Photo: Leslie Smith
BRIDGEVIEW, IL—Alyssa Naeher made her 150th regular season appearance on Saturday night, broke the records for most saves all-time in the regular season in the NWSL (now 520), and above all made six saves in a 1-0 victory for the Red Stars over Orlando Pride.
The win lifts the Red Stars off the foot of the NWSL table and ends a five-match winless streak in league play. Orlando’s unbeaten streak ends at four.
The game’s only score came in the 22nd minute as Casey Krueger sent a dime of a cross that was headed in by Yuki Nagasato. It was one of just two shots for the whole match for the Red Stars while the Pride had 18 (six on target).
Orlando continuously peppered Alyssa Naeher’s net, but could not get one past. Naeher broke the saves record during a sequence off a corner kick (one of nine for Orlando vs. none for the Red Stars) in the 49th minute where Mikayla Cluff headed her shot off the bar and then Naeher tipped Marta’s rebound shot off the bar to keep the clean sheet up to that point. Adriana would hit one off the bar in the 60th minute.
Marta would nearly get an olimpico in the 86th minute, but Naeher would make the save yet again.
“Happy for three points,” said Naeher. “We needed that. The team’s been working hard the last few weeks and things just haven’t been clicking the way that we want them to. To see the way the team battled tonight. The way they fought. We earned that three points, big time. We kept playing all 90 minutes and put in a complete game. It wasn’t always pretty, but sometimes you have to grind it out. That’s what we did tonight.”
It was a refreshing departure for the Red Stars to get a clean sheet, especially after shipping four against Portland last week.
“All of us are relieved,” said Red Stars head coach Chris Petrucelli. “I’m really happy with the way we played in the back. Defensively really tough, gritty, did what they had to do. Our back four has been under some pressure over the last few weeks and I thought they stepped up and played a good game tonight.”
The Red Stars return to Challenge Cup play to take on Racing Louisville at SeatGeek Stadium on Wednesday night. Kickoff is at 7pm on Paramount+.
(Editor’s Note: For more of Leslie Smith’s photos from the match, please click on the link.)
SCORING SUMMARY:
CHI-Yuki Nagasato (Krueger) 22
BOOKING SUMMARY:
None
CHICAGO RED STARS (4-2-3-1): #1-Alyssa Naeher; #3-Arin Wright, #12-Tierna Davidson, #23-Tatumn Milazzo, #6-Casey Krueger; #4-Cari Roccaro, #7-Yuki Nagasato (#20-Cheyna Matthews 89); #22-Bianca St. Georges (#24-Jenna Bike 62), #18-Sandra Starke (#8-Ella Stevens 74), #5-Julia Bianchi; #25-Ava Cook
Subs Not Used: #21-Emily Boyd, #14-Jill Aguilera, #2-Sam Fisher, #16-Sophie Jones, #31-Amanda Kowalski, #34-Alli Schlegel
ORLANDO PRIDE (4-2-3-1): #21-Anna Moorhouse; #2-Haley McCutcheon, #5-Megan Montefusco, #6-Emily Madril, #3-Kylie Strom (#28-Summer Yates 85); #6-Mikayla Cluff, #15-Erika Tymrak (#11-Ally Watt 68); #25-Kerry Abello, #10-Marta, #9-Adriana; #23-Messiah Bright (#20-Julie Doyle 62)
Subs Not Used: #31-Carly Nelson, #13-Celia, #26-Caitlin Cosme, #22-Tori Hansen, #32-Brianna Martinez, #14-Viviana Villacorta
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 2-18 ORL
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 2-6 ORL
FOULS: CHI 7-11 ORL
OFFSIDES: CHI 4-2 ORL
CORNER KICKS: CHI 0-9 ORL
SAVES: CHI 6-1 ORL
Referee: Rebecca Pagan
Assistant Referees: Jeremy Smith, Cameron Siler
Fourth Official: Melinda Sopka
VAR: Shawn Tehini
AVAR: Joel McKell
Weather: Mostly Sunny and 71º
Attendance: 5,646
Woman of the Match: Alyssa Naeher (CHI)
