NFL
By: Zachary Draves
A crisp, cool, and slightly cloudy evening welcomed a modest crowd of 2,312 to SeatGeek Stadium to watch the Chicago Red Stars take on the Washington Spirit. The Red Stars came in third in the NWSL standings with a record of 3-1-2 and 11 total points. Their last victory came on June 4th at home against OL Reign 1-0.
Chicago started this season with plenty of uncertainty after enduring through the abuse scandal caused by former Coach Rory Dames while also making it to the NWSL championship last year, losing to the Spirit. Under their new Coach Chris Petrucelli, they found a renewed sense of freedom as their now pressure packed defense has kept opponents at bay and opened up room for the Mallory Pugh led offense to work its magic.
Speaking of Pugh, through the first six games she has scored four goals including the one over OL Reign. Her dynamic and explosive style of play has already generated buzz about being in the run for MVP.
Washington hadn’t won a game since May 1 extending their winless streak to six which included four draws.
At the start, the Red Stars were clearly the better team. They had greater possession of the ball, defensive prowess, and created good opportunities to score. One could argue too good because there were some shots that could have become goals especially when they were right at the line off of long runs and open looks. They also managed to keep the Spirit at midfield and limit their chances for shots on goal.
But as the half went on, the Spirit were starting to regain possession and started to have greater pass accuracy at one point. Their defense was very much the aggressors as they generated nine fouls including two yellow cards to midfielder Taylor Alymer and defender Emily Sonnett.
As the half came to a close, it was very much anybody’s game. Both teams were playing at the same pace with an almost equal share of possession, pass accuracy, and passes.
The score stood at 0-0 going into the locker room. The Red Stars had the slight upper hand as they outshot the Spirit 6-2 including 3 shots on target.
As the second half commenced, the questions begged. Which side would break through? Who would be first to get on the board and take control of the game? Through the first ten minutes, the game was heading nowhere with neither side gaining the edge.
The Spirit were taking more shots and began to have greater possession of the ball. The Red Stars were somewhat stagnant as they couldn’t get on a run and create opportunities to score as they did in the first half. Their defense still kept the Spirit limited to score but were showing signs of weariness. In the 66th minute, striker Ava Cook was issued a yellow card for the Red Stars.
All in all the game was destined to result in a draw.
As the minutes ticked away, the Red Stars fans were still holding out hope in anticipation of a last minute breakthrough that could propel their team to victory. Unfortunately, their hopes were dashed as they couldn’t get it done even with an additional four minutes added after the half concluded. The game ended as it began.
Afterwards, midfielder Danielle Colaprico spoke to those chances they had to close it out and how to not get discouraged as they move forward.
“When you get those chances and they are not necessarily going in the back of the net, it can be hard to keep going” she said. “But as a team I feel as though we do a good job of creating those chances. I feel that we showed a lot of great things in this game and we will carry that forward into the Orlando game.”
The Red Stars (3-1-3) are back at home on Sunday June 12 against the Orlando Pride (2-2-3) at 5:00pm CST.
