KC Current Wave Goodbye to the Regular Season

Realistically, the Kansas City Current had one main job over the final five matches of the regular season. As soon as they’d secured the NWSL Shield for the best league record and #1 seed in the playoffs, all the way back in September, they needed to navigate the final stretch of matches without picking up injuries. Through three games, they not only stayed healthy, but kept on winning. They have set (or just about set) too many season records to list out here: wins, shutout streaks, goal differential, points earned, etc.

But many of those good vibes came to a halt two weeks ago when the Current traveled to Houston and lost to the Dash. Of much more significance, though, was the non-contact injury sustained by their star forward and reigning league MVP Temwa Chawinga. The adductor injury has already prevented Chawinga from joining her Malawi national team during the current break and it remains to be seen how long she’ll be sidelined. Almost certainly she will not play with the team this Sunday as the Current welcome the San Diego Wave to CPKC Stadium for the regular season finale.

Pressure is a privilege 💎POR clinched ☑️GFC clinched ☑️SD clinched ☑️SEA clinched ☑️Four tickets punched to the playoffs — who’s grabbing the next one? 👀🍿

— NWSL (@nwslsoccer.com) 2025-10-20T14:29:14.953Z

The Wave have been a successful team since they entered the league in 2022. They have reached the playoffs in three of their four seasons and have also won the NWSL Shield and the Challenge Cup one time each. The 2025 season has been a bit of a rebound season after they finished 10th and missed the playoffs last year. In their last outing on October 18, they dismantled the Chicago Stars 6-1 and secured a spot in the postseason. However, what their place in the final standings is has yet to be determined. Depending on the “decision day” results, the Wave could finish anywhere from 3rd to 8th. They currently sit in 5th, two points behind 3rd place Orlando and three points ahead of 8th place Louisville. A win this weekend puts them in a strong position to potentially host a quarterfinal match in the playoffs. A loss could conceivably drop them all the way to the final playoff spot and have them right back at CPKC next week for the opening round of the postseason.

The top two seeds are locked. The real chaos starts at 3️⃣ through 8️⃣.Drop your full playoff seed predictions below 👇

— NWSL (@nwslsoccer.com) 2025-10-28T14:11:52.892Z

For one Wave athlete, Kennedy Wesley, the travel to Kansas City for this weekend’s match will be easy as she is enjoying her first callup to the senior national team. The USWNT played New Zealand on Wednesday evening, a match that not only featured Wesley earning her first cap, but heard roars from the partisan crowd as a trio of Current players saw minutes: Clair Hutton, Michelle Cooper, and Lo LaBonta (Ally Sentnor was also on hand and played in the previous US match against Portugal).

Seeing double?? Or is that another Michelle Cooper to Emma Sears goal 😜🎥 USWNT

— NWSL (@nwslsoccer.com) 2025-10-30T01:33:07.764Z

Coach Andonovski will have a lot to consider as he fills out the lineup card for Sunday’s game. Again, in many ways, the actual on-field result for Kansas City is rather meaningless, but the team also likely does not want to enter the playoffs on a two-game losing streak. Because of the timing of this international break, many Current players have not seen action in a fortnight and so maintaining a level of fitness and flow could be important. With that said, the absolute last thing Vlatko would want is another injury to a key contributor on the eve of the playoffs.

On top of all this, there were several players who have had a full workload these last couple weeks: just on Wednesday LaBonta (23 minutes), Hutton (45 minutes), & Cooper (68 minutes) played against New Zealand and on Tuesday Bia Zaneratto (35 minutes) and Lorena (90 minutes) played against Italy while Nichelle Prince (25 minutes) played against the Netherlands. What this all means for Sunday’s game against San Diego is anyone’s guess. Likely there will be as close to a “first choice” lineup as possible for KC, while also not playing most of the athletes returning from international duty a full ninety minutes.

One unlikely but meaningful lineup inclusion would be Kristen Hamilton. She has yet to make an appearance for KC this season as she has been dealing with a lingering hip injury. Despite this, she has had a legendary career over 11 professional seasons. She has been a part of four NWSL Shield winning teams and three (and counting) NWSL Championship sides. She has 41 career goals and is still the only Current to record a hat trick. She has also appeared with the USWNT.

Hamilton announced her retirement at the conclusion of the 2025 season. She will be recognized during Sunday’s match and what a treat it would be for her and for everyone watching if she was able to get on the field for a few more minutes to close out her career.

Regardless of how the match against San Diego plays out, the Current are guaranteed to be back in action at home sometime November 7-9 to host a quarterfinal round game against the team the finishes in 8th place. The job this weekend will be to set the team up for the best chance of success next time out.

For anyone planning on attending Sunday’s “Fan Appreciation” match, there will be a perk to showing up early as the first 5,000 through the gate will score a Temwa Chawinga bobblehead.

WHEN: Sunday, November 2 at 2:00 PM (Central Time)

WHERE: CPKC Stadium, Kansas City, MO

HOW TO WATCH: ESPN / YouTube TV 

Record:

KC Current: 20-2-3 (62 points, 1st place–locked in)

San Diego Wave: 10-7-8 (37 points, 5th place)

Last Match:

KC Current: 0-1 road loss versus Houston Dash

San Diego Wave: 6-1 home win versus Chicago Stars