Temwa Chawinga broke a scoreless tie in the 82nd minute and the Kansas City Current escaped with a 1-0 victory over the Utah Royals in Sandy, Utah, on Friday night.
Chawinga scored her 30th goal in her 40th career NWSL game — becoming the fastest player to reach that mark in league history. The old mark of 51 games was set by Christen Press.
Chawinga one-touched a long pass from Kayla Sharples and lofted the ball over a charging goalie Mandy McGlynn to get the Current on board.
Kansas City (13-2-0, 39 points) narrowly avoided being shut out for just the second time this season. The Current instead extended their winning streak to eight matches while also notching their eighth clean sheet in 15 matches.
The Royals (1-11-3, 6 points) are winless in their past 10 matches and have never scored a goal on Kansas City in four all-time meetings between the two clubs.
For much of the match, Utah held the NWSL’s top offense in check. The Royals yielded only three total shots and one shot on goal before halftime.
On offense, Utah stepped up the attack as the second half progressed and pressured Kansas City’s backline. The Royals generated some good looks at the net but couldn’t put anything between the pipes.
Chawinga’s goal slammed the door on a potential Royals’ upset.
Ally Sentnor returned to Utah for the first time since the Royals traded the former No. 1 overall draft pick to Kansas City on Aug. 1. Sentnor registered four goals and five assists in 34 career appearances with Utah.
Sentnor came on as a sub for the Current in the 46th minute.
–Field Level Media
