we’re back again – red stars / sky blue recap

Alright, I’m gonna do this one live blog stylee, cuz that’s what I’ve got time for and that’s the way to get this thing back in action. So without further ado – the lineup.

Hoy / Huerta

Dibernardo
Quon            Mautz
Colaprico

Gilliland / Johnson / Erceg / Hemmings

Dalton

Hey, shout out to Erceg. Sorry for her world cup dreams, but stoked that she’s back with us! Can I say that I love the fact that Hemmings has been captain with Chalupny out at the World Cup? I do. Fabulous. Before this game, I dreamt that Hemmings and Johnston had a miscue in the backline that led to a goal and then after it happened, they fought. And I was like, why is Johnston even here, she’s supposed to be in Canada still! Premonition of things to come? I hope not. Cuz that’s not a situation I could see actually happening in real life.

Sky Blue’s stadium announcer is delightfully corny. Kinda like Conan O’Brien’s old announcer, Joel Godard.

I guess we’re in third place going into this game. But we’ve got a game in hand now cuz of our washout against the Dash – so don’t worry. I’m not. I feel like I haven’t watched the Red Stars in forever. Sky Blue announcer using kind of a weird phrase saying that players get a little bit of head on it. I’m leaving that without comment.

One thing I missed about watching the Red Stars for the past few weeks – Arin fucking Gilliland. She’s so much fun to watch on the left.

And in the sixth fucking minute we score! Fabulous beginning. Huerta dumps her defender in the box and is able to slot a pass across the goal for Dibernardo to finish off. That’s a nice turn of events. Awesome for her to get a goal to add to her assists.

Ninth minute, Hoy makes it to the endline and sends a beautiful cross in for Huerta, but she heads it over. This opening ten minutes has been all Red Stars. Possession and pressing for possession. Aces. We are fun to watch. Fun!

It’s hard to track our midfield. Quon, Mautz, Dibernardo continue to shift around, taking turns going forward, dropping back and switching sides. Colaprico continues to play at the base of the diamond. She has been very effective for us there, but in the pre-season I never would’ve guessed that would be her position. Coming into the season they had talked about how she was going to be crucial on the wing, but since the departure of the national team players, she’s been the diamond anchor.

19th minute – Maya Hayes makes a strong run towards our box, initially our defenders drop off and give her some space, but then Gilliland blocks Hayes’ pass to Morris, the ball goes straight to Johnson’s foot, rebounds to Hayes who knocks Gilliland to the ground, continues her run into the box, takes her shot, only for Johnson to make a huge block to deny her. It all ends with a cross from Morris that Dalton collects easily. I love our defenders!

21st minute, Freels has a close call. Seemingly out of nowhere. A cross is only half cleared by Erceg and Freels takes a shot from the top of the box and it goes off the cross bar. Yikes! Had it dipped an inch, it would’ve been a beauty.

Kind of feel bad for Nadia Nadim hanging out all by her lonesome in the 4-1-4-1. No one else up there to help her out. So she’s just running and running around trying to get the ball.

I say that and then Lytle almost gets one in. Shaking our defenders and getting a shot off that goes just wide to the right. So thanks to her for helping out Nadim.

34th minute. HOOOOOOOYYYYYY!!!!!! Aces.

Quon intercepts a pass and breaks forward, ahead of her she has Hoy to the right and Huerta to the left – both making runs. Sky Blue’s Grubka charges Quon who gets her pass off to Huerta. Grubka then desperately runs back to pressure and Cutshall gets in front of Huerta, which leaves Hoy all alone, completely unmarked. Goalkeeper Cameron tries to cut off Hoy’s angle but Hoy shoots past her. 2-0. Beautiful combination.

Have I said I love watching this team? Cuz I do.

In the 42nd minute, Huerta misses a sitter that Hoy perfectly set up for her. Sigh. 3-0 would’ve been super going into the half. 2-0 isn’t bad though.

In the opening five minutes, possession seems more evenly split between the two teams as they take turns going back and forth. Then in the 50th minute a huge save from Dalton. Nadim is finally in on goal, one on one with Dalton who dives to her left to keep it out. Massive, Dalton, massive.

And there’s the third goal. Mautz! In the 62nd minute. Dalton boots it out of the back, Hemmings heads it down for Colaprico who sends it up to Hoy making a run. Hoy only has Cutshall between her and Cameron. She cuts back and passes it to Mautz coming up the middle. Mautz shoots between two defenders, the ball takes a slight deflection off one of them and sneaks in.

