Kansas City Current get back on winning track, shut out Racing Louisville at home

The Kansas City Current, desperate for a victory, secured a 1-0 victory over Racing Louisville on Monday afternoon at Children’s Mercy Park.

The Current were playing at home for the first time since Mother’s Day and picked up their first win since April 24th — and first victory in the NWSL regular season. The Current improved to 1-4-1.

Lo’eau LaBonta’s penalty kick in the second minute gave the Current an early lead and their defense held strong for the remainder of the match. AD Franch made a couple of saves, including one masterful reactionary kick-save from point-blank range.

LaBonta’s goal was her first of the season, which just so happened to come in her 100th career NWSL match. She was returning from health and safety protocols and confirmed she had tested positive for COVID-19.

“Our coach has a joke that ‘It’s not Kansas City if something bad doesn’t happen,” LaBonta said. “I know that sounds really bad, but it is a saying on our team because so many bad things have happened to us.”

She said she had felt fine when the first positive test came through but mentally shut down when the second test confirmed the first.

“One thing I love is the game of soccer and being with my teammates every single day and training with them and getting better,” LaBonta said.

She said she felt that the team had really picked up momentum with their result in Orlando, a 2-2 draw on May 14. But then COVID-19 positives popped up, which included four players and coach Matt Potter. The Current lost at Angel City and OL Reign before returning to Kansas City for Monday’s match.

“People think it’s gone, it’s not gone,” LaBonta said. “It hit our team really hard. But one thing I do think is that our team just has grit and we fight through everything.”

Potter also returned to the sidelines Monday afternoon. He was pleased with the performance and the team’s ability to bounce back from adversity.

“One thing we talked about all week, even though I was unable to be with the team, was circumstances don’t change our standards and results don’t change our expectations,” Potter said. “Our standards are high, and our expectations are clear.”

Potter said the team felt the urgency to get back to the winning ways that they had grown accustomed to after their run to the NWSL Challenge Cup semifinals.

“The strength of character that the group has shown has been incredible all week,” Potter said. “I think it was clear for everybody today, and today was just about that: can we get to the finish line on the right side of it? And today we did.”

Getting to the finish line was a long task. After the early penalty kick, the Current still had to defend for nearly 100 minutes, including stoppage time.

Louisville’s Jess McDonald and Overland Park native Cece Kizer were a handful for the Current backline. But rookie defender Jenna Winebrenner made many crucial tackles and interceptions.

“It’s our third game in about 10 days,” Winebrenner said. “So we knew we had to work when came into this one. Shoutout to everyone on my backline. I think we all worked so hard and we needed this shut out.”

The Current return to action Saturday night as they take on the San Diego Wave at 7:30 p.m. in Children’s Mercy Park.

This story was originally published May 30, 2022 at 4:18 PM with the headline "Kansas City Current get back on winning track, shut out Racing Louisville at home."