After missing first-half chances, KC NWSL is put away by Chicago in home league opener

Kansas City NWSL was hoping the third time would be a charm Wednesday night as it looked to finally deliver a win for its home crowd.

But despite playing in front of a full house for the first time in franchise history, Kansas City was sunk 2-0 by the Chicago Red Stars at Legends Field.

Including the Challenge Cup, Kansas City has extended its winless run in National Women’s Soccer League competition to seven games.

Captain Amy Rodriguez described Kansas City’s game against the Houston Dash last weekend as a “tale of two halves” and the same could be said for KC this time around.

But unlike the Houston game, the ending to this story wasn’t as happy. Chicago substitute Mallory Pugh made an immediate impact and assisted on two goals to put a damper on the evening for KC fans.

“Five or six minutes worth of two goals for them, back-to-back, kind of hit us a little bit,” KC head coach Huw Williams said. “We didn’t start the second half like we wanted to, a little bit of fatigue was a factor in there. We’ll look closely into that, but I thought we played pretty well first half.”

After a shaky opening five minutes, Kansas City went to dominate the first half and would consider itself unfortunate not to find itself up at halftime.

Midfielder Victoria Pickett signaled the start of Kansas City’s dominance with an in-swinging corner that almost looped right over Chicago goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher and into the far corner.

Naeher got a hand to the ball to tip it out for another corner, but it was the start of a fairly stress-free half for Kansas City.

Chance after chance came for KC, including an opportunity for Mariana Larroquette from six yards out that was saved off the line from Naeher.

Larroquette provided an interesting dynamic for KC in the game. On one hand, she produced the type of threat an out-and-out forward offers, showing a nose to be in the right place at the right time.

But she was tasked with playing on the left wing, and her natural instincts kept drawing her inside. She was also being drawn back into defending Chicago’s wingbacks throughout her 64 minutes in the game, causing KC to struggle to attack down the left.

“We have a responsibility for our wingers to come back and track those players,” Williams said. “But it’s a big ask, too, because as soon as win position we want to transition high and wide immediately, that’s where the holes were. Because often they had both outside backs attacking.”

The first sign of trouble for the home team came in the 35th minute when a wide Chicago attack resulted in a goalmouth scramble that was eventually cleared off the line from Michelle Maemone.

The stop was as good as a goal for KC, but it only delayed the inevitable.

The visitors continued to grow into the game, and the introduction of U.S. Women’s National Team star Pugh put an end to any hopes KC had of delivering a win to its home fans.

Pugh entered the game in the 61st minute and took less than 10 minutes to make an impact.

Six minutes after she entered the field, Pugh picked the ball up in the middle of the field and drove at KC’s defense. With KC scrambling, Pugh slid the ball out wide to Kealia Watt, who curled the ball past KC keeper Nicole Barnhart for the opener.

Just three minutes later, Pugh was on hand again to burn the KC defense. This time she got past Desiree Scott down the left side of the box before cutting the ball inside for an easy finish by Makenzy Doniak.

“Mal’s a quality player, she’s a difference-maker,” Williams said. “There’s a difference in her demeanor, it seems like she’s building that confidence. The player that everybody saw a few years ago, I think she’s getting closer.”

Pugh missed much of 2020 through a hip injury and has been returning to fitness. In the 1-1 tie between KC and Chicago in the Challenge Cup, Pugh also played just 33 minutes.

With the two-goal lead, Chicago tightened up its midfield trio and also had the energetic Pugh help drop back to pack the middle of the field.

“I think them packing the middle was a little more difficult for what we had planned,” KC midfielder Victoria Pickett said. “I think we handled it as best as we could.”

KC failed to record any clear-cut chances once falling 2-0 down, but a credible claim for a penalty on Rodriguez was waved away by the referee in the final minutes.

This story was originally published May 26, 2021 at 9:22 PM with the headline "After missing first-half chances, KC NWSL is put away by Chicago in home league opener."