Mary Long’s 1st pro goal, and veteran’s touch, key KC Current’s Teal Cup victory
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- Kansas City Current defeated SC Corinthians 2-1 to win the Teal Rising Cup.
- Mary Long scored her first professional goal, securing the game-winning strike.
- Michelle Cooper contributed a goal and assist as KC rested key veteran players.
The Kansas City Current played host to the inaugural Teal Rising Cup to help keep several of the team’s veteran players fresh and get younger players some experience.
The combo worked beautifully as Mary Long and Michelle Cooper each scored in the tournament finale for a 2-1 victory against Brazilian club SC Corinthians on Tuesday night at CPKC Stadium.
Long even scored what would be the winner — her first goal as a professional soccer player — as the Current claimed the trophy on home turf.
They did so without playing stars Temwa Chawinga and Bia Zaneratto.
Current coach Vlatko Andonovski said winning such competitions should help the team in its push for bigger and more important trophies.
“It helps a lot in preparing for a bigger stage,” Andonovski said. “Our goal is not to stop here. We want to go and win the NWSL; we want to win a Club World Cup. We want to be one of the best in the world, and games like this is what prepares us for our long-term goals.”
Cooper got the Current off to a customarily fast start. Haley Hopkins poked the ball away from a Corinthians player, straight to teammate Lo LaBonta.
LaBonta drilled a pass between two defenders into Cooper’s path and the latter player calmly placed a shot into the bottom corner of the net.
Long scored the second goal for the Current thanks to a good pass from Cooper. KC’s Regan Steigleder played the ball over the top first to Cooper, who got the ball in behind and dribbled to the end line. Her pass back found Long wide open for a tap-in.
“I saw her kind of blocking that near-post run … it’s one we make a lot,” Long said, “and I always know Michelle’s gotta look up and put the ball where I need it. She honestly made it a very easy finish for me.”
Long worked herself free with a nifty deke like she was checking back to the penalty spot. The Corinthians defender went where she thought Long would go ... until Long burst back toward the edge of the six-yard box.
“For Mary to have that kind of recognition to find space,” said tourney MVP Hopkins, “especially in such close quarters ... you have defenders that are just looking for the ball, looking to stop you.
“It was a great movement, great runs, and I feel like that goes a little bit underappreciated sometimes.”
In the 25th minute, three minutes after Long’s goal, Gabriela Zanotti found herself open for a header to score the lone goal for Corinthians.
The second half got a bit tense, but the Current held on and weathered Corinthians’ attack. Current goalkeeper Laurel Ivory made a couple of saves and handled some dicey crossing situations well.
“In the first 25-30 minutes, I thought that we had good control of the game,” Andonovski said. “They came back, and they came back strong and made it very tough for us.”
The Current won both of its games in the Teal Rising Cup — KC beat Palmeiras 3-0 Saturday — outscoring the two Brazilian teams 5-1 overall.
Corinthians finished as the Teal Rising Cup runner-up. Palmeiras finished third thanks to a 1-0 win earlier Tuesday over the Chicago Stars. The Stars, the other NWSL club in the Teal Rising Cup, lost both matches at CPKC Stadium without scoring a goal.
Up next: The Current returns to NWSL action on Aug. 1 against Racing Louisville on the road. The match was recently picked up for broadcast by Amazon Prime. The Current’s next home game at CPKC Stadium is Aug. 16, when KC plays host to the Orlando Pride.
Daniel Sperry covers soccer for The Star. He can be reached at sperry.danielkc@gmail.com.
This story was originally published July 15, 2025 at 10:22 PM.