Match Preview: Kansas City Current vs. OL Reign
Children’s Mercy Park | Kansas City, Kansas – Sunday, July 17 at 7:00 PM ET
Players to watch:
Kansas City Current attacker CeCe Kizer came off the bench to score the lone goal in her side’s 1-0 victory over the Spirit on Sunday. Since last season, Kizer has scored seven goals in league play with all of them being in the second half. Ashley Hatch (10) and Alex Morgan (8) are the only other NWSL players with at least seven second-half goals over the last two seasons.
On the other side, OL Reign forward Bethany Balcer’s 81st-minute goal secured the draw for the Reign against the Thorns last weekend and was Balcer’s 19th goal since the 2019 season. The only NWSL player with more goals than Balcer (19) since the beginning of 2019 is Ashley Hatch (21).
Match facts: The Kansas City Current return home to face OL Reign at Children’s Mercy Park in the first and only meeting between the two sides in the regular season this year. The Current, who have won two straight for the first time all season, have drawn two out of their last three games at home while the Reign have failed to win any of their away matches all season.
Since May 30, the Current are unbeaten with four wins and two draws with the 14 points being the team’s most ever over a six-game span. Since the start of the run, Kansas City has the most points and wins of any NWSL team.
Meanwhile, the Reign ran their own unbeaten streak to four games (W2 D2) with a 2-2 home draw against the Thorns on Sunday. It was the second consecutive game that the Reign scored multiple goals after having done so in just one of their first nine matches of the season.
OL Reign has historically dominated this fixture so far in the regular season, compiling a 6-1 score over the four games and winning three of the four (L1). The lone loss came via the lone goal scored by Kansas City, as all four of the winners in the matchup have shut out their opponent.
