Mal Pugh scores two wonder goals vs. KC Current, sets new land-speed record

Pugh’s solo goal has to be seen to be believed

Mal Pugh scored a potential NWSL Goal of the Year candidate on Wednesday night in a way that effectively underlined all of her best traits as a player…and then tacked on another just for emphasis.

Just minutes after the Chicago Red Stars took an early lead over the visiting Kansas City Current, with Tatumn Milazzo mopping up a loose ball resulting from Pugh’s corner kick, the U.S. women’s national team attacker received a pass out of the Chicago box.

The field dimensions at SeatGeek Stadium are listed as 120 yards by 75 yards, and based on where Pugh received the ball, she was roughly about 95 yards from the Current goal, facing the Chicago goal and with Kristen Edmonds racing over to pressure. No problem, right?

Well, it turns out, Pugh is a problem anywhere on the field. Pugh turned as she took her first touch, nutmegging Edmonds. Pugh’s vision may not be talked about as much as some other qualities, but it might be her most vital advantage over opponents. In this situation, having dispatched with Edmonds, she needed just the tiniest amount of time to scan the field and piece together that even being that far from goal, she had a huge opportunity in front of her.

The quick read of the situation was followed by something that gets talked about more when it comes to Pugh: she is fast. Pugh turned on the jets immediately, entering the Current half in a flash and leaving the scrambling defense no time to get a good angle that might force her to slow down. Desiree Scott gave it everything she had to get there, but as she was not moving at the speed of sound, it didn’t work.

Pugh bore down on Elizabeth Ball, and unfortunately for Ball, Pugh is also an elite dribbler. Ball couldn’t afford to retreat any longer and tried to challenge Pugh, but the USWNT winger notched another nutmeg without even really having to slow down.

Still, Pugh wasn’t done. Defender Taylor Leach and goalkeeper Cassie Miller both approached, driving Pugh away from goal. Still, Pugh kept her composure, moving to her left to buy space from Leach and change her angle on Miller, opening up just enough room to calmly tuck the ball into the back of the net, a nice and easy end to one of the most spectacular moments of the NWSL season.

Perhaps understandably, Pugh didn’t even break out much of a celebration, as running that far that fast is tiring. Sometimes you’ve done too much work to throw in an NWSL Celebration of the Year entrant, and when the goal looks like this, it’s not a problem.

Then, with the Current throwing numbers forward in the second half in an attempt to overcome a two-goal deficit, Pugh struck again. Ella Stevens tried to touch a long ball into Pugh’s path, but ended up having to battle two KC players after getting her pass wrong.

Stevens did just enough to prevent the Current from winning the ball back, and then out of nowhere, Pugh was off and running, again with just one defender between her and goal. Edmonds moved in, hoping to try to drive Pugh wide, but the Colorado native just dipped her shoulder to go inside before driving a low 19-yard shot past Miller to make it 3-0.

And then, before Chicago mercifully took her out of the game to spare KC any more punishment, another Pugh corner became a goal, with Amanda Kowalski nodding her service in at the back post in the 72nd minute.

The huge win was surely fun for Red Stars fans, but it’s got potentially huge implications for the NWSL playoff picture. Chicago moved up into a tie for fourth place with the Houston Dash (who they host in three days’ time), opening up a four-point gap between them and seventh-placed Angel City FC.

Enjoy Pugh’s two-goal masterclass

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