Credit: Kylie Graham-Imagn Images
The Kansas City Current are beginning to look like their 2025 Shield-winning selves again after breaking their three-game losing streak Saturday against Gotham FC. Plus, North Carolina Courage’s strong defending held the second-place Portland Thorns to a draw in an exciting scoring-heavy match.
Welcome back, Temwa Chawinga
Prior to a Saturday home matchup against Gotham FC, nothing seemed to be going right for the Kansas City Current. Having lost three straight games straight, sitting near the bottom of the standings and set to face the team that had knocked them out of the playoffs the year prior, the 2025 Shield winners were searching for an answer.
The answer this weekend turned out to be Temwa Chawinga, as the Current secured a 2-1 comeback win over the 2025 NWSL champions.
Chawinga, the reigning NWSL MVP, was removed from the season-ending injury list and elevated to the active roster Friday. The forward was placed on the SEI list after hurting her abductor in October, just before the regular season ended.
Seeing action for the first time in 168 days, Chawinga made an immediate impact, generating two goal-scoring opportunities and the offensive momentum the team had lacked for the past few games.
First, though, it was Jaedyn Shaw who got Gotham on the board in the 29th minute — Gotham’s second goal of the season, if that offers a silver lining to fans. But Debinha responded for Kansas City within the half off an assist from Chawinga.
While Chawinga came off before halftime, the team maintained its momentum in the second half. In the 60th minute, Izzy Rodriguez sent a free kick to Ally Sentnor, who made the assist to Michelle Cooper. Cooper, coming back shortly after an injury of her own, put the ball into the net. Her goal sealed the comeback and gave the Current a much-needed win.
Courage holds strong against Thorns
In a rare occurrence, all of the goals in North Carolina Courage’s 2-2 draw with the Portland Thorns came in the first half of the match.
Portland opened scoring 12 minutes in with a header from Reilyn Turner off a set piece. Manaka Matsukubo struck back for North Carolina in the 28th minute, marking the Japanese forward’s fourth game in a row with a goal.
Five minutes later, Olivia Moultrie, the Thorns’ young star, put Portland up once again. And once again, the Courage caught up thanks to Ashley Sanchez’s strike before the half ended.
Both sides saw nerve-wrackingly close chances in the second half — including an especially good look for the Courage to score on an empty Portland net in the game’s final minutes. But ultimately, neither team managed to clinch the three points.