This second half has been a sustained back and forth. Sky Blue has had a few half chances, but nothing too threatening. Chicago continues to attack and press, working their way into the box, sending crosses in, a few long balls over the top for Hoy to run onto, earning corners. Bonus – so far, no short corners.

After the 80th minute, chances a plenty! We are living in their half.

Hey, Sky Blue get a shot off in the 85th. It’s over the bar though. But for the next minute Sky Blue keep it in our half.

Lomnicki comes in for Quon in the 88th minute and looks like she’ll just cover Quon’s spot in the midfield.

Sky Blue’s defender Cutshall, has had a busy game. The scoreline could’ve been a lot worse, but she’s cut out passes and kept our forwards off the ball a number of times. So, shout out to her.

Walls in for Hoy in the 90th minute. We are running down the clock now.

Ugh, sadness for Nadim. 92nd minute – a beautiful sideways bicycle kick thing off a corner that is just an inch too high. It goes off the cross bar. She would’ve deserved that one. And after a minute of the ball rolling around a bit, the game ends.

So, after our shellacking by the Flash before the world cup break, we put in a solid performance, largely dominating a basement dweller. This is what you want from a team that’s at the top of the table. We should be outplaying the underperformers. Aces all around everybody!

Higlights:

Oh, wait, you wanted to watch the whole thing again?

in which crow is consumed

So, I’m full of shit. I’m not surprised. I’m all heart, y’know. And this crow is delicious.

I called the flat 4-4-2. I almost called the 2-2 scoreline, but that’s one I’m happy to be wrong on. I completely fucked the lineup. My assumption had been that the world cup players wouldn’t be allowed to play a whole lot. But boy howdy did they.

Hoy / Press
Huerta / Chalupny / Dibernardo / Colaprico
Quon / Erceg / Johnston / Hemmings
LeBlanc

We went out with what is essentially our full strength lineup and said lineup ruled for the most part. It definitely seemed like the first game of the season as we played with no real rhythm for the majority of the game and our defensive lapses on set pieces was a novelty compared to last year. But there were glimpses of what’s to come once everybody gets settled.

The thing that I was happiest to see was Hoy and Press combining and playing off each other. For the second goal Press fed Hoy a fabulous ball right in front of Seattle’s goal that Hoy put away with ease and then Hoy returned the favor on our third goal and served it forth for Press to run on to. Fabulous!

Another thing that I was stoked to see was Arin Gilliland’s second half debut. I don’t know if it was just a matter of her not being fit enough to go a full 90 or if they were unsure of her starting abilities or what, but she looked awesome out there when she came on. Immediately making the left side of the field an active part of the game. Prior to her coming on it seemed more offensive forays were on the right with Hemmings. But Gilliland was great on both sides of the ball putting in a convincing shift defending and getting forward.

Oooh, the third thing I was happy to see was that we didn’t knock everyone over on our quest – no yellow cards received! Huzzah! Sure it wasn’t beautiful due to the combination of our pitch, wind and first game-ness. But it wasn’t a brawl either, so that was great! We strung together some good passing sequences – largely in the first part of the match. It seemed like somewhere around 15 minutes into the second half a lot of long balls started flying over the midfield in an attempt to release (sometimes) Hoy and (mostly) Press. But largely, this was a much more positive game than I was expecting.

A few times our center backs cleared the ball unnecessarily booting it out of the back when some simple passes would have helped maintain possession. It was even more frustrating when either by intent or by wind the ball sailed straight out of bounds.

Both of Seattle’s goals came off of corner’s (which is kind of worrisome). The first happened in the 30th minute when Rapinoe sent the ball in for a mostly unmarked Yanez to get her head on and send past LeBlanc. It looked like both Huerta and Johnston failed to mark her while keeping their eyes on the ball. And while they both tried to make up for it, but it was too late.

But almost immediately after restarting, Johnston headed a ball forward for, I think, Dibernardo to bring down. There was a glitch in the stream right when this happened so it was tough to make out. But I think Dibernardo headed it further through Seattle’s defenders and Press used her speed to get through and placed it past the diving Solo.

