KC Current blasts Bay FC at CPKC Stadium. Temwa Chawinga & Bia provided the fireworks
The Kansas City Current stayed unbeaten, putting on a show at CPKC Stadium on Saturday night. A resounding 5-2 victory over expansion team Bay FC kept the Current atop the NWSL standings with a record of 4 wins, 0 losses, 1 draw.
A five-goal evening widened KC’s margin of a league-best 17 goals. KC was the only team in the league in double-digits as of Saturday night.
Saturday’s match featured three different KC Current goalscorers, and manager Vlatko Andonovski expressed pride in the team-wide goal contributions this season.
In fact, 10 different players have scored for KC through five matches.
“The one thing that I like about this team is nobody cares who scores the goals,” Andonovski said. “... That just speaks about the mentality of the team and the culture that the team comes first.”
The Current started Saturday’s match on fire, with two goals in the game’s first six minutes.
First, Bia Zaneratto picked off a back-pass by Bay FC and put away her shot. Then, Bayley Feist headed home a cross from Alexa Spaanstra to make it 2-0.
Bay FC pulled one back 11 minutes later, off yet another corner kick the Current failed to clear. Defending set pieces has been an issue for KC this season, but Andonovski was pleased with his side’s improvement after allowing that goal.
“The thing that I liked after (the goal) was that they had another 10 to 12 corner kicks; I don’t even remember if they connected with the ball at all,” Andonovski said. “So we adjusted well.”
And continued to score, too.
The Current quickly doubled its score in the second half, with two goals from Temwa Chawinga. Chawinga’s first goal came on a pass from Vanessa DiBernardo, and Chawinga placed her shot low and hard into the bottom corner.
The second came on a long ball over the top, which Chawinga brought down and drove in on goal, chipping Bay FC goalkeeper Lysianne Proulx, who was well outside the box.
Bia Zaneratto added her second, the Current’s fifth goal in the 73rd minute.
Bia and Chawinga have formed a formidable duo up top. They’re tied atop the league goal-scoring charts with four apiece in five games.
Chawinga says their connection started years earlier when they played together with Wuhan Jianghan. Together, they won the 2021 Chinese league title.
”When I see she’s coming here, and I come here, I was so happy that (I’d play) with Bia again,” Chawinga said. “She’s a good player and she works so hard. I was very happy that maybe we’d play together.”
Bay FC added a late second goal from Tess Boade but could not make a further dent in the scoreline. Also of note from Saturday’s match: Former KC Current midfielder Alex Loera left the game early due to injury, hurting her knee in a challenge from Bia.
Next up: The Current travel to Los Angeles on Friday to face Angel City FC for the second time in 2024.
Daniel Sperry covers soccer for The Star. He can be reached at sperry.danielkc@gmail.com.
This story was originally published April 20, 2024 at 8:55 PM.