Chicago earns the point against NWSL shield winner North Carolina (photo by Don Mac Gregor).
BRIDGEVIEW, IL–A point means a lot in the scheme of things for the Chicago Red Stars in its final month of the regular season. On Friday night, Chicago managed a 1-1 draw with NWSL league-leader North Carolina at Toyota Park.
A lot of credit goes out to the Red Stars (7-4-8, 29 points) with a strong second-half effort led by Sam Kerr scoring her tenth goal of the season and Chicago’s defensive stand of its back four with Julie Ertz leading the way ahead of goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher. The others in the back were Arin Gilliland, Katie Naughton, and Casey Short.
“Every point is important down the stretch,” Chicago Red Stars head coach Rory Dames said. “The bigger thing for us that we were way off the pace in the first half. Part of that was that we haven’t played in a while. Part of that is that North Carolina’s pace is extremely high.
“We challenged (the team) at halftime and I wasn’t happy. I haven’t been upset with them a lot this year, but I was upset with them and thought we played scared and were a little on our back foot. Second half, we had a great response and that’s a credit to them. Any point at this point is big I’m sure people would believe taking a point against (North Carolina) is big. But with the way we played in the second half, we deserved three points.”
The Courage (15-1-5, 50 points) got on the board first in the 22nd minute of play, when Debinha scored on a header off a cross from Jessica McDonald.
“Pleased on the road and it was a good performance,” North Carolina coach Paul Riley said. “(Chicago) has a lot to play for. All we want is our performance to improve. I thought we did that. We had a good first 19 minutes in seven or eight games. I thought our backline was solid but not great. But I’m overall pleased.”
But in the Second half, Chicago had to push forward for the tying goal. Kerr was able to get up in the air over Abbey Erceg and delivered a header off a cross from Vanessa DiBernardo in the 64th minute.
“Did I jump that high,” Kerr said. “It was a good ball in by Vanessa (DiBernardo) and I probably should’ve scored more goals like that this season. It went in and I’m happy how it turned out.”
North Carolina won the last meeting on July 4th with a 4-1 defeat over Chicago at home and there was a draw in an early season match also in North Carolina. The Courage has a tough time trying to get any points while playing in Chicago.
Looking ahead there could be a matchup in the NWSL playoffs or even the final.
“It would be a good match as it’s always is against Chicago,” Riley added. “Last year, they had our number and this year we’re a little bit better against them. I think this was the first time we’ve got a point against them. We usually get beat (in Chicago). They’ve got a good side and good pieces. A good midfield and one of the best midfields in the league with Julie (Ertz) in the back and they have one of the best goalkeepers (Naeher). I think they will get in, it’s a matter of where they will finish. We’re not helping anybody and just putting our best line-up out there every week.”
This was the first match for Chicago since July 14th because of a postponed home match against Sky Blue FC for traveling problems out of New Jersey and the break for the Tournament of Nations Cup.
Red Stars in midst of the NWSL playoff race, since five teams are vying for the three remaining spots. North Carolina has already clinched the top spot on the table. Right now the Red Stars (29 points) are sitting tied for fourth with Portland. Seattle holds the second spot with 33, followed by Orlando (30) and Utah FC sixth (28).
“For us, we’re four months behind everybody else except maybe Portland,” Dames said. “We didn’t get our team fully go until May with injuries and people being gone. We just have to keep getting better. We’re not going to make up four months in a month, but this can be a measuring stick. We just have to keep closing that gap. Seattle will be a significantly different game than North Carolina. Portland will play completely different than Seattle For us it’s getting more minutes, getting together and trying to make up all the ground we lost.”
Chicago hits the road for four of its next five remaining matches. Red Stars visit Seattle on Wednesday night and then travel to play in Portland on Saturday. Then, they will be in Orlando on 8/25, before the makeup home match hosting Sky Blue FC on 9/4 and finishing the regular season at Utah on 9/8.
North Carolina will next host Orlando on Saturday, August 18th at 7 p.m EST.
SCORING SUMMARY:
NC-Debinha (Jessica McDonald) 22
CHI-Samantha Kerr (Vanessa DiBernardo) 64
BOOKING SUMMARY:
CHI-Yuki Nagasoto (caution, reckless foul) 72
NC-Kristen Hamilton (caution, reckless foul) 87
CHICAGO RED STARS (4-2-3-1): #1-Alyssa Naeher, #3- Arin Gilliland, #5-Katie Naughton, #6-Casey Short, #8-Julie Ertz, #24-Danielle Colaprico, #13-Morgan Brian (#22-Rosie White 84′), #10-Vanessa DiBernardo, #12-Yuki Nagasato, #4-Alyssa Mautz (#15-Michele Vasconcelos 71), #20-Sam Kerr.
NORTH CAROLINA COURAGE (4-3-3): #0-Katelyn Rowland, #6-Abby Erceg, #11-Merritt Mathias, #13-Abby Dahlkemper, #15-Jaelene Hinkle, #5-Sam Mewis, #8-Denise O’Sullivan, #10-Debinha (#17-Heather O’Reilly 80), #9-Lynn Williams, #14-Jessica McDonald (#23-Kristen Hamilton 76), #19-Crystal Dunn,
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 10-18 NC
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 1-4 NC
FOULS: CHI 9-8 NC
OFFSIDES: CHI 2-1 NC
CORNER KICKS: CHI 6-3 NC
SAVES: CHI 3-0 NC
Referee: Matthew Franz
Assistant Referees: Jeremy Weed, Benjamin Hall-Volpenhein
4th Official: Calin Radosav
Weather: Mostly clear and 77º
Attendance: 3,567
Woman of the Match: Julie Ertz (CHI)
All photos by Don Mac Gregor
Chicago Red Stars
