Red Stars pass up chance to consolidate playoff spot

Chicago Red Stars 1-3 North Carolina Courage

BRIDGEVIEW, IL—The Chicago Red Stars missed a chance to give themselves some breathing room between themselves and ninth place in the table by losing, 3-1, to North Carolina Courage. With Bay FC winning in Seattle, the Red Stars remain four points clear of ninth place Racing Louisville, but are just one point ahead of Portland and Bay FC. 

It was an unchanged lineup for the Red Stars from last week against San Diego. However, the passing and defending were not the same as they were last week. 

All three of the Courage’s goals were on crosses coming into the center. Ashley Sanchez crossing into the six-yard box that deflected off Cari Roccaro and into the net to make it 1-0. 

Three minutes before halftime, Sanchez fed Tyler Lussi, who then laid it off to Denise O’Sullivan who blasted it into the upper 90 from outside the box to double North Carolina’s advantage. 

Kerolin returned to action in the 57th minute and would score eight minutes later after she collected a cross from Olivia Wingate. Ludmila would pull one back for the Red Stars three minutes later, but the quality in chances and the quality in defending was lacking on this night as noted by Red Stars coach Lorne Donaldson.

“We didn’t play well,” said Donaldson. “Box defending was crap. So, I mean, you gotta give Carolina credit. They score them. When you score goals, you gotta give the next team credit. We just didn’t defend well. Box defending was crap.

“It doesn’t matter what you do tactically, technically, if there’s a breakdown technically and you can’t pass the ball or you can’t circulate the ball. then it doesn’t matter. What if your technical stuff is not there, tactically nothing is going to work because our passing was abysmal.”

The Red Stars will now travel to Houston to take on the last place Dash on Friday. Kickoff is at 7pm CT on Marquee and NWSL+. With four matches remaining, including this coming Friday, they all became more important to solidify a playoff position.  

For more of Leslie Smith’s photos, please click on the link to her gallery.

SCORING SUMMARY:
NC-Cari Roccaro (own goal) 15
NC-Denise O’Sullivan (Lussi) 42
NC-Kerolin (Wingate) 65
CHI-Ludmila (Malham) 68

BOOKING SUMMARY:
None

CHICAGO RED STARS (4-2-3-1):  #1-Alyssa Naeher; #32-Taylor Malham (#23-Tatumn Milazzo 86), #41-Hannah Anderson, #4-Cari Roccaro, #12-Natalia Kuikka; #21-Julia Grosso (#5-Julia Bianchi 77), #20-Bea Franklin (#13-Leilanni Nesbeth 86); #9-Mallory Swanson, #34-Ally Schlegel (#10-Shea Groom 58), #8-Janeese Joseph (#26-Nadia Gomes 58); #14-Ludmila

Subs not used:  #19-Mackenzie Wood, #30-Camryn Biegalski, #5-Julia Bianchi, #11-Chardonnay Curran, #24-Jenna Bike

NORTH CAROLINA COURAGE (4-2-3-1):  #1-Casey Murphy; #11-Feli Rauch, #7-Malia Berkely, #3-Kaliegh Kurtz, #13-Ryan Williams; #10-Denise O’Sullivan, #6-Narumi Miura (#17-Dani Weatherholt 77); #14-Tyler Lussi (#23-Bianca St. Georges 77), #2-Ashley Sanchez (#94-Victoria Pickett 77), #77-Aline Gomes (#9-Kerolin 57); #8-Brianna Pinto (#20-Olivia Wingate 18)

Subs not used:  #51-Hanslet Hancuff, #27-Maycee Bell, #94-Victoria Pickett, #25-Meredith Speck, #17-Dani Weatherholt, #5-Haley Hopkins, #23-Bianca St. Georges

TOTAL SHOTS:  CHI 0-0 NC
SHOTS ON GOAL:  CHI 0-0 NC
FOULS:  CHI 0-0 NC
OFFSIDES:  CHI 0-0 NC
CORNER KICKS:  CHI 0-0 NC
SAVES:  CHI 0-0 NC

Referee:  Ricardo Fierro
Assistant Referees:  Tiffini Turpin, Chris Schurfranz
Fourth Official:  Braeden Frey
VAR:  Laura Rodriguez
AVAR:  Matthew Rodman
Weather:  Cloudy and 75º
Attendance:  4,317
Woman of the Match:  Ashley Sanchez (NC)