A bona fide star, Lo LaBonta grateful for KC soccer’s big moment
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Lo’eau Kaiulani LaBonta is a universe all by herself.
The woman whose name means “spirit of the heavens” and “royal blessed one” in Hawaiian and “the good” in French-Norwegian contains multitudes more than just her name.
The Kansas City Current veteran midfielder is a self-proclaimed stubborn life of the party anywhere she goes. Her lively personality includes screams, chants, nicknames and random dance sessions.
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But don’t you forget that she can play some soccer.
“I think she’s the same like I’ve known her the way she is now,” Current defender Hailie Mace said. “I think she’s a special player in person and a close friend of mine. Just to see her inspire like youth and just even like celebrations and stuff like that is super cool to see.”
The soon-to-be 31-year-old saw her star turn two seasons ago when the Current took the National Women’s Soccer League by storm on a winning streak that led them to the 2022 NWSL Championship.
LaBonta tallied a career-high seven goals and four assists that season thanks to her role as a penalty taker for the team. Five of her goals came from penalty kicks and those kicks led to her celebrations that spanned from twerking to high kicks to golf putts and dazzled the national and international audiences.
“It’s funny to me that that was my breakout year to say because I’ve played completely the same exact way,” LaBonta said after a training session.
“The only difference is that I took PKs for the team. So I was always, like, the face, like, I was the one that was getting the goals in the game.”
“I love doing the goal celebrations and all that and I think that’s probably what brought more hype. But if you look at my game, it’s not very different year to year. I do obviously get better each time.”
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LaBonta has been a central midfielder who has played all over her teams’ lineups throughout her career. She’s been a winger and center forward as well, and throughout the midfield as an attacker and defender.
Her aggression on offense and defense made her a coach favorite fairly quickly and her personality makes her a locker room and fan favorite as well.
Current head coach Vlatko Andonovski knows LaBonta well, having been her head coach when LaBonta first got to Kansas City in May 2016 as a member of FC Kansas City.
“I actually had an individual meeting with Lo this morning,” Anodonovski said on Wednesday, “and shared my feelings and how proud I am of how much she has evolved in this game.
“She’s a grinder, hard worker, no-nonsense. She’s got a flair, [a] chip on her shoulder; everything that you want to see from a Kansas City player. It’s a true face of the Kansas City community as well.”
Hard work comes naturally to the Stanford engineering graduate.
Growing up in Rancho Cucamonga, California, LaBonta and her brother Koa participated in all kinds of sports like roller hockey, basketball, baseball, soccer, karate, and of course, surfing.
She wouldn’t call herself an expert surfer in the slightest.
“There was this one time in Santa Monica where we’re surfing and I didn’t have the leash to connect the board to it,” LaBonta said about a college offseason surfing trip. “So every time, I would just wipe out, whenever it was, have to go get my board, go back out. It’s a great workout.
“But then the lifeguard was just like, ‘To the two surfers who don’t know how to surf, can you please go further down the beach?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, just got humbled.’ But it was a great workout and I just have not gone back since.”
That’s LaBonta in a nutshell: Frequently looking to get out in the sunshine, and when she’s knocked off of where she wants to be, she keeps working and doesn’t take no for an answer.
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LaBonta was the 37th overall pick for Sky Blue FC (now NJ/NY Gotham FC) in the 2015 NWSL College Draft. Six games into the season, she was waived.
During that time, the NWSL was a side job according to the salaries that players received, so LaBonta was at a crossroads fresh out of school.
“Should I finish school and actually go do my degree? And I’m just a very stubborn person and I didn’t want that coach and GM of that team to control my destiny,” she said.
“I put all the work in and I was fortunate enough that Kansas City immediately was like, ‘yes, come to us.’ So that next season, I was going to show them all the hard work I’ve done to get back on the team,” she recounted.
“And that coach back then was Vlatko. So it’s coming full circle that Vlatko is back here and just everything that happened that first year I think just motivated me more to not just get better, but make the league better and do everything you can for the league and Kansas City itself.”
Before LaBonta became the face of Kansas City women’s soccer, Andonovski was the first head coach for FC Kansas City, KC’s first NWSL team.
The Macedonian calls KC his hometown having played for and coached the indoor soccer team Kansas City Comets and leading FCKC to back-to-back titles in 2014 and 2015.
His KC success led him to coach Seattle Reign FC and the U.S. women’s national team where he spent the last four years. His tenure heading the dynasty of USWNT was underwhelming as he couldn’t keep up the continued success of the program.
He led them to a bronze medal in the 2020 Olympics after the U.S. won the previous four gold medals and his team was knocked out in the round of 16 of the 2023 Women’s World Cup by Sweden in a penalty shootout. It was the worst World Cup in USWNT history.
Andonovski sent his resignation to U.S. Soccer in August while the Current were having their own underwhelming 2023 season.
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The fanfare of the 2022 season was met with anticipation after the Current’s 2023 offseason included splashy signings like world-class striker Debinha, former USWNT midfielder Morgan Gautrat and midfielder Vanessa DiBernardo.
