Kansas City Current’s unbeaten streak continues, while NWSL history was made Saturday

The Kansas City Current are still unbeaten thanks to a 1-0 victory in Sandy, Utah, on Saturday night.

The win pushes the Current back into second place in the NWSL with 25 points. They have 7 wins, 0 losses, 4 draws, and are just two points behind the Orlando Pride. The Current have the best goal differential in the league.

The match was delayed for 40 minutes due to a storm moving through the Salt Lake City area. But once it got underway, it seemed like one-way traffic toward the Utah goal.

“We talked a lot about what it means when you’re coming off a delay,” Current coach Vlatko Andonovski said after the match. “Usually, the game is a little bit slower. And usually, the team that picks up the pace, or sets the pace first, is the team that is going to have a better opportunity to win the game.”

The Current certainly threatened early.

Temwa Chawinga could’ve had a first-half hat-trick with three golden chances. One went off the post. Another was saved by Utah goalkeeper Mandy Haught. Another was headed over the goal by a scrambling Utah defender trying to cover an empty net.

Then came some bad news: Current defender Gabrielle Robinson went to the ground without contact in the 22nd minute. She appeared in severe pain and was subbed off.

Andonovski called it a knee injury for Robinson after the match. She will be evaluated further upon the team’s return to Kansas City.

Even in her absence, the turning point of the match was coming.

In the 58th minute, the Current broke the deadlock and made some history — with their 15th different goalscorer this season. (The previous NWSL record was 14.)

Elizabeth Ball scored just her second career goal, stretching to get on the end of a header from Claire Hutton. Ball immediately ran to the sideline and celebrated with a hobbling Robinson.

“Obviously, it wasn’t a great moment to see her go down,” Ball said. “But I felt like we had to do something, get that win. I’m glad I could put it away for her.”

Andonovski praised Ball for her ability to enter the match in rather chaotic circumstances and do so with ease.

“She has been tremendous,” Andonovski said. “She has been a warrior. Even when she was starting and then a few games she didn’t start, she never really put her head down. Instead, she was just working as hard as possible and staying ready for moments like (tonight’s).”

The Current easily could’ve added to their lead. They took a total of 24 shots, putting eight on target. Utah’s Haught made seven saves, but the Current did her a favor, failing to hit the target with several prime chances.

Debinha, in fact, twice missed the net from point-blank range.

“There are two things that happened,” Andonovski said. “One, the goalkeeper did very well in some of (the chances). And the other ones, we were not clinical enough. I thought that with the opportunities that we created, we should score a lot more goals.”

The Current again faced a large amount of stoppage time and were under fire, leading 1-0, but they closed out the match and took all three points — unlike the last match, which featured a tying goal in the 103rd minute.

The Current now have the next couple of weeks off for international play. They resume NWSL play on Sunday, June 9, hosting the Seattle Reign for a 5 p.m. kickoff.

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