Our second goal came moments later in the 35th minute. Dibernardo collected the ball in the middle and saw the miles and years of space open out on the right and sent the ball into the path of Hemmings who used her speed to quickly fill all those miles and years of space open out on the right. As soon as I saw her get on that ball I knew something was going to happen. And it did. She took a touch to get past her defenders and then quickly sent the ball to the opposite side of the field. Christen Press quickly settled it and picked out Hoy’s run towards the goal and Hoy made no mistake redirecting the ball past the last defender and into the back of the net.

Our lead was short lived as Seattle equalized off of a corner in the 38th minute. This seemed a more shambolic affair. A short corner before sending the ball into our box, LeBlanc missing the ball while diving for it, leaving Johnston alone to protect the net, Dibernardo trying to close down onrushing Kendall Fletcher who headed it in.

Shannon Boxx came on for Huerta at the half pushing Colaprico to the left and it seemed like we were playing a 4-2-2-2 or something with Chalupny and Boxx playing centrally above the defense and Colaprico and Dibernardo in front of them but more to the left. Chalupny seemed to be playing the deepest of anyone in the midfield and Boxx getting forward more often. Sometimes it looked like 4-1-3-2 with Chalupny occupying that 1 space and Boxx on the right.

The second half was kind of a hypnotic back and forth affair with quick midfield skirmishes and then long balls sent over the top. This from both sides. And just as it seemed that my 2-2 prediction was going to hold, the Red Stars had other plans.

In the 91st minute Chalupny cleared the ball with a boot forward that Hoy took out of the air with a volley into the path of Press on the right. Press took a touch to round her defender, turned on her speed, took one more touch to set up her shot and sent it past onrushing Solo into the back of the net. Hooray. She seemed absolutely determined to make me eat my words. And I did. She’s part of the team, I take it all back. After that we held on to the ball and played out the clock and won. Success!

A few random notes –

It was good to see Press and Hoy buzzing around and harrying Seattle’s defenders frequently knocking balls loose. Attempting to make something out of nothing. Also, clicking. I hope this means they are figuring each other out. Cuz if they keep this up, they will be mighty.

Huerta was pretty quiet for her first game. Nothing bad, nothing great. But she did have a decent run in the 19th minute when Press found her blazing up the left. Huerta took on and shed two defenders, found a little space to get off a shot from distance. It was a good chance. I’m not judging her after only one performance. Overall I think she was decent and will get better with a few more games.

Colaprico looked pretty awesome out there. She played the full 90 and created some chances, made good passes and made her presence known as a winger on both sides of the pitch. I’m completely stoked for her this year.

Quon had a few moments of frustration passing directly into Seattle players or out of bounds.

Long balls on our pitch don’t work great cuz the ball bounces so high it’s like the players have to position themselves for the initial landing and then again for the second bounce. This gives the opposing player plenty of time to poach the pass and make it their own.

are we up to speed?

Hello, hello. It’s fucking on! This week our team is finally playing again. Yes! Are you new to the Red Stars? Want a quick refresher? Well, here’s a little summary of how our roster went down this off season, just to get us all up to speed. Word up! Excelsior and all that!

We begin with the fact that three players retired – Jackie Santacaterina, Kecia Morway and Taylor Vancil. All were important parts of this team for various reasons – Santacaterina was a massive presence in our midfield, fabulous for defending and shutting down the opposing offense; Morway was crucial wingback depth and coming into this world cup year, Vancil was going to be our starting goal keeper for a significant chunk of the season. While we don’t know all the personal reasons that went into making their decisions, we can safely assume that the harsh realities of professional women’s sports played a huge factor. To put it bluntly, professional women’s sports pay shit. Unsustainable and insulting shit. And it’s hard for anyone to pay the rent, bills, cost of living on those wages alone. I could go on and on about this. Armchair labor activism is something I hold dear.

Going into the offseason, minus the retirees, our roster looked like this:

2 Jen Hoy FWD
4 Alyssa Mautz M/F
5 Zakiya Bywaters MID
10 Vanessa DiBernardo MID
11 Rachel Quon DEF
13 Michelle Lomnicki DEF
14 Taryn Hemmings DEF
16 Samantha Johnson D/F

1 Karina LeBlanc GK
6 Abby Erceg DEF
7 Shannon Boxx MID
8 Julie Johnston DEF
9 Melissa Tancredi FWD
17 Lori Chalupny MID
19 Adriana Leon FWD
23 Christen Press FWD

That second group consists of the players that have been in their national team camps over the past few weeks. Most will for sure be at the world cup. I would say Boxx and Chalupny are on the bubble and we’ll see if they make the final US roster.