The Current began the season by firing head coach Matt Potter after the first three matches (three losses) hours before a Challenge Cup match against the Houston Dash that they ended up winning. The team’s reason was only cited as “issues around his leadership and employment responsibilities”.
Interim HC Caroline Sjöblom had a depleted lineup throughout the season and the team ended the season 8-2-12 finishing 11th out of the 12 NWSL teams.
LaBonta was a mainstay on the pitch as she tallied almost 1,500 minutes (73% of the squad minutes) but only garnered two goals and an assist since she was not the penalty taker for the team.
“Last year, we signed someone, I don’t know if you know her name, Debinha,” LaBonta said, “Who we allow to take literally every free kick, PK, and I don’t care. I think she’s the best at what she does. All I care is that she includes me in her cellies. But we work on that on the side, too.”
After the season in October, Andonovski took over as head coach and sporting director in Kansas City and the duo were back together again.
“I think one thing Vlatko and I established from day one,” LaBonta said, “we were going to be brutally honest with each other from the get-go. And I think that is one thing that has helped me grow so much as a player. That’s one of the best things you want in a coach because it’s easy to buy in.”
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And because LaBonta has played for Andonovski before, he expects her to continue to be the leader that she is.
“It’s a good feeling when he first came in and he said he kind of wants to build it around a few of the players that are here. So that felt great, but it just, you know, it puts more pressure on you because he called you out. He’s putting a lot of pressure on you. He wants you to do well, but we want to do well as a team.”
As a product of the early NWSL, LaBonta was used to leading by trying to help clubs just stay afloat on daily tasks.
“It was me trying to do everything for the team. I was like, ‘Oh, I can help here. I can help here. What can I do for the staff,'” she said. “And now we’ve put people in leadership roles on that side, on the staff side, so we don’t have to worry so much about that.”
“And then on the field, I mean, if I need to hit somebody, I’ll be the hitman. If my player gets hit, I’m gonna be the one that’s gonna go over there. So it’s more of like, I think I just become like, a protective Mama Bear.”
The Current have even more fanfare coming into the 2024 season. Their brand new training facility aided their 2022 run and they will open this season with the first soccer stadium built for a women’s pro soccer team on Saturday at CPKC Stadium when they host the Portland Thorns at noon.
They’ve made more roster splashes as well by adding players like Brazilian national midfielder Bia, former Houston and Canadian national forward Nichelle Prince and U.S. youth players Claire Hutton and Alex Pfeiffer who the team is high on.
The consensus throughout the roster, including with LaBonta, is that they know what their expectations are for this season and feel confident with the additions of lots of technical staff, which include much more film review than in past season.
“I think immediately the group was brought in, [Andonovski] told us his standards, what he’s going to expect from us,” LaBonta said. “He put it all out there. So there’s no questions anymore. You just got to go and I think that’s why we’re all so hyped coming together now having the whole group here.”
As the Current embark on a historic season filled with high expectations and shiny new toys, LaBonta is grateful to be in the moment. The veteran has seen how far the NWSL and women’s soccer has come throughout her years in the league.
LaBonta’s love of Kansas City and the club she plays for made it easy for her to sign a two-year contract before the season.
“I think I’ve always said whenever I feel like I’m plateauing, that’s when I’ll you know, consider retiring. But each year, I feel like I’ve gotten better.”
Even as a California native, she has reached great heights in the Soccer Capital of America on the pitch and off the pitch meeting her husband, Sporting KC legend Roger Espinoza, while playing here, as well as becoming a prominent face in the community.
Kansas City is home for LaBonta.
“I think I’ve had the most growth as a player in Kansas City,” LaBonta said.
“They love their sports teams. So it’s very easy to want to play for the city here because you know, they already have your back.
“I need my mountains, my ocean, my water. We don’t have that year but the love that you get from the people like the people are amazing here and that’s why I think I continue to come back here and play for the city.”
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CPKC Stadium will likely sell out the whole season merely for the history of such a stadium to be built. Fans will also recognize LaBonta and the seven other players from the 2022 championship squad: goalkeeper AD Franch, forward Kristen Hamilton, defender Hailie Mace, defender Elizabeth Ball, midfielder Desiree Scott, defender Izzy Rodriguez and midfielder Claire Lavogez.
While the 2024 Current doesn’t have several KC natives like in 2022, LaBonta and the club hope folks come for the stadium but stay for the soccer;.
“I think the craziest thing right now is people that are in Kansas City, that are just kind of learning about the Current,” LaBonta said. “The first thing they bring up is the stadium.”
“I was like, if that’s the thing we needed to do, if that’s the thing our owners had to do to get your attention, now we need the support. Now, let’s show out because it’s there. And it’s no longer, ‘Hey, have you seen the new stadium?’ It’s like, ‘Hey, have you seen the Current play?'”
“That’s what I’m hoping the shift is because the stadium’s there, the lights were shining, I keep getting photos sent at night. There was a photo and the sky was like, red, and the bridge was teal. And I’m like, that’s scary. Who’s invading us,” she said jokingly.
“But it’s sick. If random people are taking those photos, it’s already making a statement. So now I just hope that our team puts the results out on the field and people show out.”
