Debinha leads the way as Kansas City Current blows out Bay FC at CPKC Stadium

The KC Current returned to dominant form on a sunny Mother’s Day afternoon at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City.

The Current beat Bay FC 4-1 behind a vintage performance from midfielder Debinha, quieting concerns about some sort of skid.

The Current sits in first place in the National Women’s Soccer League with a 6-2-0 record, two points ahead of reigning NWSL champion Orlando City — KC’s next opponent (more about that in a moment).

Sunday’s action got started immediately, with the Current winning a corner in the first 90 seconds. And less than a minute after that, the hosts got onto the scoreboard.

“The key was probably losing the last two games,” Current coach Vlatko Andonovski said. “Losing is a mentality, just like winning. So we knew that this third game, we were gonna have to do whatever it takes to win it.

“We’re gonna come out as fast, as intense and as aggressive as we’ve ever been. We had to make a statement early on and take the game under control.”

About that quick-strike early goal: A long ball from Bay goalkeeper Jordan Silkowitz hung up in the breeze and landed right in the path of KC’s Hailie Mace. The KC defender hit a first-time pass, threading it between two opponents and into the path of teammate Bia Zaneratto.

Zaneratto’s tight control and footwork opened up the right angle for a shot that former KC goalkeeper Jordan Silkowitz just couldn’t reach.

“We work on that all the time,” Mace said of the pass to Zaneratto. “My teammates are always in the right spot, so I’m just hoping, once I hit it, that someone’s there.”

The Current couldn’t find a second goal for a while. As seems tradition, KC sat in a “rest defense” for the next 10 minutes; Bay FC wasn’t able to put together anything dangerous as the Current managed the game without the ball.

“I think we kind of got back to our usual ways: being aggressive, stepping into the ball,” KC defender Alana Cook said. “I think when we have that, that type of pressure back to front, it’s very hard for teams to play. We just were organized, aggressive and ready to come out and win.”

The Current’s second push included two goals from Debinha in a five-minute stretch. Her first followed a perfect pass from Claire Hutton.

“She does things that sometimes you don’t expect a 19-year-old to do,” Andonovski said. “She plays very mature and it’s great to see that, that she has a very good understanding of the game, both sides, every phase of the game.”

Hutton told ESPN after the game that she got some inspiration for the pass to Debinha from the goalscorer herself.

“When you see Deb open, you give Deb the ball,” Hutton said. “Seeing her, she’s played a bunch of those balls in practice. So being able to mimic it, and knowing she’ll finish it at the end of that, there’s no reason not to play that ball there.”

The second came on a free kick from roughly 30 yards: She curled the shot into the top corner.

Bay FC made it 3-1 briefly when Penelope Hocking scored off a corner kick.

Temwa Chawinga scored for the first time since March in the 62nd minute to make it a three-goal margin again. Chawinga got to Mace’s pass, headed the ball into space and drove at Silkowitz before shooting into the bottom left corner.

Up next: The Current will play at Orlando City on Friday night in a showdown between the first- and second-place teams in the NWSL. That match kicks off at 7 p.m. Central Time.

Daniel Sperry covers soccer for The Star. He can be reached at sperry.danielkc@gmail.com.

This story was originally published May 11, 2025 at 1:49 PM.