Chicago Red Stars 3-1 OL Reign
BRIDGEVIEW, IL—The question of who was going to score the goals for the Red Stars this season has been answered in the last three games—by opposing defenders. Two more own goals, plus one by an actual Red Stars player gave the Red Stars a third successive win and a spot in the top three in the table pending the Portland-Orlando matchup.
For the second straight week, the visitors took the lead as Celia sent a thru-ball that was put in by Bethany Balcer in the twelfth minute to put OL Reign ahead. It was all Reign in the first half hour, but then it was all Red Stars in the next hour and especially after the insertion of Danielle Colaprico at halftime.
Four minutes into the second half, Mallory Pugh’s cross was deflected by Celia, past an offline Sarah Bouhaddi, and into the net for the equalizer. They say that lightning never strikes twice in the same place, and it might hold true as both own goals last week against Houston were at the opposite goal. The second own goal on Sunday came six minutes later off a corner that was accidentally knocked in by Alana Cook.
“Own Goal” on its own for the Red Stars (an NWSL record) is now level with Ashley Hatch of Washington, Sydney Leroux of Orlando, and Lynn Williams of North Carolina for most goals this season. It was also as many as the Red Stars as a team had scored on their own with no player scoring more than once at that point.
“Cheapest goal scorer we ever had!” said Red Stars head coach Rory Dames.
That was, until Pugh then got a goal of her own in the 64th minute—the first credited to a Red Stars player in nearly a month. She leads all Red Stars in scoring now with two.
“I am scoring. It’s going in. Me,” said Pugh. “After this momentum if we can just keep growing, the goals will come from our players.”
Vanessa DiBernardo and Kealia Watt both crossed the 10,000 mark in minutes played as did OL Reign’s (and former Red Star) Sofia Huerta.
Given the ridiculous log jam at the top with seven teams within two points of each other, the win for the Red Stars put them top of the table until the end of Sunday’s Portland-Orlando match.
OL Reign is not part of that top seven having now lost six of their last ten.
“In truth, what is kind of like a sucker punch for us right now is that goals we are conceding are really [expletive]goals,” said Reign defender Jessica Fishlock. “They’re not like goals that are breaking us down, they’re not goals that are tearing us apart. Today, there was two own goals and two goals from set plays. I think what really kind of gets to us is that we’re playing really well and then out of nowhere they score a goal that’s pretty [expletive]in truth our fault. And so we have to be a team dealing with stuff like that.”
The Red Stars travel to New Jersey next Sunday to play Gotham FC. Kickoff is at 4pm CT on Paramount+. OL Reign travel to Orlando next Saturday on Twitch.
SCORING SUMMARY:
RGN-Bethany Balcer (Celia) 12
CHI-Celia (own goal) 49
CHI-Alana Cook (own goal) 55
CHI-Mallory Pugh (Watt) 64
BOOKING SUMMARY:
RGN-Celia (caution, tactical foul) 47
RGN-Tziarra King (caution, reckless tackle) 74
CHICAGO RED STARS (4-2-3-1): #38-Cassie Miller; #11-Sarah Gorden, #28-Kayla Sharples, #3-Arin Wright, #23-Tatumn Milazzo; #13-Morgan Gautrat, #16-Sarah Woldmoe (#24-Danielle Colaprico 46); #2-Kealia Watt (#7-Nikki Stanton 87), #10-Vanessa DiBernardo, #5-Rachel Hill (#33-Katie Johnson 77); #9-Mallory Pugh (#4-Alyssa Mautz 84)
Subs not used: #21-Emily Boyd, #18-Ella Stevens, #14-Zoe Morse, #22-Bianca St. Georges, #15-Makenzy Doniak
OL REIGN (4-2-3-1): #12-Sarah Bouhaddi; #13-Celia (#99-Madison Hammond 73), #4-Alana Cook, #27-Sam Hiatt (#2-Amber Brooks 46), #3-Lauren Barnes; #10-Jessica Fishlock, #8-Dzsenifer Marozsan; #23-Tziarra King (#28-Shirley Cruz 83), #11-Sofia Huerta, #9-Eugenie Le Sommer (#25-Kelcie Hedge 60); #24-Bethany Balcer (#35-Leah Pruitt 60)
Subs not used: #33-Ella Dederick, #14-Stephanie Cox, #19-Kristen McNabb, #17-Danielle Weatherholt
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 6-10 RGN
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 2-3 RGN
FOULS: CHI 8-15 RGN
OFFSIDES: CHI 1-3 RGN
CORNER KICKS: CHI 2-2 RGN
SAVES: CHI 3-1 RGN
Referee: Katja Koroleva
Assistant Referees: Jennifer Garner, Rachel Smith
4th Official: Lukasz Szpala
Weather: Sunny and 82º
Attendance: 3,301
Woman of the Match: Danielle Colaprico (CHI)
