Hailie Mace to rescue as Kansas City Current salvage stoppage-time draw against Thorns
It was a hot, humid and physical game at Children’s Mercy Park on Sunday afternoon as the Kansas City Current played host to the Portland Thorns in a key National Women’s Soccer League match.
The most critical events in the 1-1 tie occurred in the final few minutes of regulation and stoppage time — and no event was more crucial than Hailie Mace’s free kick.
With the Current suddenly trailing 1-0 thanks to an 87th-minute goal by Portland’s Rocky Rodriguez, Mace won a ball in the air and was dragged down by Becky Sauerbrunn, the former FCKC star.
Mace’s subsequent blast was true, salvaging a point for the Current (9-5-6) in the race for the NWSL Shield.
“They just don’t know when they’re done,” Current coach Matt Potter said of his team. “The fight, the mentality of the group as a whole, how much they care about each other, how much they care about the people in the stands, they just want to continually drive themselves forward.”
It was scoreless most of the way Sunday. KC goalkeeper AD Franch made a whopping eight saves against her former team.
“Yeah I made saves, but our back line did some amazing things,” Franch said. “I think this is one of our better performances.”
Amid the team’s travel from Chicago back to KC after Wednesday’s match, the Salina native Franch made a detour to Stillwater, Okla., where she was inducted into the Oklahoma State Athletics Hall of Honor. She returned to KC and made the start Sunday for the Current.
“It’s been a long week,” Franch said. “I’ll probably actually take tomorrow to analyze the week and really take it all in. We’re all running on fumes right now.”
Despite Franch’s ability to make saves, things took a desperate turn when Portland banged home its second-chance shot in the 87th minute.
The Thorns’ goal developed when Rodriguez collided with KC’s Alex Loera at the top of the box and got the better end of the challenge. Her initial shot clanged off the post and Franch couldn’t get to the rebound in time — Rodriguez knocked it in from a very tight angle, while Loera had to be helped off the field after a lengthy delay.
Sunday’s outcome took on added importance because the Current had suffered their first loss since May in their previous match, a defeat at Chicago that ended their 13-game unbeaten streak.
With two matches left in the season, the Current now sit in third place with 33 points, two points behind first-place San Diego. Just three points separate the league’s first- and fifth-place teams.
“We know exactly where we are at the top of the table,” said KC defender Kristen Edmonds. “We know exactly what’s at stake, but we’re just taking it one game at a time.”
The Current play one more regular-season home match, at home Saturday against the Washington Spirit at 4 p.m. After that and a road game at Racing Louisville on Oct. 1, the playoffs begin.
This story was originally published September 18, 2022 at 6:10 PM with the headline "Hailie Mace to rescue as Kansas City Current salvage stoppage-time draw against Thorns."