With over two months left in the regular season, the Kansas City Current secured a playoff spot with a convincing 2-0 victory over the North Carolina Courage at CPKC Stadium Saturday evening, a testament to the team’s dominant season.
The Current’s offensive capabilities were evident throughout the match. In the 19th minute, a promising give-and-go between Debinha and Temwa Chawinga nearly resulted in a goal. Later, in the 30th minute, Ally Sentnor, making her first home start, tested the Courage goalkeeper with a low drive.
Sentnor’s effort directly led to the first goal, as the Current earned back-to-back corner kicks. On the second opportunity, midfielder Izzy Rodriguez received the ball outside the 18-yard box and unleashed a curling shot that skipped past Courage goalkeeper Casey Murphy. The goal marks Rodriguez’s first goal of the 2025 regular season and her fifth career goal.
Ten minutes later, Chawinga was streaking up the middle, taking a well-placed ball forward from Debinha, but was cut down in the penalty area. Lo’eau LaBonta converted the penalty kick — the 13th of her career — nailing the upper left corner.
The Current’s strong first-half showing proved decisive, as they headed into halftime with a 2-0 lead. The team has now outscored opponents 23-1 in the first 45 minutes of play during the regular season.
Kansas City comfortably maintained the two-goal advantage in the second half, preventing the Courage from registering a single shot on target.
After the match, Sentnor talked about what she’s seen from her new team, and what she’s looking forward to. “Honestly, every day in practice I’m building connections with people, and it’s really fun to play with everyone on this team,” said the 21-year old striker.
“Everyone has super-amazing qualities, and I am learning. Temwa is a lot faster than I even think she is, so I can play the ball even farther in front of her. So it really is great, and I think we still have so many things to unlock in our attack, which is scary and exciting.”
Kansas City’s stellar defensive play continued, with the team not conceding a goal throughout the month of August. The impressive run also includes six consecutive clean sheets, the longest streak in NWSL history. With eight games remaining, the team needs just one win to tie its season record of 15 victories, set last year.
Goalkeeper Lorena, who leads the league with 10 regular season clean sheets made a crucial early save. In the ninth minute, she denied a long-range strike from Courage midfielder Ashley Sanchez, pushing the ball over the crossbar.
Defender Kayla Sharples played the entire 90 minutes, one of only 11 players to log every minute of the 2025 regular season. She led the team with nine possessions won against the Courage. Her pairing on the back line with Hailie Mace — previously a winger for the Current — has locked down KC’s central defense.
After the game, head coach Vlatko Andonovski responded to questions from the media about cliching a playoff spot so early in the season. “ It’s not easy because it is just a human nature when when they get success to get a little bit relaxed,” said Andonovski, “but our group did not put a certain goal of whether it’s clinching a playoff or winning a shield or getting a shutout. Our goal is to come out as a group and be the best that we can possibly be every game we play.”
The coach added, “We have a rule: We celebrate tonight. We rest tomorrow, and we get ready for the next one.”
The next one will be against Bay FC next Saturday, Sep. 6, in San Jose, Calif., with a kickoff at 9:00 PM Central Time.
