Photos courtesy of Chicago Red Stars, Daniel Bartel
By Dan Gaichas, Windy City Soccer
For the fifth successive time, the Chicago Red Stars and Portland Thorns played to a draw. This time, the Thorns rallied from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 on a cold, windy night at Benedictine Stadium.
The Red Stars went off to a flying start. Christen Press scored twice in the fourth and eighth minutes. The fourth minute strike collecting a diagonal from Lori Chalupny and then curling a shot past Nadine Angerer. The eighth minute strike picking up a pass from Vanessa DiBernardo and her shot deflecting off Courtney Niemiec and past Angerer into the net.
Press nearly had a hat trick in the 15th minute, but Angerer got enough of her shot to push it round the far post.
The Thorns pulled one back in the 29th minute as Allie Long fed Christine Sinclair who toe-poked it past traffic and beat Karina LeBlanc far post. Two minutes into the second half, the Thorns pulled level as Mana Shim picked up a loose ball at the edge of the box and shot past a screened LeBlanc.
The Thorns looked most likely to break the deadlock in the second half. The closest they got was in the 74th minute when Sinead Farrelly had a shot go off the crossbar and stay out.
Red Stars Head Coach Rory Dames was left to wonder where things went wrong after such a fast start.
“I’ll have to go back and watch [the tape],” said Dames. “We definitely let off after we scored the second goal and we were second best the rest of the night.
“We have some young players on the team. I don’t think even our players who have been around have been used to being out to 2-0 leads that quick. How we manage that and it’s to grow in a mentality to go get the third goal and put the game away as early as possible and we had them on the ropes, and that’s something we have to grow into.”
Meanwhile, Thorns Head Coach Paul Riley didn’t feel the need to suddenly change tactics after going two down after eight minutes.
“We didn’t do anything [different in our setup the first two goals],” said Riley. “We felt a little bit unlucky. Two out of the first three shots went in. We stuck with three at the back. We were against the wind which we knew if we just get one before halftime which works out for us.
“I thought if we just keep plugging away with the wind in the second half, we had a better chance of getting in the game. I think in the second half we had a good chance to get all three points in a difficult place to come.”
The Red Stars remain at home next Saturday in Lisle against Sky Blue FC. Kickoff is at 5pm.
SCORING SUMMARY:
CRS-Christen Press (Chalupny) 4’
CRS-Christen Press (DiBernardo) 8’
PTFC-Christine Sinclair (Long) 29’
PTFC-Mana Shim (unassisted) 47’
BOOKING SUMMARY:
CRS-Julie Johnston (caution, reckless foul) 15’
CHICAGO RED STARS (4-4-2): #1-Karina LeBlanc; #3-Ann Gilliand, #6-Abby Erceg, #8-Julie Johnston, #14-Taryn Hemmings; #7-Shannon Boxx, #17-Lori Chalupny, #10-Vanessa DiBernardo, #24-Danielle Colaprico (#12-Cara Walls 85’); #2-Jen Hoy (#20-Sofia Huerta 63’), #23-Christen Press
Subs not used: #18-Michelle Dalton, #11-Rachel Quon, #16-Samantha Johnson
PORTLAND THORNS FC (4-4-2): #1-Nadine Angerer; #2-Emily Menges, #5-Kat Williamson, #25-Courtney Niemiec, #26-Taylor Comeau (#15-Kendall Flethcer 59’); #7-Sinead Farrelly, #77-McCall Zerboni, #17-Tobin Heath, #10-Allie Long; #6-Mana Shim (#20-Sarah Jackson 90’), #12-Christine Sinclair
Subs used: #18-Michelle Betos, #16-Rachel Van Hollebeke, #28-Hanna Terry
TOTAL SHOTS: CRS 8-11 PTFC
SHOTS ON GOAL: CRS 5-8 PTFC
FOULS: CRS 12-12 PTFC
OFFSIDES: CRS 3-3 PTFC
CORNER KICKS: CRS 2-5 PTFC
SAVES: CRS 6-3 PTFC
Referee: Levi Rippy
Referee’s Assistants: Veronica Perez, Benjamin Wooten
Fourth Official: Greg Dopka
Attendance: 2,136
Woman of the Match: Christen Press (CRS)
