An arcing shot from Izzy Rodriguez and a penalty kick from Lo’eau LaBonta clinched the Kansas City Current’s spot in the NWSL playoffs with a 2-0 victory Saturday, Aug. 30 at CPKC Stadium.
Rodriguez’ first goal of the year came off a second corner kick in the 31st minute, when the ball was cleared back to her to the left of goal, curling her shot past Courage keeper Casey Murphy. LaBonta scored from the penalty spot ten minutes later, when Temwa Chawinga drew a foul in the box as she was attempting to make a shot. The second half saw the Current prevent the Courage from posting a shot on goal, allowing keeper Lorena to record her tenth clean sheet of the year, and the Current’s record-setting sixth straight shutout.
The Current become the first team to clinch a playoff spot and are 15 points ahead of Washington in the standings, with the Spirit set to play Sunday afternoon. The Current will visit Bay FC next Saturday, with kickoff at 9 p.m.
A three-goal surge in the second half allowed Sporting Kansas City to roll past the Colorado Rapids 4-2 on Saturday at Children’s Mercy Park, snapping the team’s six-game winless streak.
Dejan Joveljic opened the scoring for the hosts in the fourth minute for his 100th professional goal, heading his shot past Colorado keeper Zack Steffen. Rafael Navarro beat John Pulskamp on a drive to goal to equalize 20 minutes later, then provided a cross to Keegan Rosenberry in the 31st to give the Rapids the lead.
That would remain the score until the 73rd minute, when Daniel Salloi delivered a low shot to the left corner of goal, gnabbing his seventh goal of the year and bringing him into a tie for second with 67 career goals scored for Sporting KC. The celebrations would only get louder two minutes later, when Santi Munoz and Mason Toye drove forward, setting up Toye to the bury the game-winning in the far corner of the net. Joveljic would head in his second goal in the 80th minute to extend the lead.
Pulskamp recorded five saves as Sporting outshot Colorado 20-16, including an 11-8 advantage in shots on goal. Sporting remain 13th in the Western Conference with 27 points, now eight points behind San Jose for the ninth spot in the playoffs with a game in hand.
Meanwhile, St Louis City SC sit just two points outside the basement of the standings after falling to the Houston Dynamo 3-2 on Saturday night at Energizer Park. City’s comeback attempt proved too difficult, despite netting two goals in four minutes.
Ezequiel Ponce had the only goal in the first half, heading in Houston’s first goal of the match in the 20th minute. The Dynamo doubled their lead by way of an own goal by City’s Henry Kessler after halftime, and then extended it with a right-footed shot from Duane Holmes in the 72nd minute. City got on the board in the 86th minute with Eduard Löwen’s fifth goal of the season, a right-footed shot sent to the top right corner of goal. Mykhi Joiner bagged his first MLS goal three minutes later to bring City within one, but they would get no closer.
St Louis outshot Houston 13-8, with four shots on goal to Houston’s three. It’s the third consecutive game City have lost by a 3-2 scoreline, and keeps them 14th in the West on 21 points.
Next weekend, City will host FC Dallas, with kickoff Saturday at 7:30 p.m., while Sporting will host Austin FC on Sunday evening at 6 p.m.