Tessa Dellarose and Jordyn Huitema Lift Chicago Stars Past Shield Winner Kansas City 2-1

Chicago Stars FC took four shots on Sunday afternoon. Two of them ended up in the net, and that was enough to take down the reigning NWSL Shield winners.

Rookie Tessa Dellarose scored in the 42nd minute, Jordyn Huitema headed in a second in the 50th, and Chicago held off the Kansas City Current 2-1 in its home opener at Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium in Evanston. Haley Hopkins pulled one back off the bench in the 57th minute, but Kansas City could not find an equalizer despite outshooting the Stars 10-4. Both clubs now sit at 1-0-1 with 3 points, and a Chicago team that lost 4-0 on opening weekend suddenly has a pulse.

Kansas City Knocks, Chicago Answers

For most of the first half, this looked like a Current kind of afternoon. Izzy Rodriguez bent a cross to Debinha in the second minute, and her effort from inside the box skimmed wide. In the 13th minute, Rodriguez fired a low shot that Alyssa Naeher had to save, and Croix Bethune missed the target moments later. Michelle Cooper also dragged a shot wide in the 27th minute after a Debinha through ball.

Chicago's attack was mostly invisible until the 42nd minute, when it struck from a set piece. Brianna Pinto's shot from a tight angle on the right flashed just wide, and Chicago won a corner. Sam Staab swung it in, the ball ricocheted off Gabrielle Robinson, and Dellarose was in the right place to finish with her left foot from point-blank range. Per the Stars, it was the first professional goal of her career in her first professional start.

Huitema Doubles It, Hopkins Halves It

Kansas City sent on Hopkins for Cooper at halftime, but Chicago struck first after the break. In the 50th minute, Julia Grosso drove through the middle and fed Ryan Gareis on the right, Gareis whipped in a first-time cross, and Huitema threw herself at it to head it into the top left corner. Two shots on target, two goals. Somebody check the math.

The Current answered with the best team move of the afternoon. Bethune carried the ball out of her own half, traded passes with Ally Sentnor and then curled it wide to Rodriguez on the left. Rodriguez sent it straight across the goalmouth, and Hopkins hammered it in from close range in the 57th minute.

Huitema, who had needed treatment more than once, was replaced by Jameese Joseph because of an injury in the 61st minute. From there it became a siege. Hopkins missed the target in the 62nd minute, Sentnor had a shot blocked in the 66th, and Rocky Rodríguez, on as a 61st-minute substitute, tried twice from distance, the second time in stoppage time. According to the Current, Kansas City attempted the final six shots of the match. Bethune was flagged offside twice in three minutes as the Current pushed higher, and Chicago blocked, cleared and survived.

The Turning Point

Huitema's header was the difference. It came five minutes after halftime, before Kansas City's changes had fully settled in, and it gave Chicago a cushion that turned out to be essential. Seven minutes later, Hopkins scored. Without the second goal, that is an equalizer and a completely different final half hour.

Stars of the Afternoon

Dellarose and Huitema each took one shot and scored with it, which is the kind of efficiency that gets coaches to stop worrying about possession charts. The Stars say Dellarose was the second rookie in the NWSL to score this season. Gareis supplied the assist for the second goal, and Grosso started the move.

The back line deserves its flowers too. Naeher only had to make one save, on Rodriguez in the 13th minute, because the defenders in front of her did so much of the dirty work: 30 clearances and 13 interceptions, with Staab and Bea Franklin anchoring the middle and Dellarose pulling double duty at left back.

Kansas City's standout was Rodriguez. She had a hand in nearly every dangerous moment and set up the goal, and per the Current, that assist was the 12th of her regular-season career, all for Kansas City, making her the club's outright record holder for regular-season assists. Hopkins scored the sixth regular-season goal of her career and her first off the bench, according to the club.

Stats That Matter

• Shots: Kansas City 10, Chicago 4. Shots on goal were even at 2-2, and both of Chicago's went in.
• Clearances: Chicago 30, Kansas City 21. The Stars spent a lot of the second half heading things away.
• Tackles: The Current won 17 of 23 tackles to Chicago's 10 of 15.
• Crosses: Kansas City completed 6 of 20, Chicago 2 of 17.
• Possession: Essentially even, 50.2 percent for Chicago and 49.8 for Kansas City.

What It Means

For Chicago, this is a needed reset after the 4-0 loss at Angel City FC to open the season. The Stars say the crowd of 4,192 was their second-highest for a standalone home opener in club history, and that Kansas City has now conceded first in four straight matches dating back to October 2025. Chicago stays home to face the Orlando Pride on Wednesday, an opponent the Stars beat 5-2 in their first match at Martin Stadium in 2025, per the club.

Kansas City opened with a 2-1 home win over the Utah Royals, and this loss started a three-match road swing. "It's not easy to go on the road in this league and win games," head coach Chris Armas said. Next up is Seattle Reign FC on Wednesday at ONE Spokane Stadium in Spokane, Wash.

Closing Take

Still, Armas was not panicking. "We're going to respond like champions and winners," he said. That is the right energy for a Shield winner. But on this afternoon, Chicago played like the underdog in a heist movie: two clean jobs, no wasted moves, and everybody out the door before the alarms went off.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Postgame quote as reported by KansasCityCurrent.com; additional match details from ChicagoStars.com.