After memorable season, KC Current fall 1 goal shy vs. Pride in semis: the story

Things were looking pretty good for the Kansas City Current when star striker Debinha opened the scoring in the 33rd minute of Sunday afternoon’s National Women’s Soccer League semifinal match against the Orlando Pride in Florida.

But top-seeded Orlando equalized soon after and added two more goals to oust the fourth-seeded Current with a 3-2 decision at Inter & Co. Stadium in Orlando.

Afterward, devastated Current players huddled on the field one last time as manager Vlatko Andonovski and team captain Lo LaBonta delivered some final words.

Andonovski, the former U.S. Women’s National Team and FC Kansas City coach, told the players he was proud of them.

“There’s nothing I could say more that was going to make this moment any easier,” he said. “Losses are tough. Big losses are tougher.”

LaBonta said she wanted to look each of her teammates in the eye and tell them she loved them, and was proud of them.

“I told them all it was my honor to be on this team with them,” the veteran LaBonta said. “They’re the best teammates that anybody could ask for. They were great on the field, off the field.”

It was a disappointing ending to the Current’s record-breaking season. In many metrics, KC put together the best season the league had seen in 10 years. The NWSL began competition in 2012.

But three teams were even better than the Current in 2024. And that meant KC would have to hit the road for the semifinal round before playing host to the NWSL Championship Game — win or lose — next weekend at CPKC Stadium.

This was a tough year to be on the road in the postseason, where outcomes turn on fine margins. Home teams went 6-0 in this year’s NWSL playoffs.

That made the possibility of playing a final at home even more enticing, while also amplifying the agony of Sunday’s final scoreline — especially considering that, at one point, it looked like KC might advance.

A pass out wide to Michelle Cooper set up the play on which Debinha scored the Current’s first goal. Cooper dribbled the ball toward the end line before feeding Debinha the ball through a gap between Orlando goalkeeper Anna Moorehouse and the Pride defensive line.

Debinha adjusted well, ensuring the ball found empty net for a 1-0 KC lead.

But then Orlando found a tying goal off the foot of Overland Park native Haley McCutcheon.

Orlando’s Ally Watt dribbled to the end line and cut back to McCutcheon’s unmarked run. McCutcheon, who played for the Houston Dash from 2018-22 and didn’t score during the regular season this year, was accurate with her finish for her second equalizer of the 2024 postseason.

With about 4,000 fans watching the match on big screens at CPKC Stadium, the Current made a halftime substitution. Andonovski pulled LaBonta — she’d been regarded as questionable entering the match because of a leg injury — for Nichelle Prince. The Current also changed formations, moving to a 4-4-2.

“You know me, LaBonta said. “I have to be taken off in order to not finish a game out. I wanted to give everything to this team, and I did. I gave my whole right leg and whatever I could do.”

Sunday’s match highlighted two of the league’s best teams, as well as two MVP candidates: Orlando’s Barbra Banda and Temwa Chawinga. The latter player this year set an NWSL record for goals scored in a season, but Banda took the headlines Sunday with a screamer of a goal in the 53rd minute.

The Current’s best chance for a tying goal came in the 65th minute. Another cross from Cooper fell to Nichelle Prince, but her shot was blocked on the line by Orlando’s Emily Sams. The ball fell to Chawinga at the penalty spot, but the typically surefooted Malawian’s attempt blazed over the bar.

Then came a legendary moment from Brazilian star Marta. The Pride forward cut back and forth on a run toward the KC goal, faking out Alana Cook and Kayla Sharples along the way. After rounding Current goalkeeper Almuth Schult, she deposited the ball in the net to make it 3-1.

The Current’s final goal came in the 10th minute of 19-plus minutes of extra time: KC was awarded a penalty kick and Vanessa DiBernardo converted the opportunity.

But that would be it for KC.

“It hurts,” LaBonta said. “But it means that hurt is going to bring us into the offseason, we’re going to carry it with us in the preseason, and we’re going to come back even stronger next year.”

NWSL Championship set for CPKC Stadium

On Saturday at 7 p.m. (live on CBS), the Pride will play the Washington Spirit in the NWSL Championship Game at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City.

The Spirit defeated Gotham FC on Saturday in a penalty-kick shootout. Esther Gonzalez gave Gotham a 1-0 lead, but Hal Hershfeldt’s header in the second minute of stoppage time sent it to overtime.

No one scored in the 30-minute extra period, so the match then went to PKs. Gotham saved all three penalty kicks, while the Spirit converted all three of theirs to book a place in the final.