**Kansas City, Kansas** – The Kansas City Current and Angel City FC dueled to a 1-1 draw on Friday night in front of a record crowd in Kansas City, with midfielder Lo’eau LaBonta’s late penalty canceling out Angel City FC midfielder Cari Roccaro’s opener in an exciting game.
The hosts piled on plenty of pressure in the first half as they outshot the visitors 9-2 with a 6-0 advantage in shots on target. In the opening quarter of an hour, Angel City goalkeeper DiDi Haracic was forced to make two saves already as midfielder Claire Lavogez and forward Kristen Hamilton both put the goalkeeper into action with attempts.
Angel City’s best look in attack in the opening half came in the 27 ^th minute, when a fast move forward ended up seeing forward Claire Emslie fail to convert on a difficult chance. A ball played forward to the left side of the field for Jun Endo then saw the attacker pivot toward goal and fire in a cross cum shot that Current goalkeeper Adrianna Franch beat back into play. The forward Emslie was in position to make contact with the rebound, but it was a difficult ask for her to put an effort on target and the chance went missing.
The Current would continue to pester Angel City’s goal when, three minutes later, Lavogez registered her second attempt on goal as teammate Hailie Mace fed her in the left side of the box. Taking no time to redirect the ball or push it forward, Lavogez snapped a shot toward goal that Haracic had to push over the bar and out of play.
Then, another great chance in front of goal came for Kansas City just before halftime with the netminder Haracic producing a quality save on forward CeCe Kizer’s shot to help the match remain level. The Current had a set piece opportunity some distance from goal on the left side of the field where a ball was played in toward the back post. Midfielder Lo’eau LaBonta was able to corral it and settle a pass for Kizer just a few yards out from goal. Beating the ball toward the net, Haracic got big enough to redirect the shot with no opportunity for a follow up.
At the halftime interval, despite the large differential in shots and attempts on goal, the sides remained scoreless.
Into the second half, the game remained in the hosts’ control for a significant portion of the remaining time with Haracic and the Angel City defense remaining tight and keeping the ball out of the back of the net.
However, Angel City’s first shot on goal also became the game’s first goal in the 78 ^th minute as the tide took a turn in the visitors’ favor. With Angel City in possession in the left side of the field, defender Ali Riley swung in a ball toward the center of the penalty for teammate Cari Roccaro to latch onto. Leaping above the rest of the defense, Roccaro nodded home and helped her side to take a late lead.
Looking to respond immediately, Kansas City upped the tempo and pressure on the Angel City goal with Kizer testing Haracic just one minute later. Despite an unsuccessful attempt then, the Current would then earn a penalty in the 80 ^th minute as LaBonta went down under the challenge of Angel City defender Paige Nielsen as the official pointed to the spot. Up to take was LaBonta, who roofed her shot into the right side of the goal as Haracic was sent the wrong way and the hosts had a quick equalizer.
In the end, an entertaining match saw the two sides split the points as honors were even at Children’s Mercy Park. The result helps advance Kansas City’s impressive unbeaten streak to 11 games running, while Angel City now have an unbeaten run of three games of their own with the draw.

Match Highlights

Match Highlights