So let’s get to know the players in a few overly general sentences.

Shannon Boxx is a midfielder. You’ve probably heard of her cuz she’s been on the national team forever. She hasn’t played much for the Red Stars so I don’t factor her in as a crucial piece of the team, but she is all about community relations and being an ambassador for the club and all that, so she’s definitely part of the team. She’s good people.

Zakyia Bywaters was the overall number one draft pick in the inaugural season of the NWSL which has kind of been an albatross for her and the team since day one. She generally plays as a winger on the left, has footwork skills, is creative and capable of scoring. However, she is still waiting for her breakout year and she will have to keep waiting as she had an injury to her hip that required surgery and a recovery time that’s longer than the 2015 season. Aggravation. She is on our roster, but won’t count against our 20 player limit.

Lori Chalupny is our captain. She is amazing. That is all. Not really. She’s way creative, the engine of the midfield, good on both sides of the ball, a leader, sometimes a leading goal scorer, very dangerous and intelligent. She’s from St. Louis. Her nickname is Chups (pronunciation?). And she recently found her way back into the national team picture after years of not being talked to because of concussion issues. You can read about the drama and controversy of it all with a quick google. For her sake I hope she makes the final national roster, but for our sake, I hope she doesn’t.

We are all hoping Vanessa Dibernardo will blossom into a full on playmaking midfielder. She’s not quite there yet, but she is very good. Last year was her first year at the professional level. Before that however, she was hot shit at University of Illinois and has been on the U-17, U-20 and U23 USWNT’s. She was on the team that won the U-20 world cup. Also, she’s from Naperville.

Abby Erceg is one of our starting center backs. She is from New Zealand (ask her about Lord of the Rings, Flight of the Conchords and the Dead C) and captains their national team, so she also won’t be here for a chunk of the season. But she was the first player to officially re-sign with the Red Stars shortly after the 2014 season ended. She is the one to stay at home and lock down the backline while Julie Johnston makes her way forward.

Once upon a time Taryn Hemmings was a center back. True story. She also used to make those offensive forays deep into opposition territory. She loved it. Then she tore her acl and was out for a long, long time. But, then she came back last season and seamlessly slotted in at right back, like nothing happened. Fabulous. If you must know one thing, know this, Hemmings is crucial.

Jen Hoy is incredibly fast and killed it at the beginning of last year, putting away goals left and right. But then she got tired out in the middle of the grueling, condensed season and never really got back in form. She and Press need to figure out how to play together and they have struggled to do so. I’m not sure it will happen this year since Press will be gone for a huge chunk of the season and they won’t have much time to figure each other out. Maybe they will. Prove me wrong, please.

Samantha Johnson walked in to the open tryouts last year and walked out a starting center back. Pretty cool. She was supremely solid last year, very cool and composed. Then Vicky Losada of the Western New York Flash busted her face open with a cleat and pretty much ended her season. I will be very happy to see her back this year.

Julie Johnston is ridiculous. We drafted her last year, and although she historically played d-mid, we slotted her into the backline and she took over. Both she and Abby Erceg (and Samantha Johnson) bossed it, although Johnston seems to be the de facto leader of defense. She also loves to make runs forward and score. Very comfortable with the ball at her feet. She will also be kicking it at the world cup. Sadness.

Karina LeBlanc. She is huge in goal. Excellent even. Everyone loves her. If you don’t, I pity you. Since the departure of our dearly beloved Ella Masar (who is now in Houston), LeBlanc has become our media ambassador cuz she is hammy and loves to be on camera and has her own web show during the season. You will see a lot of her.

Adriana Leon is a Canadian national who has insane footwork. Insane. Ridiculous. She generally plays as a winger on the right and loves to take on defenders, break down the defense and find a through pass to an eventual goal scorer. She can also score on her own, but she seems to prefer to make the pass. She’s been a starter for the Canadian national team and will be gone during the world cup. Sadness. Also, her nickname is Dri.

Michele Lomnicki is a Red Stars institution at this point. She plays all over the backline as needed and is decent in all the spots although she generally plays at right back. She was married this offseason and this is the name she is now going by. Before this she went by Michele Wenino, so don’t be confused when you see or hear that.

