Month: March 2022

KC Current comes from behind for 2-1 victory

The Kansas City Current advanced to first place in the Central Division of the 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup with a 2-1 win Friday over the Chicago Red Stars.

Defender Hailie Mace and forward Kristen Hamilton scored their first goals of the season to bring home three points for Kansas City in the club’s first ever comeback win.

“A hard night, not only with the conditions, but playing a very strong Chicago team,” Kansas City Current head coach Matt Potter said. “So, all in all, we couldn’t be happier to get something out of the game and obviously enjoy the win.”

The Red Stars took an early lead in the 22nd minute. A blocked shot from Mallory Pugh fell to the feet of Vanessa DiBernardo, whose shot deflected off Kansas City defender Alex Loera and fell past goalkeeper A.D. Franch.

Chicago nearly had another in the 31st minute when Pugh got out ahead of rookie defender Alex Loera. Franch closed the tight angle to deny the Red Stars a second score.

Kansas City’s first goal came in the 58th minute, when a swift cross from Lo’eau LaBonta found Hailie Mace at the top of the 18-yard box. The defender launched a rocket past Alyssa Naeher into the top right corner of the goal to score the day after her birthday.

Mace’s runs were dangerous on the flanks all night. Just under a half-hour later, her pass was key for the Current finding the lead in the 86th minute. Mace chipped the ball over the Red Stars back line right to the feet of Kristen Hamilton. The NWSL veteran knocked it past Naeher to bring home three points for Kansas City.

The Current again started two rookies on its back line, Alex Loera and Jenna Winebrenner, to hold forward Mallory Pugh at bay. All five of the team’s rookies saw time in the match, with Elyse Bennett and Izzy Rodriguez entering in the second half. Elizabeth Ball, Kate Del Fava and Taylor Leach all saw their first minutes of the 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup.

This is the Kansas City Current’s first win in the NWSL Challenge Cup and its first win on the road in club history. The team next travels to Texas to face the Houston Dash (1-1-0) at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 30. The first home match of the 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup will be at Children’s Mercy Park at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 2.

Season tickets and flex plans are available for all home matches at Children’s Mercy Park. For pricing and information visit kansascitycurrent.com.

  • Story from KC Current

Sporting KC plays Real Salt Lake tonight

Sporting Kansas City (1-3-0, 3 points) will play unbeaten Real Salt Lake (3-0-1, 10 points) at 6 p.m. Saturday at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas.

Tickets are available online from match sponsor SeatGeek, including recently released standing room only tickets, as the teams meet for the first time since last November when the sides went head-to-head on Decision Day and the Western Conference Semifinals.

Saturday’s showdown will be locally televised on 38 The Spot with three hours of coverage beginning at 5:30 p.m. in addition to a national television audience on TUDN, as well as a live stream on Twitter. Local radio coverage will be available on ESPN 94.5 FM and La Grande 1340 AM.

After playing three of the team’s first four matches on the road, Sporting Kansas City returns home to the friendly confines of Children’s Mercy Park where the club defeated longtime postseason nemesis Houston Dynamo FC in the club’s home opener earlier this month. Now, Sporting will welcome Real Salt Lake in a rematch of the 2013 MLS Cup for the latest chapter in a rivalry between the Western Conference foes.

The all-time series between Sporting and RSL is deadlocked with 16 wins for each side across all competitions after Real Salt Lake swept all three meetings in 2021, including a 1-0 win on Decision Day with a 95th minute goal from Damir Kreilach and a 2-1 victory in the Western Conference Semifinals on a 91st minute goal from Bobby Wood three weeks later.

Wood is off to a strong start this season and has already matched his offensive output from a year ago with two goals and an assist in 2022, including a goal just 90 seconds into Real Salt Lake’s 2-1 win over Nashville SC last weekend as he headed home a corner from Justin Meram.

Homegrown forward Tate Schmitt provided the game-winning goal in the second half and has now scored in back-to-back matches after his dramatic 93rd minute strike a week earlier capped a thrilling 3-2 comeback win on the road at reigning Supporters’ Shield holders New England.

Real Salt Lake, currently tied with LAFC and Philadelphia atop the Supporters’ Shield standings, enters Saturday’s match riding a three-game winning streak and in pursuit of the club’s first four-match winning streak since 2013.

Led by head coach Pablo Mastroeni in his first full season at the helm, Real Salt Lake is off to the team’s best start to a season in over a decade despite the loss of two key attackers from a year ago with the departures of Albert Rusnak and Anderson Julio.

Hampered by injuries to key contributors, Sporting Kansas City is coming off back-to-back road defeats in Colorado and Chicago. Veteran midfielder Roger Espinoza scored in last week’s loss and now the 2008 MLS SuperDraft selection will look to make his 300th career start for Sporting in all competitions on Saturday.

Two longtime teammates of Espinoza are also on the cusp of major milestones, while Sporting Kansas City’s next goal at Children’s Mercy Park will be the team’s 400th inside the stadium.

