Seattle Reign forward Nahomi Kawasumi (Photo Credit Denise McCooey).
Kansas City, Mo- FC Kansas City hosted the 2014 and 2015 NWSL Shield winners, the Seattle Reign, at Children’s Mercy Field in Week 9 of the NWSL season. The Reign have never beaten the Blues in Kansas City and were on a mission to do so.
Early on in the match, midfielder Eryka Tymrak chipped the ball, which allowed for Alexa Newfield to score her second goal of the season to lead the Blues 1-0. Minutes later, Reign midfielder Megan Rapinoe took a long shot that made its way past goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart and brought renewed hope for the Reign with a 1-1 score.
The match was somewhat slow as Kansas City had more possession of the ball and had several attempts to create incredible opportunities. Since Seattle pushed through to gain action, they also had several close shots. In the 43rd minute, Rapinoe had worked the passing with the fellow offense and defender Merritt Mathias was on the left side of the net and attempted to score from her cross, but was unsuccessful. The officials then added three minutes of stoppage time before the whistle blew for the first half.
In the 73rd minute, forward Katlyn Johnson took a shot on Barnhart, which was deflected as she was outside of the box and Johnson then took another shot, but was then headed out by defender Becky Sauerbrunn. Nahomi Kawasumi also took a shot, but it was cleared by midfielder Yael Averbuch. After this play, Carson Pickett was given a yellow card for pushing forward Shea Groom. During these intense moments, the reign had three shots on goal and not one of them saw the back of the net.
In the 80th minute, Christine Narin crossed to Nahomi Kawasumi, who then cut the ball by the Blues defense and took a shot between Barhnhart’s legs and scored to gain the 2-0 advantage for the Reign. The Reign had a short-term lead that lasted three minutes. Averbuch crossed to the goal and forward Maegan Kelly scored her first goal of the season to tie up the match 2-2 in the 83rd minute. With two minutes of stoppage time added, both teams finished out with a 2-2 draw.
Kansas City took the lead early on in the match as their first goal was celebrated in the 31st minute. Seattle quickly came back and even doubled the score late in the second half. The Blues were determined to not let the Reign achieve their first victory on their home turf. As the Blues gave Seattle a taste of victory for only a couple of minutes, they were determined to close the match by scoring at least one more goal, which instantly quenched the Reign’s hope for success. Seattle advances to fourth place with 13 points as Kansas City remains in sixth place with 12 points. Both teams will see each other again next Sunday as Seattle Reign welcome the Blues to Memorial Stadium.
SCORING SUMMARY:
KC-Alexa Newfield 23’
SEA-Megan Rapinoe 31’
SEA- Nahomi Kawasumi 81’
KC-Maegan Kelly 84’
BOOKING SUMMARY:
SEA-Lindsay Elston, yellow card 73’
SEA-Carson Pickett, yellow card 74’
KAS-Shea Groom, yellow card 76’
KAS-Sydney Leroux, yellow card 90’
FC KANSAS CITY: #18-Nicole Barnhart, #31-Christina Gibbons, #10-Yael Averbuch, #4-Becky Sauerbrunn, #13-Brittany Taylor, #9-Lo’eau Labonta (#21-Caroline Flynn 89’), #11-Desiree Scott, #15-Erika Tymrak (#25-Brittany Ratcliffe 69’), #88-Alexa Newfield (#44-Maegan Kelly 67’), #14-Sydney Leroux, #2-Shea Groom
Subs not used: #22-Brianne Reed, #19-Cat Parkhill, #3-Becca Moros
SEATTLE REIGN: #28-Haley Kopmeyer, #16-Carson Pickett (#2-Christine Nairn 80’), #3-Lauren Barnes, #19-Kristen Mcnabb, #13-Rebekah Stott, #10-Jess Fishlock, #17-Beverly Yanez (#33-Katlyn Johnson 65‘), #6-Lindsay Elston, #15-Megan Rapinoe (#5-Kristen Dallstream 89’), #9-Merritt Mathias, #36-Nahomi Kawasumi
Subs not used: #4-Rachel Corsie, #22-Michaela Hahn, #7-Elli Reed, #24-Madalyn Schiffel
TOTAL SHOTS: KC 15-15 SEA
SHOTS ON GOAL: KC 7-5 SEA
FOULS: KC 9-11 SEA
OFFSIDES: KC 1-4 SEA
CORNER KICKS: KC 2-4 SEA
SAVES: KC 3-5 SEA
FC Kansas City