Alyssa Mautz is a quintessential Red Star. Attacking, hustling, hardworking, not afraid of a challenge, and, um, gritty. She is used generally as a sub on the right midfield or as a forward. She also starts in case of injury.

Christen Press is a massively talented, pacey, creative striker who is capable of making amazingness out of nothing. If you haven’t been paying attention, she is also currently a starter for the USWNT, which is good for her, but bad for us. She used to play with Tyreso in Sweden and made a good run in the UEFA Champions League with them. Cynically, I’m not sure how much she wants to be in Chicago which gives me pause. The USSF told all players based outside of the NWSL that they would only be given consideration for making the USWNT if they played in the NWSL. And shortly thereafter Press returned to the NWSL and went through the allocation process and ended up with us. So, you know, I can’t imagine it was her first choice coming back. But that’s me reading too much into not much of anything. And whatever. She’s a professional. She’ll work for the team and score goals. So, aces.

Rachel Quon is our starting leftback. She’s solid, puts in a good shift, not spectacular, but good to have. She’s been on the bubble of the Canadian national team, but hasn’t been in their camp for the past few months. She will most likely be here for the whole season.

Melissa Tancredi is our starting athletic, aggressive, center, target forward type. She’s good. She plays for the Canadian national team and will also be gone for a lot of the season. People hate her for stomping on Carli Lloyd’s head in a match 100 years ago. But I don’t like Carli Lloyd for punching Vanessa Dibernardo, so it works out.

Draft

We picked up a few more players in the college draft. Unlike MLS, the college draft is a massively important part of roster building in the NWSL. Outside of any ridiculous trades and fancy international players getting picked up, it’s the highlight of the offseason for nerds like me.

The players we drafted are Arin Gilliland, Danielle Colaprico, Sofia Huerta, Cara Walls and Rachel Tejada. We also drafted Nicole Setterlund, but she retired before even coming into camp citing ongoing concussion issues.

It was recently announced that we officially signed Gilliland, Colaprico and Huerta. Which isn’t surprising. Arin Gilliland is a highly rated true leftback who provides a lot going forward; Danielle Colaprico is a creative midfielder who Rory Dames is looking to play on the left; Sofia Huerta seems to be a solid forward who likes to play out wide and should complement our current strikers. Cara Walls is a forward and Rachel Tejada is an attacking midfielder, both would most likely be depth. One of them might still be signed and the other will probably feature on our reserves.

For a slightly, and I mean slightly, more in depth overview of the draftees you can look here.

Open Tryouts

To help cover the huge gaps that will be created in our roster by the world cup we invited ten players from an open tryout: Jayden Barrett, Michele Dalton, Jackie Esterkamp, Monica Gonyo, Valerie Gonyo, Natalie Horner, Leigh Jakes, Kelley McCloskey, Giuleana Lopez and Lillie Toaspern.

The only thing I’m fairly certain of is that Michele Dalton will most likely be our number two goalkeeper. Look for her to be officially signed soon. I have no real idea if any of the other players will make it. I would think maybe one of the others makes it and now that Bywaters will be missing. And my guess is that we will probably see Lillie Toaspern get picked up since she is another offensive minded midfielder. For a quick rundown of the tryoutees you can look here.

The deal with the roster is that we can have 20 contracted professional players, but we can have ten unpaid amateurs on the reserve team that we field in the WPSL.

Stop for a minute. Read that last sentence again. Unpaid. UNPAID. Let that sink in. Okay, now finish reading.

These select ten volunteers will be able to be called up to replace injured or missing (in World Cup) players. So look for a bunch of these draftees and open tryout types to be on the roster for the reserve team. We will be calling them up. Unpaid internship? That’s resume building.

jen hoy interview action

from the fine people who brought you a brief interview with vanessa dibernardo, comes a brief interview with jen hoy! (who has been called the beyoncé of soccer by some)

2. You attended college at Princeton, so you clearly had a difficult academic schedule. What were some things that you learned about balancing the demand of your academic and soccer requirements?

Jen: The combination was overwhelming at times, but I wouldn’t have traded it for anything. Over time I learned that (1) you shouldn’t take life too seriously but live in the moment and enjoy everything that life throws at you, (2) take advantage of all the resources available to you and (3) always embrace new opportunities to grow and meet new people.