Right back Graham Zusi is 57 minutes shy of passing Matt Besler for the most minutes played for the club across all competitions and Tim Melia’s next appearance will see him become the first goalkeeper in Sporting KC history to play in 200 regular season matches for the team.

Zusi leads all MLS players in touches this season (374), followed closely by Sporting KC centerback Andreu Fontas (371), and midfielder Remi Walter leads the league with 45 recoveries. Walter, who scored the lone goal in Sporting’s last home match, also ranks fourth in MLS with 28.4 miles covered through four matches.

Both teams will be shorthanded on Saturday as Sporting Kansas City and Real Salt Lake each have five players out, with an additional four players apiece listed as questionable. Manager Peter Vermes remains without Designated Players Alan Pulido (knee) and Gadi Kinda (knee) due to injury, while Marinos Tzionis (Cyprus) and Logan Ndenbe (Belgium U21s) are currently on international duty.

Three players who started for Real Salt Lake in last year’s Western Conference Final — Nick Besler (nose), Justen Glad (hamstring) and David Ochoa (quad) – are sidelined with injuries and an additional three starters from that match are listed as questionable, including Kreilach – the team’s top scorer in 2021 with 16 goals and nine assists who has missed RSL’s last three matches. In addition, Meram has joined the Iraq men’s national team for 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying.

  • Story from Sporting KC

Native American legislator rejects GOP lawmaker’s apology for offensive remark

by Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector

Topeka — Rep. Ponka-We Victors-Cozad rejected Friday the apology of a House Republican who said during a House floor debate that he had to make certain Victors-Cozad was using a wooden gavel rather than a tomahawk to bring order to the chamber.

The incident occurred the same day a pair of Native American lawmakers in the House created history by simultaneously presiding over the chamber and carrying a bill on the floor. Victors-Cozad, a Wichita Democrat, was joined by Rep. Christina Haswood, D-Lawrence, as the House considered Wednesday a bill transferring one-half acre of land from the city of Shawnee to the Shawnee tribe where remains of tribal leaders were buried.

Victors-Cozad said the “racially insensitive” comment by Rep. John Wheeler, R-Garden City, was an abuse of his power as an elected member of the Legislature. She said his “slanderous” attempt at satire mocked her Native American culture and shouldn’t be tolerated by the Legislature.

“These remarks had no relevance in our sacred House chamber — to the business at hand — other than to instigate mockery towards myself and the Native people that I represent throughout the country,” Victors-Cozad said.

“I do not accept Representative Wheeler’s disingenuous apology. We as members of this legislative branch cannot allow this behavior to be tolerated without consequence in the people’s House,” she said.

Wheeler, who served as Finney County prosecutor from 1993 to 2013 prior to election to the House in 2017, was leading discussion of a bill altering the state’s approach to assessing competency of individuals prior to trial. As the volume of private conversation among House members elevated, Victors-Cozad tapped the House speaker’s gavel to signal the need to pay attention to Wheeler.

“Thank you, madam chair,” said Wheeler, who turned to face Victors-Cozad. “I was just checking to see if that was a tomahawk.”

The remark from Wheeler resulted in a combination of laughter and groaning among state representatives. Wheeler audibly chuckled at his sense of humor, before facing his colleagues and offering an apology.

“I am getting a point that that is apparently considered offensive,” Wheeler told House colleagues. “If it is, I certainly do apologize.”

He subsequently reached out to the three Native Americans serving in the House to express remorse for his commentary.

On Friday, Victors-Cozad said she wouldn’t devalue Wheeler’s religion, place of worship or culture. She expected Wheeler to offer the same reverence and respect of other Kansans as he did his own religion and culture.

“I would like to think our elected public officials would know and understand this principle,” Victors-Cozad said. “This is women’s history month and I am a proud Native American mother making history for the state of Kansas, and Representative Wheeler did his best to tarnish these accomplishments. I firmly hold him accountable to his words and actions.”

Wheeler, 74, is a member of the Legislature’s joint committee on state-tribal relations. It provides a bridge between the Legislature and the state’s four federally recognized tribes.

A backdrop to controversy in the House was the bizarre statement last month by Randy Watson, commissioner of the Kansas Department of Education, during an online educational program. Watson had said during the video conference that during his youth he tried to persuade children to fear for their safety when visiting Kansas because American Indians might attack them.

The Kansas State Board of Education emerged from an executive session to unanimously reject Watson’s offer to resign for the derogatory remark, but did suspend him for one month without pay. His suspension is scheduled to end Monday.

Rep. Stephanie Byers, a Wichita Democrat and of the Chickasaw nation, said the suspension of Watson wouldn’t be considered an appropriate response to an example of systematic racism confronted by American Indians. She said acceptance of Watson’s resignation by the state Board of Education would have been appropriate.

Kansas Reflector stories, www.kansasreflector.com, may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

See more at https://kansasreflector.com/2022/03/25/native-american-legislator-rejects-gop-lawmakers-apology-for-offensive-remark/