The previously winless North Carolina Courage scored twice in the final minutes of the game to hand the first-place Kansas City Current their first loss of the NWSL season on Saturday.
“This is just another example of how good this league is, and how you literally cannot relax even for a second regardless of who you’re playing and where you play them,” Current head coach Vlatko Andonovski said in his postgame news conference.
Courage defender Kaleigh Kurtz scored the equalizer in the 90th minute and midfielder Ashley Sanchez scored the game-winner for the home side three minutes later to stun the Current, who entered the match with a perfect record and had conceded only one goal in its first five games.
North Carolina came into the match in last place, having scored only three goals in five previous games. The Courage were the last winless team — and the Current the last unbeaten team — in the league heading into Saturday’s match.
“I think everyone can stop talking about us not winning, and maybe they can talk about how we grew up today,” Courage head coach Sean Nahas said.
“I care so much about the group that it bothers me. I don’t feel like anyone writes things in a positive light. I think they do it in a light because it’s something to feed off of, because people like to see us struggle a little bit. But at the end of the day, this league is so competitive.”
Of concern for the Current was the halftime exit of forward Temwa Chawinga, last year’s MVP and Golden Boot winner thanks to a league-record 20 goals. Andonovski said Chawinga sustained a minor injury in the first half but added that he wasn’t sure if he could share the specifics of it.
Nahas made a drastic tactical change by switching to a three-back defensive system. North Carolina, which has led the league in possession for several years, also played more direct against a Kansas City team that thrives in transition moments.
Still, the Courage struck first, against the run of play, six minutes before halftime through first-time starter Haley Hopkins, who was traded to Kansas City from the Courage in the offseason. Courage fullback Ryan Williams moved into a wingback role with the formation change and was rewarded with a goal seven minutes after halftime to equalize for North Carolina.
The lead was short-lived, however. Recent United States debutant Claire Hutton dribbled stickily through three Courage defenders inside the 18-yard box and dished the ball to forward Bia Zaneratto in the 57th minute for the go-ahead goal, and it looked like the Current were on their way to a sixth win in six games.
But North Carolina kept up the pressure, and Kurtz struck the equalizer on a recycled corner kick after Sanchez chased down the rebound and crossed it back into the box. Kansas City pushed for a game-winner in the moments that followed, which Andonovski said is part of the team’s identity.
It was the Courage who found the moment of magic in transition, however. Captain and longtime defensive midfield stalwart Denise O’Sullivan spun out of pressure around midfield and played a through ball to Williams, whose cutback ball found Sanchez for the winning shot.
“We knew that if we could beat them, we could beat anyone,” Sanchez said. “I think we just really believed in ourselves, and at the end of the day, we knew we were going to get back and we had the belief that we were going to win it.”
Kansas City’s loss leaves the NWSL without an unbeaten team after six weeks.
Last year, the Current and the Orlando Pride were both unbeaten through 15 games until Orlando ended Kansas City’s run. The Pride went unbeaten through the first 23 games — a league record — en route to winning the NWSL Shield and NWSL Championship.
Both the Pride and Current now have one loss this season. The two contenders meet again on May 16 in Orlando.
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