It’s easy to lose perspective with such a demanding schedule, but a healthy balance is definitely possible and it was much easier to find and maintain that balance when I kept these things in mind.

read the whole thing here.

jen hoy interview

hey friends. our own contributor hannah recently conducted an interview with chicago’s speedy speedster finishing clinician jen hoy. it’s up at hannah’s fabulous site penalty corners.

1. Would you like to tell us a bit about yourself, on and off the pitch?

I’m a …

go read the rest here!

red stars / boston – are we clicking?

to start out we lined up kinda like this. 4-1-4-1 ish:

hoy
leon/ dibernardo / chalupny/ bywaters
santacaterina
quon / johnson / johnston / wenino
leblanc

dig that bywaters and leon started out in swapped positions from their usual.

for the first ten minutes we seemed to have had the majority of the play, but we didn’t create anything with our possession until the 16th minute.

it was then that julie johnston collected an errant pass at the halfway mark and sent it forward to dibernardo who slipped it through three breakers. hoy and leon had been riding the breaker’s offside line and were staying just onside and it was hoy who was able to get past the final defender and get in on goal. she made her run to the near post and waited for naeher to commit to coming out for the challenge. once naeher went down hoy sent the ball across the face of the goal to bywaters who came running onto it unmarked. but bywaters was just a fraction of a second late. as they say, she’ll want that one back though – she had an empty goal to work with. (it happens at 22.48 in the video of the game)

sometime around that point bywaters and leon swapped sides. leon returning to the right and bywaters back on the left.

in the 18th and 19th minute the breakers earned a spell of possession in our end of the field. they worked the ball around well enough to give o’reilly space on the left. sanderson then picked her out with a cross field pass. she played give and go with mewis (i think) before taking her shot which, while dropping away from leblanc, didn’t look all that dangerous as it still went straight to her. however, leblanc wasn’t able to collect it and the ball rolled away from her and into the path of courtney jones who calmly slotted it just to the right of leblanc and boston took the lead.

at some point around the 21st minute, dibernardo dropped back to play alongside santacaterina. 4-2-3-1 stylee.

note – at some point i would love it if announcers would realize that while listed as a midfielder – julie johnston is playing as a centerback. and has been pretty much the entire season.

leon busted out some cobra kai moves and got a stern talking to by the ref, who indicated that he’d had enough. be cool, leon, be cool. also – i’m aware that saying things like cobra kai reveals how old i am. that’s cool.

note –  i can’t tell you how happy it makes me that we are playing the ball on the ground more this year. not that we don’t send it over the top – cuz we still do, but there’s been so much more passing, whether we are awesome at it or not, we are trying to do it!

in the 36th minute, after getting disposessed by lohman in the midfield, bywaters tracked all the way back to get the ball back from o’reilly who was making herself dangerous. she wasn’t able to control it, but she sent it out of play. nice hustle, responsibility, tenacity, etc.

note – this ref seemed to enjoy giving a lecture when he calls fouls.

we kept building the pressure throughout the first half and then just before half time, in the 44th minute we leveled it. the sequence began with julie johnston playing the ball out to wenino on the right. wenino took a few touches and sent it forward into the path of hoy whose initial attempt to get it into the box for bywaters was thwarted, but she quickly recollected it and tried a second time. all bywaters could do with it however was send it back out to hoy who held it for a breath before charging the end line and losing her defender. she was able to get her cross all the way to leon outside of the box on the left. leon got her head on it and sent it back into the box to chalupny who headed it home. chalupny had one defender on her back and one defender in the goal, but gk naeher was caught out after she left to cover leon’s run leaving the goal largely open.

early in the second half leon earned herself a yellow for elbowing avant in the face. i said be cool, leon, be cool. no more of this cobra kai shit. avant and leon had already gotten rid of the ball too so it wasn’t even like it was on accident trying to get the ball back. there is a disciplinary committee this year. i wouldn’t be upset if refs started giving out straight reds for this kind of thing. (it happens at 1.12.50 in the video of the game)

note – we have a very fluid front line. bywaters sometimes is the most advanced player and hoy drops back into the midfield. they all seem to take their turns at being the advanced player. sometimes hoy, sometimes chalupny, sometimes leon, sometimes bywaters. rarely dibernardo however – she seems to strictly stick to the midfield.

speaking of dibernardo, in the 52nd minute she earned a free kick after getting knocked down by sanderson. she sent the ball into the box from thirty yards out. wenino was able to get her head onto it and the ball went dangerously close forcing naeher to dive for it but it smacked off the crossbar leaving naeher on the ground. the ball rebounded back into the box and bounced around for a second before wenino got to it again and tapped it in! two goals in one game! two goals unanswered!

