Sporting Kansas City selected 26-year-old goalkeeper Kendall McIntosh in Stage 1 of the 2020 MLS re-entry process on Thursday.
McIntosh boasts five years of professional experience across Major League Soccer and the second-division USL Championship. He spent the 2020 MLS campaign with the New York Red Bulls following a four-year stint in the Portland Timbers organization from 2016 to 2019.
“I’m thrilled about the opportunity to join Sporting Kansas City,” McIntosh said. “It’s a club with a great history and I will get to work with one of the league’s best goalkeepers in Tim Melia. I can’t wait to get started with the team.”
As a rookie in 2016, McIntosh competed for Timbers 2 of the USL Championship prior to signing his first MLS contract with Portland in January 2017. He played most of the next three years on loan with Timbers 2 and logged 10 shutouts in 60 total USL Championship appearances for the club across four seasons.
In his lone appearance for Portland’s first team, McIntosh secured a 2-0 shutout victory over the San Jose Earthquakes in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Round of 32 on June 7, 2018.
On the international stage, McIntosh notably featured for the U.S. U-20 Men’s National Team at the 2012 Northern Ireland Milk Cup. Earlier, he was part of the U.S. U-14 National Development Program and the U-15 Boys’ National Team prior to his residency with the U-17s in Bradenton, Florida.
At the 2011 Concacaf U-17 Championship, McIntosh recorded two shutouts in three winning appearances — including a 3-0 defeat of Canada in the final.
Born in Oakland and raised in Santa Rosa, California, McIntosh was a member of the San Jose Earthquakes Academy as a youth before embarking on a four-year collegiate career at Santa Clara University.
He made 53 appearances for the Broncos from 2012 to 2015 and was named the 2015 West Coast Conference Goalkeeper of the Year as a senior, leading Santa Clara to the WCC Championship. During his time in college, he also competed in the Premier Development League — now known as USL League Two — for FC Tucson and the Burlingame Dragons.
Wyandotte County and the surrounding area are under a wind advisory today from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (National Weather Service graphic)
Today, there will be a high near 53 with wind gusts up to 43 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
A wind advisory will be in effect from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Friday, according to the weather service.
Gusty winds could blow around unsecured objects, the weather service said. Also, tree limbs could be blown down and a few power outages may result, according to the weather service.
There will be elevated fire danger in the afternoon, the weather service said.
The weather service advised residents to sue extra caution when driving, especially if operating a high profile vehicle, and secure outdoor objects.
Highs will be in the 50s starting Monday, but then will drop into the 40s on Wednesday. Looking ahead to Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, the forecast shows a much colder day, with a high of 31 on Thursday, Dec. 24.
Today, it will be partly sunny, with a high near 53 and a south southwest wind of 13 to 21 mph, gusting as high as 43 mph, the weather service said.
Tonight, it will be mostly cloudy, with a low of 30, according to the weather service. A south southwest wind of 8 to 14 mph will become north northwest after midnight. Winds may gust up to 20 mph.
Saturday, it will be partly sunny, then gradually becoming sunny, with a high near 41 and a north northwest wind of 5 to 9 mph, the weather service said.
Saturday night, it will be mostly clear, with a low around 28 and a calm wind becoming south southwest around 6 mph in the evening, according to the weather service.
Sunday, it will be sunny, with a high near 49 and a west wind of 6 to 10 mph, the weather service said.
Sunday night, it will be mostly clear, with a low around 34, according to the weather service.
Monday, it will be sunny, with a high near 58, the weather service said.
Monday night, it will be mostly clear, with a low of 32, according to the weather service.
Tuesday, it will be sunny, with a high near 58, the weather service said.
Tuesday night, it will be partly cloudy, with a low of 34, according to the weather service.
Wednesday, it will be partly sunny, with a high near 46, the weather service said.
Wednesday night, it will be partly cloudy, with a low of 20, according to the weather service.
Thursday, it will be mostly sunny, with a high near 31, the weather service said.
Small groups are currently getting together throughout Kansas and thinking up small projects they can work on to stop the spread of COVID-19.
The Beat the Virus Campaign is being led by the Kansas Leadership Center, which is trying to hold 1,000 virtual community meetings in Kansas by Dec. 31.
So far, more than 460 meetings have been completed, and the organization still would like to try to get to 1,000 meetings by Dec. 31.
According to Ed O’Malley, president and CEO of the Kansas Leadership Center, the goal is to mobilize communities to mount a collective challenge to COVID-19. He spoke during the University of Kansas Health System’s Thursday morning news conference.
