KC Current Win Over Tigres in Dramatic Fashion at World Sevens

The Kansas City Current were back for day two of World Sevens looking to bounce back after a 3-2 loss to Flamengo on Friday. The Current needed to win to stay alive to advance to the semifinals. Ultimately, they would get the job done but not without a ton of drama.

The game moves so fast with two 15-minute halves, it’s hard to keep up. Instead of trying to create a narrative, today we’re going to hit the high points and try to track all the biggest moments. And Kansas City got off to a great start.

• 1′ Ellie Wheeler with an early chance!
• 3′ Tigres hit the post!!
• 5′ Sentnor just over the bar!
• 6′ Sanchez with a near goal, Ball overcommitted but McCamey came up with the save!
• Tigres dominated for several minutes where KC couldn’t get out of their half.
• 9′ Hopkins tries a pass, blocked, but hits a shot that the keeper gathers.

Elle Kershner scored the opening goal for Kansas City after beautiful work from Alex Pfeiffer moved up the left wing and hit a hard, low cross. 1-0 Kansas City. It looked to be an impossible pass through a ton of traffic.

• 10′ Nice through ball to Sentnor who centered but the Tigres defender beat the KC attacker to the ball for what would have been a clear chance.
• 14′ Line splitting pass put Gabby Robinson two on one and committed a penalty.

Maria Sanchez stepped up to take the PK but was denied by Tyler McCamey!! KC maintain their 1-0 lead. Sanchez would make up for it with an absolutely last second shot. Sanchez got on to her left foot and turned Regan Steigleder inside out. The ball crossed the line with one second to go in the half. If Regan just forces her to go to her right foot, KC probably enter halftime up 1-0. Critical mistake.

The second half had KC off to another good start.

• 16′ Immediate pressure and chances for Kansas City.
• 17′ Tigres hit the crossbar from nearly the midfield line! McCamey looked to have it covered though.

In the 18th, Tigres wouldn’t miss again. Maria Sanchez scored her fifth of the competition. McCamey tried to play out of the back and passed right to Sanchez who shifted to her right foot and put Tigres ahead 2-1. Left foot. Right foot. Doesn’t matter. Sanchez has literally all of Tigres goals and at this moment, 18 percent of every goal in the tournament.

• 18′ Ball crossed instead of shot out of the reach of teammate Kayla Colbert.
• 22′ Near own goal from Tigres on a back pass.
• 23′ Ally Sentnor three on one and just holding the ball and not finding the numerous open players. She has great gravity, but she needs to use it!
• 24′ Wheeler stings the palms of the goalkeeper!

After Sentnor surrounded again, this time at the top of the box, but she pokes the pass out. Ellie Wheeler made no mistake this time. She stepped up and drilled the ball with her left foot to tie the game 2-2!

• 25′ Rare foul call. Sydney Jones (KC) called for it but looked clean.
• 26′ Scramble in the box between Pfeiffer, Kershner and a ton of Tigres players, but the keeper grabs it.
• 27′ Three shots for KC! Lo to Pfeiffer, then Hopkins on the rebound, then Pfieffer again on the rebound, but it’s a corner kick ultimately.
• 29′ Sentnor with a near goal! Kick save from the keeper. Wheeler almost cleaned it up for the rebound too if not for a last moment intervention.
• 30′ Oliver just wide of the top corner for Tigres!

The 30th minute was wild. Ally Sentnor with another set of chances but couldn’t put them away. The first one was blocked out for a corner and the other dribbled just wide of the near post. We’re off to extra time. The clock counts down instead of up suddenly and it’s just five minutes.

• 1′ Dangerous moment as Sanchez is in the box, but Robinson handles it.
• 1′ First yellow card of the tourney (that I’ve seen) when Wheeler is absolutely crushed.
• 2′ Tigres with a long-distance chance just wide of the post!
• 3′ Pfeiffer and Hopkins blocked in the box, but Bailey Feist nearly puts it in the top corner, but it’s saved!
• 3′ Pfeiffer blocked at the post!
• 4′ Pfeiffer to Hopkins but the shot is partially blocked and trickles to the keeper.

The game looked loss when Elizabeth Ball went dribbling out of the box and lost the ball. Tigres were two on one with the GK but again, McCamey came up huge! That would be the last moment before the game went to sudden death penalties. How the format works is if a team is ahead after a round, the PKs are over. Also, only the players on the field can take penalties. Two rounds would all that would be needed.

The first two penalties were made, as Lo Labonta drained her chance and did a “mini-twerk” celly and appeared to drop her shorts…

McCamey saved the second Tigres chance and Ally Sentnor stepped up and scored her first ever goal in a KC Current uniform! Kansas City are alive and play again at 3:30 this afternoon. They need to beat AFC Toronto for a chance to advance.

Lineups

KANSAS CITY CURRENT STARTING 7:

#26 Tyler McCamey (GK), #5 Ellie Wheeler, #10 Lo’eau LaBonta (C), #13 Haley Hopkins, #24 Gabrielle Robinson, #47 Alexandra Pfeiffer, #56 Sydney Jones

SUBS: #2 Regan Steigleder, #7 Elizabeth Ball, #21 Ally Sentnor, #22 Bayley Feist, #54 Kayla Colbert, #59 Elle Kershner, #65 Alexa Goldberg (GK)

Kristen Hamilton was seen in a track jacket on the sideline. Perhaps saving her for the second game? Perhaps a coaching choice by KC Current assistant, Freya Coombe.

TIGRES STARTING 7:

#1 Cecilia Santiago (GK), #2 Natalia Colin, #4 Greta Espinoza (C), #7 María Sánchez, #9 Stephany Gutiérrez, #11 Jheniffer Cordinali, #21 Bárbara Olivieri

SUBS: #8 Alexia Delgado, #15 Cristina Ferral, #18 Belén Cruz, #23 Itzel González (GK), #26 Andrea Hernández, #27 Eve Périsset, #43 Fernanda Antonio