Opening the season at Racing Louisville, Kansas City NWSL played to a scoreless tie on Saturday evening.
The two new franchises were looking for their first wins at Lynn Family Stadium in Louisville, but neither team could score. Both teams had chances to score, but neither could convert.
Kansas City had a chance in the second minute, as Amy Rodriguez fired a shot in the box off a through pass from Victoria Pickett.
Darian Jenkins of Kansas City also placed a free kick on Louisville’s Michelle Bentos in her regular season debut.
Racing Louisville took some shots near the end of the first half, but Nicole Barnhart of Kansas City came up with two saves and stayed aggressive in the final third.
In the second half, Kansas City controlled possession. Even though Racing Louisville pressured the backline the entire second half, it was unable to score against Barnhart.
“Victoria Pickett continues to play at a high level in the midfield and makes dangerous runs into the attack. The final part is to get her to get more shots off,” KC coach Huw Williams said.
Coach Williams said he was “excited” with the shutout as the team’s goal going into the match was to keep a clean sheet. He hopes to build on this shutout next week and “to also sneak a few goals in the next game at Houston.”
Kansas City now turns its focus to the next regular season match on May 23 in Houston against the Houston Dash. Kickoff is slated for 6 p.m. and the game will be streamed live on Paramount+.
Kansas City and Louisville each earned one point in the standings.