FC Kansas City Fall at Home for the First Time

FC Kansas City dropped their first decision at home this season in front of 4,186 fans on Verizon Wireless Field at Shawnee Mission District Stadium.  Following a foul in the penalty box that ultimately resulted in Lauren Sesselmann being ejected from the game, Sky Blue’s Sophie Schmidt converted a penalty kick in the 23rd minute to hand Kansas City the 1-0 loss. 

Sky Blue FC came into tonight’s match unbeaten in their last four games while FC Kansas City was unbeaten at home.  In what was billed as one of the marquee matchups of the weekend, both teams attacked early looking to find an early advantage.  In the 23rd minute, Lisa DeVanna received a pass from her Sky Blue teammate and drove straight at the Kansas City defense.  As the defense collapsed on her in the box, Becky Sauerbrunn and Lauren Sesselmann knocked the ball from her feet.  Referee, John McCloskey, immediately pointed to the penalty spot and showed Lauren Sesselmann a straight red-card.  The ejection was issued to the Canadian international for ‘Denying an Obvious Goal Scoring Opportunity by Foul’ and the Blues were forced to play the remainder of the game short-handed.

Sophie Schmidt scored the resulting penalty kick to give her side the 1-0 lead.  Despite having to play with only ten players, Kansas City controlled much of the possession late in the first half and throughout the second half.  In the final five minutes of the match, as Sky Blue drew in their defense to preserve the victory, FC Kansas City managed several quality scoring opportunities, outshooting Sky Blue 13-10 on the night.  Unfortunately, they were not able to convert any of those opportunities, including a last-minute corner kick that Nicole Barnhart headed over her opposition’s net.

FC Kansas City gets the week off to recover from the loss, just as six of their players head off for their respective national teams.  The U.S. Women’s National Team faces off against Team Canada on June 2nd in a friendly re-match of the London Olympics Semi-Final. 

The Blues are back in action on June 6th and June 9th in Portland and Seattle respectively.  The team returns to Verizon Wireless field on June 16th to face the Chicago Red Stars in the second game of a home-and-home series.