Kansas City Concludes Three-Game Week with Road Trip to Face Chicago Red Stars

KANSAS CITY (Oct. 15, 2021) - Kansas City NWSL will take to the road this weekend as the team travels to face off against the Chicago Red Stars on Saturday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. CT at SeatGeek Stadium. This is the third regular season meeting between these two teams and the second time in Chicago. 

Saturday’s match is the third in a week for Kansas City. After holding the NWSL leading Portland Thorns to a scoreless draw on Sunday, Kansas City unleashed its offense on Wednesday night against the Houston Dash with a dominant 3-0 win. Forward Darian Jenkins opened the scoring in the 18th minute of play when she blasted a shot from the corner of the penalty box that curled around Houston Goalkeeper Jane Campbell and into the far upper corner of the goal. 

Later in the first half, it was Elizabeth Ball’s turn for glory when she put her head on the end of a perfect Katie Bowen restart and redirected the ball into the far bottom corner of the net to put Kansas City up 2-0 just before the halftime break.

Forward Jéssica Silva entered the game late as Kansas City looked to use her skills on the ball to hold possession. Silva took the ball to the corner flag several times and in added time found herself one on one with Campbell. As she passed the Houston goalkeeper, Campbell reached out and tripped her, drawing a penalty kick. Midfielder Lo’eau LaBonta stepped up to take the penalty kick and topped off the night and a huge victory for Kansas City to make the final score 3-0.

Kansas City had a stellar defensive night, only allowing two shots on goal and clearing the ball 32 times to keep the clean sheet. Goalkeeper Adrianna Franch earned her third clean sheet in six games with Kansas City. 

Chicago’s last match was also Wednesday night as they took on the Orlando Pride. The Red Stars scored in the sixth minute of play on a goal by Forward Kealia Watt, and held on to the lead for 86 minutes (including stoppage time) after that. Chicago holds an overall record of 9-8-5 with 32 points and a three way tie for fourth place on the NWSL table.

PLAYERS TO WATCH:
Kansas City Forward Darian Jenkins: Kansas City’s leading scorer scored a highlight-worthy goal that opened the scoring Wednesday night against Houston and led Kansas City to a 3-0 win. The goal was Jenkins’ third on the season in her team-leading 19 games played (15 starts).

Chicago Red Stars Defender Tierna Davidson: Davidson anchors the Chicago backline in the center-back position and is a part of 5 clean sheets on the season. She has played and started in 15 games for the Red Stars, totaling 1,305 minutes this year.

HOW TO FOLLOW ALONG

Aly Trost and Dave Borchardt will bring fans all the action on KCTV5 at 7 p.m. CT. Nationally, the game will stream on Paramount+