Nothing about Sunday's NWSL quarterfinal was normal.
The Kansas City Current entered as the most dominant No. 1 seed in league history. Gotham FC, the reigning Concacaf champions and 2023 league champions, was the most talented No. 8 seed in the league's short history of staging a quarterfinal round. And both teams played without their star forwards, the two leading scorers in the NWSL.
The result was jarring, too -- at least for outsiders: Gotham's 2-1 victory in extra time at CPKC Stadium brought an early ending to the season of arguably the best NWSL team in history.