking a knock to her legs a few minutes earlier. Orlando’s only first-half shot came from Haley McCutcheon in the 16th minute, which also went high.
In the second half, Hutton continued to be a threat with a curling strike that went just wide in the 53rd minute. Five minutes later, Debinha’s pass to Zaneratto resulted in a blocked shot and a deflected rebound. Ally Sentnor made her CPKC Stadium debut, replacing Debinha in the 62nd minute. The Current maintained pressure, with Izzy Rodriguez firing a long-range shot just wide of the goal in the 77th minute. In the 88th minute, Zaneratto and Chawinga nearly connected on a beautiful play, but Zaneratto’s shot went over the bar.
Orlando’s only shot on target came in stoppage time, a long-range effort that Lorena tipped over the bar. The Current cleared the subsequent corner kick. In the final seconds, Hutton lifted a ball into the box that Zaneratto expertly controlled and volleyed, but Orlando’s goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse made the save.
The Current will play on the road at Portland next Saturday, before returning home on Aug. 30 to face the NC Courage, with a 6:30 PM kickoff.
