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Kansas City Current forward Temwa Chawinga scored her 18th goal of the season on Saturday, tying Sam Kerr’s single-season NWSL record set in 2019.
Chawinga scored two minutes into a 2-0 victory over Racing Louisville when she ran behind Louisville’s defense and got on the end of Debinha’s pass inside the penalty box.
Chawinga nearly set the record on multiple occasions in the moments following that goal, including hitting the post in the 10th minute.
Vanessa DiBernardo scored on a direct free kick from just outside the box in the 86th minute for Kansas City’s second goal.
“She’s so dangerous offensively, but she works so hard defensively as well,,” DiBernardo said about Chawinga after the match. “I don’t know if she gets enough credit for that. She’s grown so much as a player from the beginning of the season to the end of the season. It’s been so fun to watch her play and play with her.”
Kerr scored 18 goals for the Chicago Red Stars in 21 games, finishing with 0.87 goals per 90 minutes. Saturday was Chawinga’s 23rd game of the season.
Chawinga has three more games to set the record. She currently has five more goals than the Orlando Pride’s Barbra Banda, the next closest player in the NWSL Golden Boot race.