FCKC Win Big on the Road

From FC Kansas City

FC Kansas City picked up their second victory of the season tonight at BBVA Compass Stadium. In their first matchup against the National Women’s Soccer League’s  (NWSL) newest team, four different players scored on the way to the 4-0 victory.

On a beautiful night for soccer, Kansas City had an attacking mindset from the opening kickoff. Within the first two minutes, they had already earned their first corner kick, which Lauren Holiday nearly curled into the goal. By the eleventh minute, Amy Rodriguez had already broken through the Houston backline twice. Only some excellent saves from Dash goalkeeper, Erin McLeod, kept the visitors off the board.

Fortunately for Kansas City, she couldn’t stop them all though. In the 12^th minute, Lauren Holiday slotted a pass between two Houston defenders where Liz Bogus was able to run onto it and tuck away a shot under the sliding goalkeeper for the first score of the night and a 1-0 lead that would last through the opening half.

FC Kansas City didn’t let up the pressure to begin the second half. After only two minutes of the period, Rodriguez was able to run onto a pass from rookie Jenna Richmond and outmuscle two Dash defenders for her fourth goal in five matches.

Kansas City didn’t relax after that. In the 58^th minute, Rodriguez again broke free for another one-on-one run to goal. Houston defender Osinachi Ohale caught up to Rodriguez and tackled her from behind, just outside of the penalty box. The move earned Ohale a red card and forced the Dash to play short-handed for the remainder of the match.

Erika Tymrak and Frances Silva entered the match shortly after the Ohale incident. The two helped Kansas City to control the midfield as they passed the ball all over the field throughout the rest of the match. In the 80^th minute, Tymrak received a pass from Richmond to bring her up to the top of the penalty box. As she looked for the inside pass, she saw a small window between Dash defenders and took a quick shot that beat McLeod near-post.

Silva, made the most of her playing time as well. In the 89^th minute she carried the ball through the midfield, then sent a long pass into the penalty box to Holiday. The 2013 NWSL MVP immediately returned the pass to Silva who placed her shot in the top corner of the far post where McLeod had no shot of touching it. The rookie’s first professional goal was the cap on FC Kansas City’s 4-0 victory.

FC Kansas City continues its road trip with a mid-week matchup against Western New York Flash on Wednesday, May 7 at 6:00p.m. CT. The game will be shown live on FCKansasCity.com

FCKC Draft Four Locals in NWSL Draft

FC Kansas City had themselves another solid NWSL draw today in Philadelphia. With a grand total of six picks, FCKC took four local players, two of which have played with the US team at the youth level.

In the first round, FC Kansas City picked Florida State defender, Kassey Kallman. Kallman was a Hermann Trophy Semifinalist she was also a member of the US U20 team that won the World Cup in 2012.

In the second round, FCKC went local and grabbed another player who spent time with the US youth national teams. Morgan Marlborough, a forward from Lee’s Summit attended Santa Clara and was selected with the 12th pick. At the 16th spot, the Blues grabbed a midfielder from defending champion, UCLA. Jenna Richmond is another player who was on the US U20 team that won the 2012 World Cup.

FCKC had the first two picks of the third round and went local with both of them. With the 19th pick, the Blues grabbed Frances Silva a forward from West Virginia, originally from Overland Park. The Hermann Trophy Semifinalist helped West Virginia win the Big 12 title at Swope Park this past season. With the 20th pick KC grabbed their third member of the US U20 World Cup winning squad, Mandy Laddish from Notre Dame via Lee’s Summit. The midfielder also played a big role in the Fightin’ Irish’s championship run a few


In the fourth round, FCKC stayed local and grabbed the sister of current Blues’ defender, Katie Kelly, Maegan Kelly. The younger Kelly also went to Marquette where she played midfield and forward scoring 10 goals and adding 8 assists her senior year.

I don’t know a ton about the women’s college game unfortunately, but from what I’ve read KC had themselves another successful draft. Vlatko Andonovski had made mention of his want to get more depth this year, feeling that had been the team’s downfall in 2013. This draft on paper looks like that will definitely provide it for the Blues.