In hour-long meetings, small groups, usually from the same community, meet to discuss actions they could take to slow the spread of the virus, according to O’Malley.
Claudia Amaro, a meeting facilitator, said the groups have had lots of wonderful conversations. Some have decided, for example, to hold a coolest mask contest on social media, which promotes mask usage, she said.
She also facilitates Spanish-language meetings, as well as English-language meetings, and said some Latino community members are most concerned about language barriers.
One group was concerned about senior citizens in families, and decided to make gift bags for seniors they know, especially seniors who have grandchildren visiting them. The bag contained a button saying “You protect me, I protect you” in Spanish, and also a small gift and a mask so they felt protected and cared for, she said.
She said it was amazing that people are coming together and owning the responsibility in a common purpose of stopping the virus.
While there have been a few anti-maskers or anti-vaxxers in the Zoom meetings, Amaro said so far everyone has been respectful. They focus on a solution and actions individuals can take in their communities. For those who want to discuss the facts about the virus, she just provides resources for them to look up.
O’Malley said the secret, or key to holding these meetings is about giving people something they can be for, not against. If people in the group think masks won’t work in their community, the facilitator can ask what idea can they get behind, he said.
Someone then may suggest holding a virtual service at a church instead of one in person, he said.
Some of the ideas that came out of these meetings included a coffee shop in Chapman, Kansas, that will use outdoor space with a fire pit and space heaters so teens will have a place to socialize during winter. That idea was to provide an alternative for teens who might otherwise gather together indoors.
Another idea was to provide quarantine kits for college students, hoping to make quarantines a little more doable to slow the spread of the virus, he said.
“Action projects are designed to let people who know one another help influence one another to do the right thing,” he said.
In other discussion, the KU doctors said it will still be necessary for everyone to wear a mask, even if they get a COVID-19 vaccine.
It will probably be necessary to wear a mask through several months, at least until October, according to Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer at KU Health System.
Although there has been speculation by some that there could be reduced transmission from the Moderna vaccine, people should still wear a mask, not meet in large groups and practice good hygiene, even after they get a vaccine, according to Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control.
The mask protects others around you and gives you some protection as well, according to Dr. Stites. There is a potential those who get the vaccine still might be able to spread it, he said.
KU Health System reported 82 acute COVID-19 infections on Thursday morning, an increase from 76 on Wednesday, with 37 patients in the intensive care unit and 24 on ventilators, according to Dr. Hawkinson. There were 75 other COVID-19 patients in the recovery phase, for total of 157 COVID-19 patients.
HaysMed in Hays, Kansas, reported 27 total COVID-19 inpatients, an increase of one since Wednesday, with 22 active patients and five in recovery.
The hospital numbers seem to be stabilizing, and the doctors said the number of daily new cases has continued to decline in the Greater Kansas City area, with less than 1,000 a day currently.
Case numbers
Wyandotte County reported a cumulative 12,926 COVID-19 cases on Thursday, an increase of 79 since Wednesday. There were no additional deaths reported, with the cumulative total at 187.
The Mid-America Regional Council Kansas City Region COVID-19 data hub reported an additional 719 cases in the nine-county Kansas City region on Thursday, for a cumulative total of 109,797. There were a cumulative 1,298 deaths reported. The average number of new hospitalizations was 172, down from Wednesday.
Johns Hopkins University’s COVID-19 dashboard reported 17,198,633 COVID-19 cases in the United States on Thursday, and 310,699 cumulative deaths.
Free COVID-19 testing available Friday
Free COVID-19 testing is available from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday at South Park Recreation Center, 246 Shadyside Ave., Bonner Springs, Kansas.
The Unified Government Health Department has moved its COVID-19 testing from the 6th and Ann location to the former Kmart at 78th and State Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas. The hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Tests are free for those who live or work in Wyandotte County. The tests are nasopharyngeal swab tests. The Health Department no longer uses saliva tests.
The tests now are open to asymptomatic people as well as those who have symptoms or have been exposed to COVID-19. Check with the UG Health Department’s Facebook page to see if there have been any changes in the schedule. Bring something that shows that you live or work in Wyandotte County, such as a utility bill.
Cards and letters of encouragement for caregivers at KU Health System may be sent to Share Joy, care of Patient Relations, 4000 Cambridge St., Mailstop 1021, Kansas City, Kansas, 66160. Emails can be sent to [email protected].
