Temwa Chawinga scored a goal in the eighth minute to lead the host Kansas City Current to a 1-0 victory over the North Carolina Courage on Saturday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the NWSL playoffs.
The Current advanced to the semifinals where they will face the No. 1 seed Orlando Pride, who earned a 4-1 victory over the Chicago Red Stars in a quarterfinal match Friday.
Chawinga, the NWSL’s record-breaking goal scorer, returned from a knee injury to score the lone goal of the quarterfinal match.
Casey Murphy saved the initial shot by Chawinga and the ball settled at the feet of Vanessa DiBernardo. The midfielder’s follow-up shot went off the post and back to the feet of Chawinga, whose first shot was blocked by Kaleigh Kurtz but left a wide-open net on the second attempt.
That gives Chawinga 21 goals in NWSL action, adding to an already impressive rookie campaign.
North Carolina nearly tied the match in the 32nd minute, when Almuth Schult made a diving save and pinned the ball down with her glove. Manaka Matsukubo ran up and kicked the ball into the net from under the goalkeeper’s palm, but the referee blew the whistle because Schult had possession of the ball by holding it against the grass.
Kansas City’s win featured its offensive firepower, despite the low final score with the Current taking 14 shots in the win and five on target. North Carolina had three saves in goal and three blocks to keep the match close.
In the seventh minute of stoppage time, Chawinga tackled the ball away from Bianca St. Georges and went to the ground. St. Georges responded by standing over the forward. Ellis Wheeler ran up behind St. Georges and pushed her to the ground for the gesture, earning a yellow card.
–Field Level Media
