KC’s women’s pro soccer team played K-State in its final tuneup. Let’s break it down

Kansas City NWSL played its final preseason game Thursday night, defeating K-State 3-0 to cap off a preseason in which it outscored opponents 6-0.

The game against the Wildcats was KC’s final tune-up game before its Challenge Cup opener at the Portland Thorns on April 9.

Although the game was behind closed doors, The Star was able to get a first look at how the team is shaping up before they hit national TV against the Thorns next week.

Defense

You’ll notice that there will be a theme in this analysis that starts really positive and gets more critical as we head further up the field.

But there are absolutely zero complaints about the defense heading into the Challenge Cup. The club played three preseason opponents — Orlando Pride, KU and K-State — not conceding a single goal in that span.

And although neither of the collegiate opponents offered much of a challenge at the back, it allowed KC to test out the new partnership of Scotland captain Rachel Corsie and midfielder-turned-defender Kate Del Fava.

The pair worked really well together against K-State, shifting side-to-side together smoothly and communicating almost constantly. Naturally more attack-minded, Del Fava could be found pushed higher up the field more than Corsie, but she had no qualms with sitting back when Corsie took the ball and marauded up the field.

“I think they complement each other very well. You’ve got the experience and the leadership from Corsie who manages the backline,” KC coach Huw Williams said. “And you’ve got Kate who’s just that young gazelle who can step into the midfield and break those lines and creates numbers up.”

We’ve heard it all preseason, but it’s no lie when Williams says that he wants his wingbacks joining in on the attack. It’s not so much as a case of them pushing up to help the attack, but the wingers will tuck in tight to open up lanes out wide for the wingbacks to run right up to the byline and join the attack.

Kansas City’s second goal, courtesy of Amy Rodriguez, was a direct result of left back Kristen Edmonds receiving the ball in an advanced position and swinging in a low cross from the corner of the box for Rodriguez to redirect in.

When one of the wingbacks advanced, the other one made sure to stay back, too, shifting across with Del Fava and Corsie to create a balanced back three.

Midfield

There’s both good and bad to say about the midfield. We’ll start with the good.

Defensive midfielder Gaby Vincent was an absolute rock in front of the two centerbacks, and also chipped in with the opening goal off a corner.

Filling in for Desiree Scott, who will be away on international duty with Canada for the Portland game, Vincent balanced her responsibilities perfectly.

Oftentimes she could be seen sitting deep in front of the centerbacks, while on other occasions she was joining in the attack, taking shots and feeding in balls to the forwards.

“With Desi leaving for the game for Canada, we feel comfortable with Gaby slotting in and actually adds a little bit of dimension in that ability to spray the balls a little bit wide,” Williams said.

Midfielder Maddie Nolf was also hugely impressive. Having spent her first couple of seasons in the league often watching from the bench, it seems Williams has seen something in the 25-year-old.

Nolf was involved in nearly all of the midfield action in the first half, running into open pockets to receive balls across the middle third and taking on players before playing accurate passes.

“You can almost feel the desire that she has. She wants to be an impact player in this league,” Williams said. “I’ve been thinking that she’s way more worthy than that as a player. She’s very competitive, very determined, can win a lot of loose balls. But as you saw today, is technically very good too.”

But if there is one complaint about Nolf, it’s that she often would play the safe pass rather than making that incisive, line-breaking pass. But that wasn’t just an issue with Nolf in the first half, but with the whole team.

The teams entered halftime at 0-0, and although KC dominated possession and had some great play around the box, they didn’t play much inside the box. There were too many backward and sideways passes rather than ambitious passes to on-rushing forwards.

“We need to go forward, we need to look to penetrate,” Williams said. “They are, right now, programmed in some way to go backward and to go safe, and we have to change that.”

Attack

Despite the 3-0 scoreline, KC should have scored a lot more. The same can be said for the game against KU, in which Kansas City had over 10 shots on target but just scored two goals.

And as much as a surprise this may be, against K-State it was team captain Rodriguez who was the main culprit.

Yes, she got her goal midway through the second half, but she could have had at least a hat trick in the second half alone.

Not including her shots from distance in the first half, in the second half, Rodriguez hit the post from close range, didn’t connect cleanly on a snapshot from 10-yards out, and slid a weak shot wide of the far post in a one-v-one.

In all fairness to Rodriguez, she was getting into good positions throughout the game and making good runs, but the passes from the midfield failed to find her. That goes back to the lack of incisiveness in the midfield.

But when she did get the ball, she wasn’t putting it in the back of the net on a regular basis. For KC, one week out from the Challenge Cup, that’s not what you want to see from your star forward.

“She needs to score more goals, she’s getting into those positions,” Williams said. “She was looking sharper and better in the second half. She did score one goal, she needs to score more than that considering the amount of chances she had today.”

To end on a positive note, KC did get its third goal from Mizzou grad and KC trialist Allie Hess.

Hess has played with Williams on youth teams since she was 10-years-old and has been an assistant coach at UMKC since graduating from Mizzou.

She joined KC as a trialist this preseason and has been “turning some heads” according to Williams.

Williams also said there’s an argument for Hess to be the best finisher on the team right now and that she’s in contention for a roster spot heading into the 2021 season.

Offseason signing Marianna Larroquette also looked incredibly sharp in her limited minutes against K-State. She did all the hard work for Hess’s goal by beating a K-State defender to the ball at the byline, put the ball through the defender’s legs, cut inside, and took a shot that was saved and then turned home by Hess.

KC will travel to Portland on Wednesday before playing the club’s first official game back in Kansas City on Friday at 9:30 p.m. CT.

This story was originally published April 2, 2021 at 2:41 PM with the headline "KC’s women’s pro soccer team played K-State in its final tuneup. Let’s break it down."