A Mothers Day tip of the hat to Temwa Chawinga

*Kansas City Current forward Temwa Chawinga, left, celebrated her third goal of the match as forward Michelle Cooper ran up to join her.*

Forward Temwa Chawinga scored three times Sunday at CPKC Stadium, leading the Kansas City Current to a 3-0 win over the Chicago Stars and giving the club its first hat trick in regular season play.

A sellout Mother’s Day crowd watched Chawinga, who opened the season on the injury list, open her 2026 account in the 22nd minute and add two more inside the opening minutes of the second half. The three goals came across 50 minutes, the eighth fastest hat trick in league annals and the first by any player in NWSL regular season play this year. The speedy forward looked to be coming into the form that made her the NWSL’s reigning MVP and top scorer in each of the past two seasons,

The result improved the Current to 4-4-0 and 12 points, sixth in the table, and dropped Chicago to 2-7-0 and 15th. The win pushed the Current’s home regular season unbeaten run to 20, third on the league’s all-time list.

Goalkeeper Lorena made four saves for her 15th NWSL clean sheet, all with Kansas City. It was also the Current’s first shutout of the season. “What’s really important to our team today was a shutout victory,” head coach Chris Armas said. “We’re a stingy team. We’re a prideful team.”

Kansas City pressed from kickoff, earning three corner kicks in the opening five minutes and creating good chances.

The breakthrough came on a giveaway near midfield. Midfielder Bayley Feist intercepted a Chicago pass and fed forward Michelle Cooper on a break up the right side. Midfielder Croix Bethune received it and fought through traffic, threading the ball past Chicago back line.

Chawinga received it just inside the 6-yard box and placed it inside the near post. Chicago goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher dived low to her right but got only an ineffective tip.

It was Bethune’s second assist of the season, in back-to-back matches. She leads the NWSL in regular season assists since making her debut in 2024.

Chicago held 53.4 percent of possession over the match but offered little in the attacking third. Defender Sam Staab led the visitors with 92 touches and 59 completed passes, yet the Stars managed only one shot on target in the first half and four for the match.

The Current doubled the lead barely two minutes into the second half. Cooper shook off a marker on the right and drilled a low ball across the box. Naeher could only deflect it, and the rebound ran to Chawinga at the far post for an unassisted finish into the open side.

*Chawinga tapped the ball past Chicago’s diving goalkeeper, Alyssa Naeher, for the first goal.*

Three minutes later, Chawinga completed the hat trick on a build-up that ran the length of the attacking third. Bethune found forward Ally Sentnor near the left post, Sentnor laid the ball off for Feist, who sent a diagonal pass back across to Cooper. Cooper redirected it first-time over the top of Chicago’s last line, and Chawinga ran onto it, settled it with one touch, and lifted it into the net for a 3-0 lead in the 50th minute.

“I always know Temwa’s going to be there. Like, she’s there 10 out of 10 times,” Cooper said. “It’s not “right place, right time.” She’s there every time, and that’s why she’s scoring as much as she does.”

When the media-shy Chawinga was asked whether Sunday’s performance announced her as a Golden Boot contender, Cooper jumped in before her teammate could respond.

“Yes,” laughed the gregarious forward. “You don’t have to say anything.”

Although the first in a regular season game, Sunday’s was the third hat trick in club history. Kristen Hamilton had a three-goal game in the 2023 NWSL Challenge Cup against Houston, and forward Haley Hopkins recorded one last month against SE Palmeiras in the Teal Rising Cup.

The first-goal assist was only part of Bethune’s creatively productive afternoon. She slipped a clever touch through a Chicago defender to free Cooper at the end of the first half, started the third-goal sequence with the pass to Sentnor on the left, and twice nearly scored herself in the second half, including a 65th-minute central run that drew Naeher off her line to smother the chance. Armas said the system is built to put her in those high spaces.

“We really want her up the pitch,” Armas said. “We call that scene two, that space in between their midfield and back line, and she can just float.”

Bethune left in the 71st minute after an elbow to the chest during an attacking run required a few minutes of attention from the trainer. Armas said afterward that she was uninjured. “She took a knock, but she’s good. No issues there.”

*Midfielder Croix Bethune crossed up Chicago’s Kathrin Hendrich before sliding the ball through to Chawinga for the first goal.*

The Current piled up 3.58 expected goals to Chicago’s 0.66, with 18 total shots, 9 on target and 16 from inside the penalty area. Cooper struck the post in the 12th minute, and a few other chances hit the frame or were parried by Naeher. Armas said the quality chances were the product of training and approach rather than luck.

“I’m not sure you’ll see a four [expected goals] often in any league,” he said. “We create a lot of chances. Most of our shots were on goal. Most were from that goal zone, 18 by 20 in front of the goal. That’s the training we do to manufacture goals. They’re not just happening. We’re high pressing, we’re mid blocking, we’re getting closer to goal.”

Lorena added 12 recoveries to her four saves. Defender Kayla Sharples cleared a string of late Chicago looks, and the night also produced a first home start for defender Laney Rouse.

Kansas City has a quick turnaround, facing the Houston Dash at CPKC Stadium on Friday at 7 p.m. for the next match in the Summer Kickoff Series, hosting the Houston Dash at 7 p.m. It is the club’s first Friday home game of the regular season, and the match will air nationally on Prime Video. The club will mark the night as its Women’s Cancer Awareness match.