Chicago Red Stars 1-2 Orlando Pride
BRIDGEVIEW, IL—The five-match winning streak against some of the better teams in the league provided a reason why the Red Stars may contend for the NWSL title. Last week’s loss to Sky Blue and Wednesday night’s loss to Orlando may end up being reasons why they miss the playoffs altogether if they are not careful.
The bottom-side of the NWSL went out 2-0 winners at SeatGeek Stadium despite Marta being suspended and losing Alex Morgan after just six minutes of play to injury. That was a neck injury sustained after Morgan was unintentionally sandwiched between Julie Ertz and Sarah Gorden. Morgan walked off the pitch on her own power after a near eight-minute delay. The Pride hope to have Morgan evaluated by the team doctor before their trip to Washington.
The Red Stars do remain second going into the weekend after Washington and Utah played to a 0-0 draw.
The Red Stars did start the better of the two sides and were unlucky not to go ahead early after Sam Kerr struck the crossbar in the sixth minute. However, it looked like the Red Stars were more deflated after Morgan’s injury than the Pride.
Morgan’s replacement, Chioma Ubogagu sent a cross into the box that was headed in by Rachel Hill in the 33rd minute to put the Pride ahead. Hill and Ubogagu reversed roles in the 61st minute to double Orlando’s advantage after the latter beat Alyssa Naeher far post.
“The mentality of the team whether you’re starting or not you always stay ready,” said Ubogagu after being asked to come on after Morgan’s injury. “You prepare all year, even in the offseason, for playing time. So our mentality was always switched on.”
The Pride had to withstand a late onslaught and with ten women after Alanna Kennedy was sent off for tackling Sam Kerr from behind in the 90th minute. It wouldn’t be until the sixth minute of stoppage time before the Red Stars finally struck through Tierna Davidson after Savannah McCaskill struck the crossbar.
Pride head coach Marc Skinner praised his team’s resilience and willing to play for the badge despite losing Morgan and having Marta suspended on top of a tough year for his side.
“We’ve had to endure everything,” said Skinner. “It’s about time Orlando Pride built the identity of a team that wants to be successful and not just wish for it to be. We have to dig in, you have to win games ugly and tonight I think we’ve won the game ugly. Chicago have got to come in the second half and they’ve got one of the world’s best forwards, so you have to try and stop that from happening and I thought the girls were superb tonight. For every player on that field, for everyone in the squad, they’ve hopefully identified what the Pride badge is to play for.”
Red Stars head coach Rory Dames felt his team lacked an edge, were tired, and did not have any personality on the pitch on Wednesday night.
“The result of the game was a fair result. We had a good first six minutes and then Alex got hurt. I don’t know if we ever found ourselves back into the game after that. We got outworked by a team that played [on Saturday]and we didn’t, so credit to them.
“You’ve got to beat the teams that you are supposed to beat and we didn’t do that the last two games. We put ourselves into a different spot and we’ll either figure it out or we won’t.”
The Red Stars will need to figure things out soon if not on Sunday when they travel to Portland to face the league-leading Thorns at 2pm CT on ESPNEWS. Orlando will go to Washington on Saturday at 6:30pm CT.
SCORING SUMMARY:
ORL-Rachel Hill (Ubogagu) 33
ORL-Chioma Ubogagu (Hill) 61
CHI-Tierna Davidson (unassisted) 90+6
BOOKING SUMMARY:
ORL-Ali Krieger (caution, tactical foul) 82
ORL-Alanna Kennedy (sent off, serious foul play) 90
CHICAGO RED STARS (4-3-3): #1-Alyssa Naeher; #6-Casey Short, #8-Julie Ertz, #14-Sarah Gorden, #26-Tiena Davidson; #10-Vanessa DiBernardo (#9-Savannah McCaskill 64), #24-Danielle Colaprico (#5-Katie Naughton 46), #13-Morgan Brian (#33-Katie Johnson 84); #12-Yuki Nagasato, #3-Arin Wright, #20-Sam Kerr
Subs Not Used: #18-Mackenzie Arnold, #15-Maria Sanchez, #23-Brooke Elby, #2-Nikki Stanton
ORLANDO PRIDE (4-3-3): #24-Ashlyn Harris; #19-Erin Greening, #11-Ali Krieger, #4-Shelina Zadorsky, #12-Kristen Edmonds; #17-Dani Weatherholt, #23-Marissa Viggiano (#25-Joanna Boyles 80), #14-Alana Kennedy; #7-Claire Esmile, #13-Alex Morgan (#6-Chioma Ubogagu 14), #15-Rachel Hill (#20-Abby Elinsky 84)
Subs Not Used: #28-Hayley Kopmeyer, #16-Carson Pickett, #27-Morgan Reid, #9-Camila
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 17-5 ORL
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 4-3 ORL
FOULS: CHI 6-8 ORL
OFFSIDES: CHI 0-4 ORL
CORNER KICKS: CHI 8-1 ORL
SAVES: CHI 1-3 ORL
Referee: Rebecca Pagan
Assistant Referees: Kali Smith, Rachel Smith
Fourth Official: Nabil Bensalah
Weather: Cloudy and 79º
Attendance: 5,454
Woman of the Match: Chioma Ubogagu (ORL)
Chicago Red Stars
Orlando Pride
