Red Stars Penalized by Louisvile
Racing Louisville 3-0 Chicago Red Stars
LOUISVILLE, KY—It’s threatening to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year for the Chicago Red Stars after losing their sixth successive road match dating back to last season, falling to Racing Louisville, 3-0, at Lynn Family Stadium.
The Red Stars remain rooted to the foot of the NWSL table while Racing, who were second from bottom at the start, vault to seventh with their first win of the season.
The Red Stars would concede two penalties in the first half. The first coming in the 34th minute after Paige Monaghan was taken down by Julia Bianchi. Savannah DeMelo’s spot kick went off the post, but then off Alyssa Naeher, and into the net. It would be scored as an own goal.
Just before halftime, Ary Borges was tripped by Cari Roccaro in the box. It initially went unpunished, but VAR intervened and referee Alyssa Nichols would point to the spot after review. Wang Shuang converted the spot kick to become the first Chinese international to score in the NWSL.
The closest the Red Stars would get to a goal themselves came in the 77th minute when Penelope Hocking’s shot went off the crossbar. In the 89th minute, Racing would complete the misery of the Red Stars on a counter with Parker Goins getting her first NWSL goal beating Naeher far post.
Naeher did make twelve saves on the night, the eighth of which became her 500th of her career.
The Red Stars travel to Portland to take on the Thorns a week from Sunday. Kickoff is at 3pm CT on Paramount+.
SCORING SUMMARY:
LOU-Alyssa Naeher (own goal) 35
LOU-Shuang Weng (penalty kick) 45+5
LOU-Parker Goins (Kgatlana) 89
BOOKING SUMMARY:
CHI-Julia Bianchi (caution, tactical foul) 6
CHI-Bianca St. Georges (caution tactical foul) 28
LOU-Abby Erceg (caution, tactical foul) 53
LOU-Jaelin Howell (caution, tactical foul) 90
RACING LOUISVILLE (4-3-3): #1-Katie Lund; #2-Lauren Milliet, #15-Julia Lester (#4-Eli Pikkujamsa 73), #20-Abby Erceg, #16-Carson Pickett; #8-Ary Borges, #6-Jaelin Howell, #7-Savannah DeMelo (#19-Jordan Baggett 88); #77-Wang Shuang (#27-Alex Chidac 81), #29-Uchanna Kanu (#21-Parker Goins 73), #5-Paige Monaghan (#11-Thembi Kgatlana 81)
Subs not used: #99-Olivia Sekany, #25-Rebecca Holloway, #3-Zaneta Wyne
CHICAGO RED STARS (4-2-3-1): #1-Alyssa Naeher; #23-Tatumn Milazzo, #6-Casey Krueger, #12-Tierna Davidson, #3-Arin Wright (#15-Jill Aguilera 57); #5-Julia Bianchi (#18-Sandra Starke 46), #7-Yuki Nagasato; #22-Bianca St. Georges (#24-Jenna Bike 46), #4-Cari Roccaro, #55-Penelope Hocking; #8-Ella Stevens (#34-Alli Schlegel 63)
Subs not used: #21-Emily Boyd, #25-Ava Cook, #2-Sam Fisher, #16-Sophie Jones, #31-Amanda Kowalski, #34-Alli Schlegel
TOTAL SHOTS: LOU 16-12 CHI
SHOTS ON GOAL: LOU 11-4 CHI
FOULS: LOU 14-16 CHI
OFFSIDES: LOU 3-4 CHI
CORNER KICKS: LOU 6-2 CHI
SAVES: LOU 4-9 CHI
Referee: Alyssa Nichols
Assistant Referees: Tiffini Turpin, Chris Schurfranz
Fourth Official: Patricia McCracken
VAR: Kevin Terry Jr.
AVAR: Kelsey Harms
Attendance: 4,143
Weather: Cloudy and 71º
Woman of the Match: Savannah DeMelo (LOU)