Currently Making History: Kansas City’s women’s soccer team, KC Current, played their first game of the season on March 16 in the first sports stadium designated for women’s sports

The Kansas City Currents played their first game of the season on March 16, defeating the Portland Thorns 5-4. 

The KC Current team is owned by East family — the Longs — and the Mahomes are co-owners. The Long family attended the first game and were able to see the work that was put into the stadium pay off.

“It was amazing,” senior and soccer player Mary Long said. “Definitely one of the coolest events I’ve ever been a part of. The stadium is gorgeous. It’s right on the river. It was so loud, and it was such an exciting game. Nine goals were scored which is almost unheard of for one game.”

The game was the first match ever played at KC Current’s new stadium in Kansas City, Missouri and is one of the first soccer stadiums made specifically for a women’s team. Angie Long was incredibly excited to see everyone at the stadium after an 18-month build period, starting in October of 2022.

The amount of fans at the game was outstanding, according to Mary. 

“There were people lining the gate that couldn’t get tickets because it was sold out and they still came in support from outside the stadium,” Mary said.

Every KC Current game this season is already sold out because of the excitement around women’s soccer, according to Angie. 

“Kansas City is the greatest sports city in the country,” Angie said. “And professional women’s soccer is so much fun to watch, so I wasn’t surprised at all [that all the tickets were sold out]. But it was so fun to have everybody there celebrating with us.”

The players on the Currents range from ages 16 to 36. The newest player this season is Alex Pfeiffer — a 16 year old on the team and the fourth youngest woman to play in the National Women’s Soccer League. 

Mary trains with the team during the season around six times a week. Over her few weeks of practicing with them, she has grown much closer to the team, especially Pfeiffer because of their closeness in age.

“Everyone on the team is super nice,” Mary said. “It’s easy to talk to anyone about anything. I don’t think the age [between the players on the team] is an issue.”

Alongside having young players on the team, the Longs make it a priority to help the entire team have their needs met on and off the field, according to Angie. She wants to make sure players maximize all of their opportunities, not just soccer.

“All of our players have housing and a car included,” Angie said. “And I think if you begin to bring in younger players you really do need to consider the education piece of it. It’s really important to us that our players continue to get a college education as well. We have a partnership with UMKC.”

The Longs are excited to see how the rest of the season will go and are hopeful to add more young players in the future. Younger players can improve the quality of the game and young players are better able to keep up with the physical demands of the sport, according to Angie.

“We’re pretty excited about the whole staff, the roster and the players,” Angie said. “It’s an incredibly competitive league, but I think we’re set up to do well.”