Temwa Chawinga Hat Trick Powers Kansas City Current Past Chicago Stars 3-0 on Mother's Day

For a while, the only thing Temwa Chawinga's season was missing was Temwa Chawinga goals. That drought ended in spectacular fashion on Mother's Day at CPKC Stadium. The two-time defending NWSL MVP and Golden Boot winner scored her first goal of the year in the 22nd minute, then struck twice more in the 47th and 49th to complete the first regular season hat trick in Kansas City Current history.

The Current beat Chicago Stars FC 3-0 on Sunday in front of 11,500 fans, a sellout crowd according to the club. It was Kansas City's second straight win, its first shutout of 2026, and a tidy bit of payback for a 2-1 loss in Chicago on March 22. Chicago, meanwhile, has now been held scoreless in three straight matches.

Pressure, a Post, Then the Breakthrough

Kansas City won three corners in the first three minutes and never really let Chicago settle. Izzy Rodriguez fired over after the second one, and Julia Grosso answered with a left-footed shot that Lorena turned aside in the seventh minute.

The first real scare for Chicago came in the 12th minute. Chawinga ran onto a ball down the left, carried it to the end line and cut it back for Michelle Cooper, whose low left-footed shot clanged off the right post. Chicago then lost left back Michelle Alozie to an injury, with Brianna Pinto coming on in the 17th minute.

The opener arrived after Bayley Feist's header from a corner drifted wide in the 21st. A minute later, according to the club, Feist picked off a Chicago pass near midfield, Cooper bent a ball through the defense to Croix Bethune, and Bethune kept the move alive just long enough to find Chawinga alone at the back post. ESPN logged it as a right-footed finish from very close range, and Alyssa Naeher could only get fingertips to it.

Chicago had its moments before the break. Nádia Gomes was booked for a bad foul on Chawinga in the 34th minute, and Manaka Hayashi forced Lorena into a save in the 38th before firing high and wide in first-half stoppage time. The Stars' own recap noted they held 58.2 percent of the ball and won 71.4 percent of aerial duels in the first half. They still went to the locker room down 1-0.

Two Goals, Two Minutes

Whatever Chicago planned at halftime lasted about two minutes. Per the Current's recap, Cooper beat a defender on the right and drove a curling cross through the box, Naeher got a hand to it, and the ball dropped straight to Chawinga, who had an empty net in the 47th minute. Pinto forced a Lorena save in the 48th, and then Kansas City produced the prettiest move of the day.

The club's version goes like this: Bethune into Ally Sentnor at the near post, Sentnor back to Feist, Feist chipping toward the penalty spot, Cooper flicking it first time over the Chicago line, and Chawinga taming it with one touch and hammering a half-volley home. That was the 49th minute, and the game was effectively over.

The Turning Point

Call it the restart. Chicago walked out for the second half having won the possession battle, trailing by one, and holding a lead in aerial duels. Within two minutes the Stars were down 2-0, and within four they were down 3-0. What looked like a grind became a coronation.

Kansas City kept swinging anyway. Between the 56th and 64th minutes, the Current launched eight attempts, including saves by Naeher on Cooper and Bethune in the 64th. Bethune was replaced by Haley Hopkins because of an injury in the 71st. Chawinga nearly made it four with a 76th-minute header that slid just wide before head coach Chris Armas brought her off for Amelia White a minute later.

Chawinga Is Back, Bring the Confetti

Temwa Chawinga scored three times on six shots, three of them on target. According to the club, it was the third hat trick in Current history and the second in NWSL play, after Kristen Hamilton's in a 2023 Challenge Cup match. It was also the first hat trick by any NWSL player this regular season and the 33rd in league regular season history.

Michelle Cooper hit the post, assisted the third goal and created the second, finishing with two of her three shots on target. The club said it was her first assist of the year.

Croix Bethune assisted the opener, making it assists in back-to-back games and two for the season, per the Current.

Lorena made four saves for the clean sheet, and the club says it was the 15th shutout of her NWSL career, making her the 14th goalkeeper in league history to reach that mark with one club.

For Chicago, Alyssa Naeher made six saves and kept the score from getting truly ugly. Manaka Hayashi led the Stars with three shots.

By the Numbers

• Shots: Kansas City 19, Chicago 11.
• Shots on target: Kansas City 9, Chicago 4.
• Saves: Naeher 6, Lorena 4.
• Possession: Chicago 53.4 percent, Kansas City 46.6.
• Long balls: Kansas City completed 24 of 55, Chicago 6 of 30.

Where Both Sides Stand

Kansas City moves to four wins, no draws and four losses with 12 points, and the club's recap had the Current sixth. The win also extended the Current's regular season home unbeaten streak to 20 matches, which the club says is the third-longest in league history, behind Seattle's 22 straight from 2014 to 2015 and North Carolina's 21 in 2023 and 2024. And yes, there is a Mother's Day subplot: the Current are 3-0-0 in Mother's Day home matches at CPKC Stadium, outscoring opponents 8-1. Next up is Houston at home on Friday, May 15.

Chicago drops to two wins, no draws and seven losses with six points, 15th in Kansas City's recap. The Stars have scored four goals in nine matches. There were a couple of milestones on a rough afternoon: Sam Staab made her 50th regular season appearance as a Star, and Jameese Joseph came off the bench in the 61st minute for her 50th career NWSL appearance, all of them with Chicago. A trip to the North Carolina Courage awaits on Saturday, May 16.

The Final Word

Armas, to his credit, wanted to talk about the defense. "What's really important to our team today was the shutout victory," he said. "We were able to keep a clean sheet, which was really important and meant a lot to our team." Fair enough. But nobody packed CPKC Stadium on Mother's Day to watch a clean sheet. They came for the Chawinga Show, and after a slow first few episodes, the season finally got its main character back.

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