Vanessa DiBernardo scored the first goal for Kansas City in its new stadium and the Current held off the Portland Thorns 5-4 on Saturday in the regular-season opener for the National Women’s Soccer League.
Debinha’s rebound shot deflected off Thorns goalkeeper Shelby Hogan and fell to DiBernardo, who scored in the 22nd minute. Rookie Ellie Wheeler scored moments later and the Current built a 3-1 lead by halftime.
Bia Zaneratto, Kristen Hamilton and Alex Pfeiffer added goals for the Current. Sophia Smith and Janine Beckie, a dual citizen of Canada and the United States, each had a pair of goals for the Thorns.
The Current were hurt in the 32nd minute when Debinha, a finalist for last year’s league MVP award, left the game with what appeared to be a hamstring injury.
It was the first game at CPKC Stadium, which the team says is the first U.S. stadium built expressly for women’s pro soccer. The privately financed $120 million US facility sits on the banks of the Missouri River and seats 11,500.
Saturday’s game was a sellout. It also was the first NWSL game broadcast on ABC as part of the league’s new media rights deal. The NWSL inked a new broadcast deal worth $60 million annually that will feature the league’s matches on ESPN networks, CBS Sports, Amazon Prime Video and Scripps Sports.
Zaneratto, who has played in four Women’s World Cups for Brazil and was signed by the Current earlier this season, scored before Smith made it 3-1 in the 43rd minute.
WATCH | Beckie strikes twice on road in Thorns’ season opener:
The Canadian women’s national team member pulled her Portland side within one with a gorgeous goal against Kansas City.
Current win 1st game under new coach
Hamilton and Pfeiffer added second-half goals to extend the Current’s lead to 5-1. But Portland rallied with Beckie’s goal in the 71st minute and Smith’s second in the 74th. Beckie’s second came in stoppage time.
The Current won their first game under Vlatko Andonovski, the former U.S. national team coach, who also coached at FC Kansas City, one of the league’s founding teams that played from 2013 to 2017.
Beckie also scored two goals in the Canadian women’s national team’s Olympic gold medal campaign in 2021.
She was also a member of the 2016 squad that won Summer Games bronze in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Beckie spent two seasons with the Houston Dash after being selected eighth overall by the club in the 2016 NWSL College Draft. She was then traded to Sky Blue FC, where she played the 2018 season.
In April 2022, Beckie signed a three-year deal with the Portland Thorns FC, the team announced Friday
Source Agencies
