Kansas City Current bow out of Challenge Cup with semifinal home loss to NC Courage

The North Carolina Courage knocked the Kansas City Current out of the Challenge Cup for the second year in a row on Wednesday night at Children’s Mercy Park.

Brianna Pinto’s 96th-minute goal in the semifinal match was the difference in a 1-0 Courage victory.

“We were one-and-a-half minutes from a penalty shootout,” said KC’s interim head coach, Caroline Sjöblom. “I think we deserved to be there today.”

While the Current seemed to find the net easily during the group stage of the Challenge Cup, their goal-scoring deficiencies resurfaced in their three most recent — and most important — games.

And Wednesday night’s first half was especially rough for the Current. They struggled to string together passes. With little offensive rhythm, they failed to register a single-shot attempt through 56 minutes.

Sjöblom said the Current were wasteful in possession.

“When we won the ball from all our defensive work, we made turnovers again,” she said.

Current captain Kristen Hamilton credited the Courage’s ability to read what KC was trying to do.

“They understand their system well, so they were able to solve what we were doing,” Hamilton said. “It took us a little while to figure that out.”

The complexion of the match changed somewhat when Cece Kizer came on as a substitute. The Current found another gear and started creating chances. First it was a shot from Hailie Mace, then a curler from Alexa Spaanstra (saved expertly by NC’s Casey Murphy), and then an effort from Michelle Cooper that sailed just over the crossbar.

All of those shots looked strong. None found the net. And the Current’s inability to convert such chances caught up with them in the second half.

After a late substitution along the KC backline, the Current’s defense seemed disorganized and failed to clear the box. Pinto used her strength to hold off several Current defenders before sending a low, hard shot to the far corner.

Sjöblom’s substitutions included defender Stine Ballisager for Izzy Rodriguez (foot injury). Ballisager slotted into the back line, and instead of moving to a back three, Gabrielle Robinson covered Rodriguez’s spot at left-back. That left a rookie defender out of position and two center backs who had never played together to finish the match.

The players’ frustration and disappointment was palpable as the final whistle sounded. While not mathematically eliminated from NWSL postseason contention, the Current face long odds to get there.

The Current have four regular-season matches left. Three of those will be contested on the road, starting with their next match, on Sept. 16, in San Diego.

“It’s not over,” Hamilton said. “Anything can happen. This league is crazy. So we’re gonna go out there and fight ‘till the end.”

This story was originally published September 6, 2023 at 9:10 PM.