Houston’s Shea Groom accidentally heads the ball into her own goal (Photo: Don MacGregor)
Chicago Red Stars 2-1 Houston Dash
BRIDGEVIEW, IL—For the second successive match, “own goal” came through the for the Chicago Red Stars. This time, they needed two of them to overcome Houston Dash, 2-1, at SeatGeek Stadium.
The last Red Stars player to actually score a goal was Morgan Gautrat with her stoppage time penalty on June 19th against Washington.
The win for the Red Stars vaults them to fifth in the table, though the teams immediately below them all have matches in hand.
After an uneventful first half, Houston got on the board in the 62nd minute when Jasmyne Spencer’s pass deflected off Kayla Sharples and then to Veronica Latsko who beat Cassie Miller near post.
Houston players would score the next two goals in three minutes, but in the opposite net. The 73rd minute saw a Mallory Pugh free kick headed in by Shea Groom to level the score. Three minutes later, Katie Naughton would accidentally knock in a Gautrat cross to put the former’s former team ahead.
The bizarre nature of this match was that the Red Stars did not register a single shot on target (the Dash had two) on Sunday, yet they ended up with the three points for the second straight week with their scoring coming exclusively from own goals.
“In this league as I’ve been saying all along, the good and the bad balances out. And we certainly played some games where we were clearly the better team and created multiple chances and didn’t score. And then, similar to [Sunday], we give up one transitional moment and get scored on. On both the goals we scored on we had players coming across.
“That’s why you need to put balls into the box. However they come, we will take them.”
The Red Stars play next Sunday at Bridgeview to take on OL Reign. Kickoff is at 5pm on Paramount+. Houston travel to North Carolina to play the Courage on Saturday (6pm CT, Paramount+).
(Editor’s Note: Thanks to Don MacGregor for substituting for Leslie Smith for Sunday’s game. You can view more of his photos by clicking on the link.)
SCORING SUMMARY
HOU-Veronica Latsko (Spencer) 62
CHI-Shea Groom (own goal) 73
CHI-Katie Naughton (own goal) 76
BOOKING SUMMARY
HOU-Haley Hanson (caution, reckless foul) 88
CHICAGO RED STARS (4-2-3-1): #38-Cassie Miller; #11-Sarah Gorden, #28-Kayla Sharples, #3-Arin Wright, #23-Tatumn Milazzo (#5-Rachel Hill 70); #13-Morgan Gautrat, #16-Sarah Woldmoe (#24-Danielle Colaprico 68); #9-Mallory Pugh, #10-Vanessa DiBernardo, #2-Kealia Watt (#4-Alyssa Mautz 90); #15-Makenzy Doniak (#33-Katie Johnson 46)
Subs not used: #21-Emily Boyd, #19-Sarah Luebbert, #14-Zoe Morse, #7-Nikki Stanton, #18-Ella Stevens
HOUSTON DASH (4-3-3): #20-Lindsey Harris; #23-Ally Prisock (#16-Hannah Diaz 84, #25-Katie Naughton, #11-Megan Oyster, #9-Haley Hanson; #18-Emily Ogle, #5-Gabrielle Seiler, #6-Shea Groom; #22-Jasmyne Spencer, #33-Makamae Gomera-Stevens (#35-Michelle Alozie 69), #12-Veronica Latsko
Subs not used: #99-Amanda Dennis, #21-Deneisha Blackwood, #24-Jamia Fields, #10-Christine Nairn, #4-Maegan Rosa
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 7-5 HOU
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 0-2 HOU
FOULS: CHI 11-10 HOU
OFFSIDES: CHI 0-1 HOU
CORNER KICKS: CHI 5-4 HOU
SAVES: CHI 1-0 HOU
Referee: Samantha Martinez
Assistant Referees: Alicia Messer, Kaitlyn Trowbridge
4th Official: Erin Patterson
Weather: Rain and 67º
Attendance: 2,520
Woman of the Match: Morgan Gautrat (CHI)
