Everything was set for a home win. A perfect afternoon, a first playoff appearance, a competitive squad and a full stadium, but the visitor team had different plans.
Kansas City Current came to this match after clinching the playoffs in the last match of the season. They finished fifth in the standings with 36 points. The same amount of points that Houston Dash, but Houston finished fourth because they had a better goal differential.
The match started good for Kansas City, or you can also say it was conditioned by the referee after a penalty call at the third minute of the game. This call changed the entire dynamic of the match. That is how Lo’eau Labonita scored the first goal of the night for the Current.
After the goal, KC knew they have a real chance to advance to the next round. Their main goal by then was to defend and try to counterattack to scored another goal that will secure the win.
Houston Dash did what they needed to do. They start attacking. Using the speed on the sides was a key for the Dash and they did a good job to create chances to find the equalizer. Nichelle Prince and Maria Sanchez looked dangerous, and it was a matter of minutes for the home team to find the partial 1-1.
Sure enough, Houston found the equalizer with a shot inside the box by Sophie Schmidt at the 21’. Houston continued to attack, but they could not find the goal that will give them the win.
The second half was the same dynamic. Houston trying to find the goal, but the Current’s defense was on point on every play. And even though Houston was creating chances, It was clear that they need to sub out some players. They needed fresh ideas and legs to continue attacking to find the goal. However, coach Juan Carlos Amoros had different plans and only used one substitution during the match. Getting Ebony Salmon out the game was a big mistake by the Spaniard.
When the feeling was that overtime will be needed to decide a winner, Kate Del Fava scored in the last minute of stoppage time to give Kansas City their ticket to the NWSL Semifinal, and shocked the over 21,000 people in attendance and a Houston Dash team that with disbelief were eliminated for the title contention.
Now KC will travel to the Pacific Northwest to play against OL Reign for a spot in the 2022 NWSL Final.
