Up a goal, KC Current needed a win ... facing a penalty kick. Here’s how they survived

If the Kansas City Current are going to make the postseason, it’s going to take some magic. And on Friday night, they found two moments of magic, thanks to Cece Kizer’s goal and AD Franch’s penalty save.

Those plays led the Kansas City Current to a 1-0 victory over OL Reign.

“We said before the game that right now we’re on the road, hunting for points to (make the) playoffs,” said interim coach Caroline Sjöblom. “The players, they showed it tonight with the heart, the way that they played and the way they followed the game plan.”

For the first 60 minutes of Friday night’s match at Children’s Mercy Park, the record crowd of 13,455 on hand didn’t have much to cheer about. The Current had a few chances, but neither team threw too many numbers forward until the night’s first moment of magic.

Kizer started the match on the bench and came on for Kristen Hamilton in the 55th minute. The sub role hasn’t necessarily been the norm for Kizer since she joined the team in a trade from Racing Louisville last season.

“It’s always tough to put players that deserve to be in the starting 11 on the bench,” Sjöblom said about the decision to not start the Overland Park native.

“But the game is tactical, and we knew that spaces will open up for Cece in the second half. The minute we felt and saw that, we went to sub her in and she handled it perfectly.”

Six minutes later, her glancing header off a perfectly placed cross from Izzy Rodriguez gave the Current a 1-0 lead.

Kizer said that she had been having a tough week.

“We’re just human beings and life can be hard sometimes, so I’ve just been going through it a little bit this week,” Kizer said.

She added the news she wasn’t starting was hard to swallow, but she just wanted to be out there to contribute and be there for her teammates, even in a different role.

“I’m just really proud of myself tonight,” Kizer said. “I’m just going through a lot and being able to score that goal is something that I needed.”

But after the goal, things began to fall the Reign’s way, culminating with a penalty kick awarded after a video review. Jordyn Huitema went down in the box and drew the penalty for her team — a chance to level the score.

The Current have had plenty go against them this season: unlucky bounces and loads of injuries. They’ve hurt themselves plenty over the course of their frustrating start to the season, but they’d largely been on the wrong end of the make-or-break opportunities.

Until that moment.

Franch paced back and forth in front of the goal. Huitema seemed to try to wait Franch out, but eventually the referee stepped in and asked her to place the ball down and prepare for the penalty kick.

“There was clearly a little bit of an adrenaline rush, and I was just trying to channel that,” Franch said. “That was the main focus of feeling what’s in my body right now, owning it, focusing, zoning in and doing your job as best you can.”

When Huitema took her shot, Franch had her read the whole way, coming up with a save in the moment it was needed the most this season. Per a KC Current spokesperson, the stadium reached 117.3 decibels in the aftermath of her save. Kizer said it left her ears ringing.

But Franch?

“I’m really, really sorry, but I didn’t hear anything,” Franch said with a laugh. “I definitely blacked out off that moment, and I took a moment to sit there and kind of come back.”

The Current controlled the match the rest of the way, including the 10 minutes of stoppage time.

The win moves the Current to 6-10-0 with 18 points in NWSL play. For now, it moves them into 10th place. However, the rest of the league’s games are still to come this weekend.

As they continue to hunt for points, the Current will travel to Houston next Saturday for a matchup with the Dash.