Match Report: Kansas City Current Earns Shield, Sets Regular Season Wins Record In 2-0 Victory Over Seattle Reign FC

KANSAS CITY (Sept. 20, 2025) — The Kansas City Current (17-2-2, 53 pts., 1st place) won the 2025 National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) Shield, presented by CarMax, Saturday night at CPKC Stadium with a historic 2-0 victory over Seattle Reign FC (8-7-6, 30 pts., 6th place). Midfielder Debinha put the Current ahead from the penalty spot in the 34th minute and forward Temwa Chawinga’s header sealed the victory in the 74th minute to reclaim her lead in the Golden Boot race with her 13th goal of the year.

Kansas City became the fastest team in league history to win the Shield, awarded annually to the NWSL team with the best regular season record, and earned the honor for the first time in franchise history.

The milestone victory came on the heels of another strong defensive performance. The Current extended their NWSL-record shutout streak to nine matches with the two-goal victory, the club’s league-record 13th win by multiple goals this season. The Current also earned their 14th shutout of the year which broke a three-way tie for the most clean sheets in NWSL history. Additionally, the result marked Kansas City’s 17th win of the 2025 campaign, a new franchise record for most wins in a single regular season.

“[Winning the Shield] is good and it’s important that we work for things like this and moments like this all season,” said head coach Vlatko Andonovski. “I am happy for them, and obviously they are happy. It’s just justification of all the work that we’ve done this year, and last year too. We talked last year that we had a great season, and we said we were going to come out stronger...We proved that we are a better team than last year and we are going to keep growing as we go forward.”

The home team took control of the match from the opening whistle in front of a sellout crowd at CPKC Stadium. Forward Nichelle Prince saw an effort from the center of Seattle’s penalty area roll wide in the seventh minute after a feed from Chawinga. Three minutes later, defender Gabrielle Robinson – who made her first NWSL regular season home appearance in 490 days – steered an effort wide of goal following a Current corner kick.

Lorena secured a piece of NWSL history in the 13th minute when she set a new league record for consecutive shutout minutes with 555. The Brazilian netminder ultimately extended that streak to 632 minutes following another comprehensive defensive performance by Kansas City. Lorena has now been credited with 12 of the Current’s 14 shutouts, one off the NWSL record.

The Current continued to generate scoring opportunities as the first half progressed received its best chance of the opening frame in the 30th minute. On a second-chance opportunity from the right wing following a Kansas City restart, midfielder Ally Sentnor attempted to curl a cross into the penalty area. Sentnor’s cross struck the arm of Seattle midfielder Angharad James-Turner inside the box and was ultimately cleared before a penalty kick was awarded to the Current after video assistant review.

Debinha stepped up to the spot to take the kick in the 34th minute, and she powered her shot off the outstretched hand of Seattle goalkeeper Claudia Dickey and into the left side netting of the goal. The goal was Debinha’s sixth of the 2025 regular season and 53rd of her regular season career. She remains in seventh on the NWSL’s all-time regular season scoring leaderboard, now just one behind Jess McDonald’s career tally of 54.

Kansas City’s stalwart defense held the visitors without a shot through the 45 minutes of play, and the Current’s 1-0 lead carried into the break as the halftime whistle sounded.

The Current continued to press in the second half. In the 54th minute, Debinha drove at Seattle’s defense and curled a ball into the penalty area for Chawinga. Chawinga squared the ball for Prince, who hammered it on frame to force a save from Dickey. The Seattle goalkeeper made another stop in the 72nd minute on forward Bia Zaneratto’s strike before Kansas City pressed for another goal.

Two minutes later, insurance arrived through Chawinga, whose headed finish capped an excellent team move. Midfielder Claire Hutton began the sequence by corralling a Seattle clearance in the attacking third and pushing the ball forward for Sentnor. She rolled the ball out wide for forward Haley Hopkins who turned towards goal and dribbled around a defender before sliding and tapping a pass for Zaneratto about 12 yards from goal. With a sharp cut, Zaneratto evaded two opposing players and sent a goal-bound shot for the bottom left corner of the goal, but a Reign defender hustled to clear the strike off the line. However, Chawinga was perfectly positioned for a rebound at the back post and looped a header into the center of the goal to double Kansas City’s lead.

The goal marked Chawinga’s 13th of the regular season, moving her back to first place on the Golden Boot leaderboard. Chawinga’s first career header provided the necessary insurance for the Current to see the match out and, after 10 minutes of second-half stoppage time, Kansas City clinched the Shield with its 2-0 victory.

The KC Current has now shut out nine consecutive opponents following the victory and extended its league-record shutout streak to 812 minutes. Now with 40 regular season goals on the year, Kansas City becomes just the fourth NWSL club in history to score 40 or more goals in back-to-back seasons.

Midfielder Lo’eau LaBonta made her 175th regular season appearance in the match as a second-half substitute, and defender Kayla Sharples made her franchise-record 29th consecutive regular season start. Sharples has played every minute of the 2025 regular season for Kansas City. The Current now permanently sit atop the NWSL regular season table with 53 points and are just two points away of matching the club-record 55 points from 2024.

The three-match homestand concludes Friday, Sept. 26, as Kansas City hosts Chicago Stars FC at 7 p.m. CT at CPKC Stadium. The match will broadcast nationally on Prime Video, and fans in Kansas City can listen to all the action over the air on 90.9 The Bridge. Additionally, fans can tune in to the KC Current App to listen to the match in English, Spanish or Portuguese.

Limited single-match tickets for 2025 regular season home matches are now on sale to the general public. Playoff tickets are now available for purchase HERE. The best way to ensure you won’t miss a second of the action at CPKC Stadium is by joining the Current Club, the Current’s trailblazing fan membership experience. Focused on ensuring fans continue to be able to access exclusive opportunities, members can unlock special benefits like priority access to single match tickets, members-only gifts and discounts, access to live and virtual events, exclusive content and more. 2025 Season Ticket Member Account Holders are already enrolled in Current Club at no additional cost. Click HERE for more information about the Current Club.

NWSL Match Report  
Match: Kansas City Current vs. Seattle Reign FC  
Date: September 20, 2025  
Venue: CPKC Stadium, Kansas City, MO
Kickoff:  6:30 p.m. CT/4:30 p.m. PT 
Weather: 76 degrees, partly sunny  
Attendance: 11,500

Discipline  
29’ Seattle – James-Turner (Yellow)
45’ Seattle – Mondésir (Yellow)
88’ Seattle – Huitema (Yellow)
90+5’ Kansas City – Ball (Yellow)
90+10’ Kansas City – Hutton (Yellow)

Scoring  
34’ Kansas City – Debinha (PK)
74’ Kansas City – Chawinga

Scoring Summary

Kansas City Current Lineup: Lorena, Wheeler, Sharples, Robinson (46’ Mace (62’ Ball)), I. Rodriguez, R. Rodríguez (62’ LaBonta), Hutton, Sentnor, Prince (62’ Zaneratto), Debinha © (73’ Hopkins), Chawinga 
Unused Substitutes: Ivory, Long, Feist, Scott

Seattle Reign FC Lineup: Dickey, Huerta, McClernon, Barnes © (46’ Dahlien), Curry, Bugg, Meza (87’ McCammon), James-Turner (46’ Menti), Mondésir (79’ Adames), Fishel (53’ Fishlock), Huitema
Unused Substitutes: Prohaska, Mason, Holmes, Cluff