Haley Hopkins Sets Up Two as the Kansas City Current Hold Off the North Carolina Courage

For 41 minutes on Saturday night, Haley Hopkins played like she had found the cheat codes. She chased a back pass into a goalkeeper's lap, pried the ball loose for Croix Bethune, then sprung Michelle Cooper on a breakaway. Two assists, one half, and a North Carolina back line left staring at the replay board.

The Kansas City Current needed every bit of that head start. They beat the North Carolina Courage 3-2 at CPKC Stadium in front of 11,500 fans, building a 3-0 lead before halftime and then spending the second half bailing water as Evelyn Ijeh and Riley Jackson pulled the visitors within a goal. Lorena made six saves, four of them on Ashley Sanchez, and the Current survived six minutes of stoppage time to take all three points.

A First Half Built on Chaos

Kansas City came out like it had a flight to catch. Izzy Rodriguez tested Kailen Sheridan inside the first minute, Hopkins forced another save a minute later, and the Current won three corners in the opening 11 minutes. The opener arrived in the 12th: Sheridan pushed Kayla Sharples' header off the bar, the ball stayed alive, and Rodriguez's cross back into the box ricocheted off Natalia Staude and past her own keeper. Ugly, but it counts.

After two stoppages for Gabrielle Robinson, who gave way to Katie Scott in the 24th minute, Hopkins took over.

In the 35th minute she hounded Sheridan after a back pass, forced a bad touch and slid the loose ball to Bethune, who cut back past a diving defender and curled a left-footed shot into the top right corner. Six minutes later Hopkins turned provider again, lofting a through ball over the Courage defense on the break. Cooper ran onto it, carried it into the box and finished from the middle with her right foot.

Ijeh Lights the Fuse

North Carolina refused to go quietly. With eight minutes of added time on the board, the Courage finally broke the other way. Sheridan saved Debinha's shot at one end, and seconds later Sanchez was racing down the other, cutting the ball back for Ijeh to sweep a left-footed finish into the bottom right corner in the third minute of stoppage time. It was Ijeh's 11th goal of the season, per the Courage, and the seventh time this year she and Sanchez had set each other up.

Ijeh nearly made it 3-2 before the whistle, glancing a header just wide in the eighth minute of added time. The Courage went in down two but with a pulse.

The Turning Point

The match swung on a free kick in the 75th minute. Sanchez curled one toward goal from near the top of the box, Hopkins got in the way, and the officials ruled the block a handball. Yes, the same Hopkins who had built the lead with both assists. Jackson, a 68th minute substitute, stepped up two minutes later and rolled a right-footed penalty into the bottom right corner. Her third goal of the season, per the Courage, turned a comfortable night into a nervy one.

From there, the Courage threw bodies forward. Uno Shiragaki headed high from a corner in the 81st minute, Chioma Okafor forced Lorena into a full-stretch save in the 86th, and Sanchez had two more looks in the final minutes, including a shot from the left side of the six-yard box that flew over in the first minute of stoppage time. Staude, unlucky with the opener, headed wide in the 90th.

Kansas City head coach Chris Armas sounded like a man who enjoyed the final whistle more than the final 15 minutes. "It got a little close there at the end, but it almost makes it even more special because you have to learn how to dig deep in tough moments, and we did," he said.

Star Turns

Haley Hopkins: Two assists, one shot on target, one conceded penalty and a yellow card in the 90th minute. According to the Current, it was the first multi-assist game of her regular season career.

Croix Bethune: The goal was her fourth of the regular season, per the club, to go with a team-high and club-record nine assists. Her finish was the cleanest strike of the night.

Lorena: Kansas City's keeper made six saves, and the late ones mattered most. She stopped Sanchez in the 80th and 89th minutes and denied Okafor's long-range drive in between.

Ashley Sanchez: Seven shots, four on target, one assist and no goal. North Carolina's attack ran through her all night, and Lorena seemed to know it.

Stats That Matter

• Shots: North Carolina 18, Kansas City 13, but the Current put 9 on target to the Courage's 8.
• Saves: Sheridan made 7, Lorena 6.
• Possession: North Carolina held 57.7 percent and completed 396 passes to Kansas City's 262.
• Crosses: The Courage tried 21 and connected on 10, while the Current hit 2 of 15.
• Discipline: Seven yellow cards in all, four for Kansas City and three for North Carolina.

What It Means

Kansas City climbs to 10-4-8 with 34 points, which the club said left it seventh. The Current also extended what they call a league-record home unbeaten streak to 28 matches and finished a regular season sweep of the Courage after a 2-1 win in Cary on May 2. According to the club, Kansas City is now the sixth team in league history with double-digit wins in three or more consecutive seasons.

The night had other milestones too. Lo'eau LaBonta reached 10,000 minutes played for one club, per the Current, and Temwa Chawinga played the final 28 minutes in her return from Malawi's run at the Women's Africa Cup of Nations. On the other side, the Courage said Ryan Williams also passed 10,000 regular season minutes, all of them in North Carolina colors.

North Carolina falls to 11-3-8 with 36 points, sixth by Kansas City's count, three days after beating Angel City 2-0 at home. The Courage also said Ijeh and Sanchez have now combined for 26 goals this season, tying the NWSL single-season record for a pair of teammates. Kansas City visits Bay FC on Friday, Sept. 4.

Closing Take

This one played out like a heist movie where the crew grabs the loot in the first act and spends the rest of the runtime sprinting from the cops. Hopkins drew up the plan, Bethune and Cooper cracked the safe, and Lorena drove the getaway car just fast enough.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Postgame quotes and club notes as reported by KansasCityCurrent.com; additional details from NCCourage.com.