KC Current are one win from the NWSL title game. And KC has history with Sunday’s foe
Kansas City’s women’s pro soccer team will take on the side from Seattle in a high-stakes National Women’s Soccer League postseason match.
Sound familiar? It should (we’ll get to that shortly). But the franchises involved are different this time around.
The KC Current will be playing the OL Reign at 6:30 p.m. Central Time on Sunday in Seattle. The winner of the match at Lumen Field earns berth in the NWSL’s championship game.
The last time an NWSL squad from KC played Seattle’s team in the final stages of the league’s postseason, it was FC Kansas City vs. Seattle Reign FC. That was seven years ago, and for the second straight year, FCKC beat the Reign for the league championship.
Yep, upstart FCKC, two years straight, beat NWSL Shield-winning Seattle Reign FC for back-to-back league titles in 2014 and 2015.
The Reign has again won the NWSL Shield in 2022, but the team names and rosters are mostly different now: FCKC has gone kaput and its successor, the Kansas City Current, is a club on the verge of moving into its own purpose-built stadium in downtown KC.
The former Seattle Reign club, meanwhile, is now known as OL Reign — a nod to the team’s Olympique Lyonnais heritage and ownership.
The stakes are a bit different this time around, too. The winner of Sunday’s match won’t hoist the champion’s trophy, but a victory would guarantee that club a spot in the Oct. 29 NWSL championship match at Audi Field in Washington, D.C.
If that victor is the Current, Kansas City will extend to 3-0 its bragging-rights record in knockout women’s soccer games. Here’s a look back at the cities’ previous late-postseason tilts as we get ready for Sunday’s latest battle in Seattle:
FCKC 2, Reign 1 (Aug. 31, 2014): FCKC clinched its first NWSL title at Starfire Sports Stadium just south of Seattle. Amy Rodriguez scored two goals, one in each half, to give FCKC a 2-0 lead before Megan Rapinoe — still a star for the Reign today — scored in the 86th minute to keep things interesting.
FCKC 1, Reign 0 (Oct. 1, 2015): Once again, Rodriguez was the hero for FCKC. This time the KC team coached by Vlatko Andonovski (now the head coach of the U.S. Women’s National Team) played the Reign in Portland, with A-Rod scoring the game’s only goal off an assist from Heather O’Reilly.
OK, so now we’ve covered the old KC team’s matchups with the old Seattle Reign. Let’s move forward with a look at this season’s two KC Current-OL Reign matchups:
OL Reign 1, KC Current 0 (May 25, 2022): Bethany Balcer’s 80th-minute goal was the difference in this midweek match. This was coincidentally the Current’s last loss before the club embarked on a 13-game unbeaten streak. It was also the second of a two-game West Coast road trip during which KC head coach Matt Potter, as well as key players Hailie Mace and Lo LaBonta (among others), were sidelined by COVID-19.
KC Current 1, OL Reign 0 (July 17, 2022): While the scoreline appears pretty ho-hum in and of itself, we remember this one for Kansas City’s dominance from the 30th minute on. LaBonta converted a penalty kick in the 18th against the run of play. After a water break, however, it was all Current. KC was unable to add another goal but absolutely controlled possession for the rest of the match.
How the OL Reign match up Sunday against the Current: Led by NWSL Coach of the Year candidate Laura Harvey (KC’s Potter is also up for this award), the Reign set up in a 4-2-3-1. And since the last time the Current and Reign met, the Pacific Northwest side has added Canadian star Jordyn Huitema from French giant PSG.
Rapinoe’s influence also remains (and experienced a late-season resurgence), making this iteration of the Reign all the more dangerous. Opponents have been unwise to overlook Jess Fishlock and Bethany Balcer, and the Reign’s back line is similarly stout thanks to a cast of multiple USWNT players, including Alaa Cook.
Lavogez out for Sunday’s match
The KC Current confirmed some unfortunate news Thursday morning, announcing that Claire Lavogez, the club’s talented summer signing from France, will miss the remainder of the playoffs with a torn ACL.
Lavogez, who came to the Current July 20, tore a knee ligament during Sunday’s NWSL quarterfinal victory at the Houston Dash. The Current said in a statement that she’ll begin rehab immediately and is expected to make a full recovery.
Lavogez appeared in 10 matches for the Current, starting eight. She’d recorded an assist and scored twice. Her game-winner against the NC Courage on Aug. 13 garnered Lavogez the league’s Player of the Week award.
“We are incredibly heartbroken for Claire with this injury,” Current GM Camille Levin Ashton said in a team-issued statement. “She has been nothing short of an incredible teammate, asset and human being since she arrived in Kansas City.
“We look forward to her return and our entire organization will offer the full support of all our resources for her throughout the recovery process.”
This story was originally published October 20, 2022 at 12:46 PM with the headline "KC Current are one win from the NWSL title game. And KC has history with Sunday’s foe."