RECAP: Chawinga brace extends win streak to three in rout of Houston Dash

The Kansas City Current continued their run of good form with their third consecutive win, this time against the Houston Dash. Michelle Cooper and Temwa Chawinga added to their score tallies, with the latter scoring a brace to follow up her hat trick last week.

Chris Armas made no changes to last week’s lineup that beat the Chicago Stars 3-0.

Ally Sentnor and Temwa Chawinga earned their 50th NWSL regular season starts.

The Current were on the attack early and often as it felt like every midfield recovery would result in a chance for the home side.

Bethune and Cooper were active on the wings sending dangerous crosses into Houston’s penalty box, but it was the 15th minute when the deadlock was broken.

Laney Rouse found Michelle Cooper on the right wing who does well to beat her defender and send, what looked like, a cross into the box, but it went in the direction of Jane Campbell’s goal. Campbell got two hands on the ball, but deflected it into her own net, ultimately counting as an own goal for the 31-year-old Houston goalkeeper.

It didn’t take long for the Current to double their lead. Two minutes later, Bethune found space through the midfield and sent an early cross in the director of Cooper, but it was deflected by the Dash defense. However, Campbell again is unable to hold onto the deflected ball and Cooper finds the ball again. She chips the ball into the middle of the box and it finds Chawinga who volleys home her fourth of the season.

Kansas City almost found their third of the night off some beautiful one-touch play between Bethune and Chawinga. A give and go ended with Chawinga slotting a ball in the box to Bethune who creates a one-on-one opportunity with a spin move, but Campbell comes up with a big time save to keep the scoreline at 2-0.

Bethune once again finds an opportunity to extend the lead in the 47th minute, but sends the ball wide from a tough angle.

Houston started the second half with a much higher press and were gaining some momentum with the ball at their feet.

Dash recover a loose ball in the 59th minute and send a Kat Rader unleashes a long distance shot on target, but Lorena leaps for the one handed save to preserve her clean sheet.

In the 61st minute, Cooper once against finds space out wide and makes a run into the box. She unleashes a shot that hits the crossbar and bounces back into the box, but the Current can’t redirect it on goal.

Bethune once again through the midfield finds Sentnor with space off an outside the foot pass. Sentnor cuts inside twice and passes wide to Chawinga who skies her shot into the supporter’s stand.

Armas made a pair of substitutions in the 67th minutes; Katie Scott for Bayley Feist and Hailey Hopkins for Ally Sentnor.

Like clockwork, Hopkins made an immediate impact on the game. In the 68th minute, she recovers a bouncing ball in the attacking third. She plays Cooper wide on the right who curls a beautiful cross past the entire Houston defense to find the feet of the two-time MVP Chawinga, who slots home her fifth of the year.

That’s two assists for Cooper and two goals for Chawinga on the night.

Chawinga and Bethune’s night ended in the 74th minute, making way for Penelope Hocking and Amelia White, respectively. Elizabeth Ball was the last sub of the night for the home team, coming off in the 80th minute for Gabrielle Robinson.

Kansas City finished the night with 12 of 13 shots on target in what proved to be a dominant performance.

During the Current’s win streak, the team has scored 8 goals, only allowing 1 in what is a stark turnaround to what the start of their season looked like. With tonight’s scoreline, Kansas City now sits in 6th place with a -1 goal differential.