FC Kansas City will play Missouri, KU in slate of preseason games

FC Kansas City followers won’t have to wait much longer to catch the club in action.

The Blues will play three preseason matches against collegiate teams before opening their fifth NWSL season on April 16 at Swope Soccer Village. The first, the team announced Thursday, will be against the University of Missouri in Columbia on March 19 at 4 p.m..

Later, FCKC will visit the University of Nebraska on April 1 for a 1 p.m. match and the University of Kansas on April 10 for a 7 p.m. game.

Kansas grad Caroline Kastor will not be with the team when it travels to Lawrence next month. Kastor, who spent her whole NWSL career in Kansas City after joining the roster in 2015, announced her retirement Thursday. She made eight appearances during that championship season for the Blues.

Last season, Kastor played in 15 games, starting only three times and logging 289 minutes.

With strikers Sydney Leroux and Amy Rodriguez returning to league action after a year off and Shea Groom re-signing, Kastor’s playing time likely wouldn’t have gotten a major bump.

“I am so proud of the women who have contributed to the growth of the game and it has been an absolute honor to have been among those women,” Kastor said in a release.

This story was originally published March 9, 2017 at 4:19 PM with the headline "FC Kansas City will play Missouri, KU in slate of preseason games."