Blues Defeat Breakers in 2-0 Victory

It is that time of year again, the time where you make your way out to Swope Park Soccer Village, splurge on a sno cone from Tropical Sno, and cheer on your favorite team with 3,000 of your closest friends. It is the time where you get to the park early to cheer on warm-ups and say hi to the people you have not seen since last season. It is that time where you watch your favorite Kansas City’ women’s soccer team on their journey to victory.

The first game of the season found two well-missed forwards starting. Amy Rodriguez and Sydney Leroux both made their first NWSL start since maternity leave and they both had fire in their eyes. The scoring started early with a well placed ball by Becky Sauerbrunn to her fellow USWNT player Leroux. On her first touch Leroux made a beautiful shot that found its way into the back of the net.

The first half continued with a lot of back-and-forth play that gave the Blues several good looks on goal and the Boston Keeper, Abby Smith, quite the workout.

The second half started with another flurry of excitement for FCKC. In the 48th minute, some back and forth play between Shea Groom and Rodriguez lead to a stunning goal by Rodriguez. Unfortunately, minutes later Rodriguez got tripped up and was taken off the field on a stretcher. Hopefully the injury doesn’t turn out to be as bad as it seemed on the field, but they have yet to release what happened.

The second half continued with a lot of back-and-forth play. The Breakers had their best chance at a goal in the 79th minute, where a loose ball in the box was bounced from player to player until keeper Nicole Barnhart stopped it on the line. Despite the 5 minutes of added time at the end of the half, FCKC was able to hold onto the clean sheet in their 2-0 victory.

The team seems to be back to their 2015 season spirit. By the end of last season, they seemed to have lost a little of their happy spirit but that fire has returned. They look dangerous and they were able to produce goals from that fire. Should they keep that spirit throughout this season, they are looking to make quite the comeback from last season!

The Blues will return to Swope Park on May 7th against Orlando Pride. Be there or be square!