Kansas City Current fall to Racing Louisville in NWSL Challenge Cup match on the road
The Kansas City Current’s top selection in the 2023 NWSL Draft, Michelle Cooper, scored her first professional goal Wednesday night in Kentucky.
But it wasn’t enough to stave off Racing Louisville. After Cooper’s goal, the hosts responded with 15 minutes of dominance and assumed a lead they would not relinquish, beating the Current 3-2 in a Challenge Cup match at Lynn Family Stadium.
The Current fell to 1-1-0 in this year’s Challenge Cup.
With a significantly rotated team from Sunday’s 2-0 loss to San Diego, the Current got off to a good start. And this time they finished their big early chance. Cooper burst into the box on a great pass from Alexa Spaanstra and drove a powerful left-footed shot past Louisville goalkeeper Katie Lund.
“There’s been a pressure I’ve put on myself the entirety of the season so far, and to be able to finally see it hit the back of the net was really nice,” Cooper said.
But for the third match in a row, a poor 15-minute stretch saw the Current’s lead disappear. It’s a worrisome trend at this point, as the Current have missed the stable focus that was present during their three-match win streak.
“It seems like a pattern, and I also have seen games from last season that this is something that our team is struggling with,” said interim head coach Caroline Sjöblom. “We often concede two goals in a row.”
Sjöblom thinks the Current too often don’t want to have the ball after conceding a goal. The old adage is that a team is most vulnerable to being scored upon after they score a goal. But for the Current, it’s been the opposite.
They’re more vulnerable after giving up the goal. And that’s exactly what happened on Wednesday.
It was around the 25th minute that things started to sour for the Current. Racing Louisville thought they had tied things up, but Uchenna Kanu was offside. KC keeper AD Franch kicked the ball straight to Louisville on the restart, gifting the home team an opportunity it would not squander.
Savannah DeMelo’s nifty shot off the outside of her right foot made it 1-1. The Louisville onslaught continued, and five minutes later DeMelo picked up a loose ball in the box and blasted it past Franch to make it 2-1.
The Current tried to mount a comeback, even bringing usual starters Debinha, Lo LaBonta, Hailie Mace and Cece Kizer off the bench for the final 30 minutes. Pushing hard for a goal, they were caught on the counter and Louisville made it 3-1 late in the match.
Even more frustrating for KC, the Current got their second goal just a couple of minutes later. Debinha took the ball at midfield and dribbled through everyone, and her deflected shot got past Lund to make it 3-2.
While the result wasn’t what they wanted, the Current did get contributions from their top two draft picks. Cooper scored and Spaanstra picked up assists on both Current goals.
Spaanstra gave credit to her teammates and the coaching staff for building her up to be ready to contribute when called upon.
“Everybody’s been pushing me a lot, so I think just being able to get in minutes here and there has really boosted my confidence,” she said.
Now, the Current (0-2-5 NWSL) turn around and head home to play Racing Louisville again on Saturday night at Children’s Mercy Park.