July 19, 2026
By Andrew Mosier, WPSL Communications
RIVERSIDE, Mo. (July 19, 2026) — Kansas City Current II faces New York Athletic Club in the Women’s Premier Soccer League 2026 Championships Final on Sunday at Riverside Park. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
This is both clubs’ first WPSL Championship Final appearance.
The match will be streamed live and in-demand on WPSL.TV. Get tickets here.
Playing in its 20th season, New York Athletic Club is the third-longest tenured club in the league behind founding clubs California Storm and San Francisco Nighthawks.
Despite the Upper East Side’s WPSL legacy, this was very much a season of firsts for the club: first regular season title in a decade; first Metropolitan Conference title; first East Region title; and first appearance in the WPSL Championships
NYAC certainly did not disappoint in its first ever WPSL Championships Semifinal appearance taking on South Region winners Georgia Impact to extra time before Emily Smith (University of California) broke the 1-1 deadlock in the 116th minute, nodding home a Kierra Krawic (University of Michigan) corner kick.
Despite its 9 a.m. kickoff, the plus-100-degree heat index forced NYAC to change its high-pressure approach that it rode to a 10-0-1 record enroute to its first WPSL Championships appearance.
“In this heat, we knew we would not be able to maintain the press,” Brian Simpson, New York Athletic Club head coach, said.
Imposing its high-pressure from the opening whistle, NYAC took the lead in the 16th minute when Kayla Wong (Princeton) pounced on a loose ball inside the Georgia Impact penalty area, slotting the ball just inside the far post to put NYAC up 1-0.
Midway through the first half, as the temperatures continued to rise, NYAC adapted a much more conservative approach. Georgia Impact, which was much more accustomed to playing in high heat and humidity, took advantage, turning the game on its side before finally breaking through Sarah Houston (Princeton) who leveled the score in the 62nd minute.
NYAC rode the game into extra time, narrowly escaping in the 107th minute when Impact’s Maria Howell’s header glanced off the outside of the post in the Impacts best scoring chance of extra time.
NYAC responded in the second extra time period reviving pressure up the field. In the 116th minute, Smith got on the end of Krawic’s out-swinging corner kick, looping a header that dropped just under the crossbar to put NYAC into its first WPSL Championship Final.
NYAC’s attack is led by captain Dylan Jovanovic, a junior at Princeton, with 10 goals on the season, earning All-East Region Playoff team and Week Six National Player of the Week.
In Saturday’s second semifinal matchup, Kansas City Current II topped five-time WPSL Champions California Storm 2-0 thanks to goals in the first and 46th minutes that forced the Sacramento Valley Division, NorCal Conference, and West Region winners to abandon its game plan twice to chase the game.
In its first competitive WPSL season since 2022 and second WPSL season overall, Current II finished atop the Heartland Division going 7-2-1 in regular season play. A 4-1 win over Lou Fusz Athletic put Current II into the Central Region Playoffs, where it topped Austin Rise FC 3-0, followed by a 2-0 win over Salvo SC to win its first Central Region title and advance to the WPSL Championships.
Kansas City Current II struck first off the opening kickoff thanks to an uncharacteristic gaff by Storm’s all-star goalkeeper Abbie Faingold (Portland State, 2018). Playing the ball back to center back Naila Schoefberger who blasted the ball up field. Faingold hesitated before leaving her penalty area to play the ball with her feet, misplaying it slightly, to Current’s Caroline Kelly (University of Saint Louis) thirty-five yards from goal. Kelly lobbed the ball on goal as Faingold scurried back to her goal line, unable to keep the ball out. The first minute goal was Kelly’s third straight for Current II.
Substituting early and often to combat the midday heat, Current fell into a defensive shell, seeing out the first half of play absorbing Storm pressure while picking and choosing its times to attack.
Current II started the second half just like it did the first when Avery Clark (University of Texas) scored her 15th goal of the season—keeping her in second in the league-wide Golden Boot race behind Pensacola FC’s Faith Johnson (University of Kansas) with 19 goals—getting on the end of a Chloe Guenther (high school) cross just a minute into the second half to make it 2-0.
Goalkeeper Evelyn Vitali (University of Arkansas) made 10 saves, facing 18 shots to post her third consecutive clean sheet. Current II has yet to concede a goal in the postseason.
Kansas City Current II and New York Athletic Club face off Sunday at 7 p.m. CDT in the 28th edition of the WPCL Championships final at Riverside Stadium in the first league title match for both teams.
