Children’s Mercy Park | Kansas City, Kansas – Friday, August 18 at 8:00 PM ET
Players to watch:
Kansas City forward Kristen Hamilton has scored five goals over her last two home games with a hat trick against Houston and a brace against Louisville. Hamilton joins Sam Kerr (2017) and Alex Morgan (2022) as the only players to score five or more goals over a span of two home games in all NWSL competitions.
Reign forward Elyse Bennett leads the Reign in shots on target this season in all competitions with 15 despite being tied for ninth in minutes played by outfield players for the team. Bennett’s 10 starts in all competitions place her 11th in the category among Reign outfield players this season.
Match facts: Regular season play resumes for the first time in over a month as the Kansas City Current host the OL Reign at Children’s Mercy Park on Friday night in the first of six games across the league this weekend. Portland is currently in 2nd placed with 25 points from 15 games played, while North Carolina are just ahead in 1st place with 26 points from 15 games played.
The Current have won four of their last six matches in all competitions (D1 L1) and are coming off a 3-0 home win against Louisville in the Challenge Cup. Kansas City has scored three goals in each of its last two home games, marking the club’s first time ever doing so in consecutive home games (all competitions).
OL Reign have secured clean sheets in each of their last two matches (both in the Challenge Cup) with a win over the Wave and a draw with Portland. In all competitions this season, the Reign have had 10 shutouts, tied with the Courage for most by any NWSL team.
OL Reign earned a 2-1 victory when the teams met in June thanks to goals by Sofia Huerta and Jordyn Huitema. Since 2022, the seven goals scored in matches between the two clubs (all competitions) have been scored by seven different goalscorers.
