In the penultimate game of the season, KC Current faced off at Children Mercy’s Park against the NWSL’s most outscored team: the Chicago Red Stars, who had let up 16 more goals against opponents than their own heading into the match. It was the fourth and final matchup between the teams in which they shared a dead even head-to-head record of 1-1-1. A loss and draw in 3 games to this caliber of team would be a discouraging result to many fans, but not in KC. Despite having a goal differential comfortably higher than Chicago, KC Current actually holds the most losses in the league. In other words, this seemingly exhibition-like contest at the end of the year suddenly became a winner-take-all between 2 bottom dwellers.

Suffice to say, it’s fair to think this isn’t the making of a game for the history books… but you’d be mistaken. In fact, the match broke KC Current’s all-time attendance record with 15,671 people in seats for the last home game of the year. While there’s no denying the NLWS was very competitive in 2023, and that the worst performing teams actually weren’t far off from the best, the house wasn’t packed for reasons that meet the eye. Officially, once this match concluded, the next home game for the Kansas City Current in spring of 2024 would be hosted under the first ever stadium in the world solely built for a women’s professional sports team. For any sport, in any country, the soccer capital of America was set to break barriers in just 3 seasons since Current was founded.

Even with such a spectacle surrounding the day, once the ball was kicked off it all simply returned to order being about a team finding their rhythm, looking forward to next season’s play with the playoffs out of reach. Early on, Isabel Rodriguez made her presence felt, nearly driving a ball outside the box past Red Stars goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher. Just before the 14 minute mark, she found herself again ready to strike off a rebound of her own that she perfectly and just momentarily gave up to better position herself. Needless to say, she made it look easy and delivered to make it one-nil, setting the tone quickly that it may be a long day for the Chicago defense. In just 5 minutes of play, however, Chicago responded with a goal amidst a hectic scramble for the ball that managed to perfectly set up Kayla Sharples for the goal that Adrianna Franch had little chance to catch up with. Before you knew it though, it was a shootout, as Current felt they had numbers almost immediately following the unfortunate defensive scramble, pushed the pace, and found another goal this time by the foot of Lo'eau LaBonta who seemingly emerged from nowhere out of a full sprint from midfield.

The match appeared to have settled down until just minutes before the half, when rookie Alexa Spaanstra in a complete solo effort extended the lead in a way that not many could replicate. On the flipside to that coin, a mistake caused by goalkeepr Franch was able to take the air out of the building. In a routine moment with her eyes and mind not on the ball, French let the ball slide right underneath and rolled into her own goal; likely too focused on an outlet pass that could help her team score again before the half.

Coming out of the break, it was going to be an emphasis to take the energy back from Chicago after they had essentially given them a chance back in the game. Fortunately, it didn't take long until the Current re-established the dominance they were displaying that the score just didn’t reflect. In the 52nd minute, Debinha took advantage of a 1v1 shot, from a difficult angle though, putting pressure on the single defender before her and manipulating the goalkeeper to a place where she could sneak a shot to the corner across her body. Once again, however, KC was down on their luck as another ricochet, not unlike Chicago’s opening goal, gave the Red Stars a golden opportunity to narrow the lead again in which they of course capitalized on.

Up 4-3 and despite all the chaos, KC only needed to slow it down, control the tempo, and play conservative to hold on to a win. They played this strategy well with the game’s end in sight, but in a fitting end to this historical day, they added a couple cherries on top to leave no doubt what the future should hold. In extra time, on the boots of Kizer and Larsson, KC Current added on 2 more scores against an exhausted Red Stars defense; ending the day with a season-high of 6 goals, all coming from 6 different scorers. It’s (likely) impossible to guarantee this level of play next season just because of a brand new stadium, but it’s hard to not say that the sports gods shined on this Saturday night, October 7th when the Kansas City Current could say hello to a world that women's sports was doubted to ever reach.