Red Stars Close Out Challenge Cup with Win
BRIDGEVIEW, IL—The Chicago Red Stars entered their final match of the NWSL Challenge Cup not having scored a goal in the last five matches and going 0-4-1. They would get their first goal and first win in their final match against Houston in a 3-0.
Casey Krueger would assist on all three goals in the evening. Penelope Hocking would score the first two of those. The first of those came in the 37th minute as Hocking collected a pass from Krueger and scoring from just inside the penalty area. The second came six minutes later as Jane Campbell could not get to Krueger’s cross and Hocking volleyed the ball into an open net.
Five minutes into the second half, Krueger would get her third assist by finding Yuki Nagasato in space in the middle of the area. It is the first time in Red Stars history, league or cup, that one player tallied three assists in a single match.
Red Stars head coach Chris Petrucelli said things have been building to matches like these where they could take momentum into league play when that returns.
“It’s been building,” said Petrucelli. “We’ve been playing better and better and there’s probably was a point here a few weeks ago where it would’ve been kind of easy to give up, but they’ve been fighting all the way through and, you know, every match they come out and they play hard. And today, there was some quality in our play, and we we’re able to possess the ball really well. And certainly we were very dangerous.
“We have some momentum that we’ve built, probably starting the first of July and, and moving forward. And I think that what we take from this is, uh, some proof, you know, we’ve been saying along, we have a pretty good team we can play, you know, if we trust ourselves a little bit and trust each other, um, we’ll be able to put together performances like this, and tonight’s proof of that.”
The Red Stars’ next match is Sunday, August 20th at Orlando Pride. Kickoff is at 6pm CT and will be on “The U” in Chicago (WCIU-TV 26.2).
SCORING SUMMARY
CHI-Penelope Hocking (Krueger) 37
CHI-Penelope Hocking (Krueger) 43
CHI-Yuki Nagasato (Krueger) 50
BOOKING SUMMARY
HOU-Courtney Petersen (caution, reckless foul) 71
CHICAGO RED STARS (4-2-3-1): #21-Emily Boyd; #6-Casey Krueger, #12-Tierna Davidson, #3-Arin Wright, #32-Taylor Malham; #5-Jules Bianchi, #4-Cari Roccaro (#16-Sophie Jones 80); #55-Penelope Hocking (#14-Jill Aguilera 86), #7-Yuki Nagasato (#2-Sam Fisher 80), #15-Sarah Griffith (#24-Jenna Bike 71); #25-Ava Cook (#34-Alli Schlegel 71)
Subs not used: #19-Mackenzie Wood, #29-Samantha Feller, #31-Amanda Kowalski, #13-Addie McCain
HOUSTON DASH (4-2-3-1): #1-Jane Campbell; #17-Sarah Puntigam, #23-Ally Prisock, #36-Lindsi Jennings (#5-Courtney Petersen 46), #3-Caprice Dydasco; #14-Marisa Viggiano (#37-Jyllissa Harris 80), #4-Natalie Jacobs; #21-Ryan Gareis (#29-Joelle Anderson 46), #11-Diana Ordonez (#39-Cameron Tucker 62), #7-Maria Sanchez; #9-Ebony Salmon (#31-Madelyn Desiano 80)
Subs not used: #35-Savannah Madden, #55-Hope Breslin,#48-Susanna Friedrichs, #25-Kate Lind
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 16-5 HOU
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 8-3 HOU
FOULS: CHI 5-11 HOU
OFFSIDES: CHI 0-3 HOU
CORNER KICKS: CHI 5-1 HOU
SAVES: CHI 3-5 HOU
Referee: Karen Callado
Assistant Referees: Jessica Carnevale, Laura Chambers Waliski
4th Official: Braeden Frey
VAR: Alyssa Nichols
AVAR: Eric Weisbrod
Weather: Partly Sunny and 74º
Attendance: 3,137
Woman of the Match: Casey Krueger (CHI)