note – did anybody see what courtney jones did to julie johnston to warrant a yellow? kinda surprised she shoved leon down a little bit later while carrying that yellow.

chalupny made massive defensive maneuver in the 61st minute. after a corner, boston was on the counter and whitehill sent it forward to washington who had lots of room in front of her and was going to take a shot on goal. chalupny was the lone red star in the area and quickly closed in on her and blocked her shot. after which quon, johnson and dibernardo were all able to interfere and washington could only try to chip them and the ball went straight to leblanc.

apparently we riot when wenino scores a goal and she wanted to make everyone in chicago riot again in the 64th minute. hoy and her defender tussled on the right and the ball was knocked loose. wenino had been tailing hoy and was there to collect it and take it just inside the 18 before unleashing a shot with her left foot that forced naeher to leap in order to keep it from going in. huge save from naeher and a huge shot from wenino. holy shit what a goal that would’ve been!

note – at this point it looks like we are 4-3-3: leon, hoy and bywaters (and then mautz) on top.

in the 67th minute something magical happened. magical, mythical. samantha johnson saw something – a glimmer, a sparkle of a chance. jen hoy. making a run. johnson sent the ball long, up over everyone and it landed just in front and out of the reach of breaker whitehill, but perfectly placed for hoy. she got behind both of boston’s defenders, let the ball drop and bounce once before striking it out of the air with her right foot. naeher was out in no-man’s land and hoy lobbed the ball over her dropping it beautifully into the goal. 3-1! three goals in one game! magic!

hey, did you want more fouls? another yellow card maybe? here you go – in the 77th minute mautz got hers for taking down lohman. mautz had also made one or two fouls before this.

in the 81st minute brock came on for hoy and then steamrolled avant in the 85th minute. i mean, ran her over. completely. flattened. absolutely. be cool brock, be cool. we’re winning. we’re winning. other than this, brock played a good game of running down the clock, keeping the ball away and killing the game off.

and then that was it. we fucking won! we scored three goals in a single game. i was thinking we’d win 2-1, but 3-1 is fabulous! in a strange twist of fate we play boston again in boston on sunday. i say, let’s do it again! second verse same as the first and all that!

 

 

red stars / houston

this is a quickie. houston came to town on sunday and we won! i thought i was going to be seeing the game on tape delay, but due to the three hour rain delay, i actually got to watch it as it happened.

we lined up like this (4-4-2 diamond stylee) – or at least it kinda looked like this to me:

Brock / Hoy
DiBernardo
Chalupny / Leon
Santacaterina
Quon / Johnston / Johnson / Wenino
LeBlanc

we played pretty well. solid. nothing too flashy or anything. our defense is fabulous this year – stingy as fuck! we aren’t scoring goals in buckets or anything – maybe more like drops. but we’re frequently holding teams to nothing, which is good and then beating them by one. which is resultish. and when we do score, it looks like this:

that was a slick chip from jen hoy. classy. it was also her first for the season, so hopefully now that she’s gotten her first, the pressure will be off and she will score more and more and more. do it!

something else that happened in the game was melissa tancredi making her red star debut. and while she didn’t score and her touches were a bit rusty, as soon as she was out on the field she was actively involved. she was finding spaces and making herself dangerous the entire time she was out there. so hopefully with a few more practices she will get her touch back. but i will say, it was exciting to see and optimism inspiring.

highlights:

red stars / sky blue preview

new red the house down contributor hannah drops some knowledge on what to look for! give her a follow @doublenutmegs!

The Chicago Red Stars meet Sky Blue on May 7th at Yurcak Field, New Jersey. Sky Blue will be wrapping up the last of 4 matches in 11 days. Sky Blue currently sit in 5th, with 5 points, 2 ahead of Chicago; a win tonight would take Chitown above the New Jersey team. Last season Sky Blue finished 4th and qualified for the play offs, but lost in the semi-final; a faltering end to an impressive start, after they lead the league at the halfway mark.

The Red Stars currently lie in 7th, having played just 3 games (2 less than 4 of the teams above them, and 1 less than Portland). Chicago have had a week to rest for this game, whilst all the other teams had matches over the weekend. Chi will be missing key players, as goalkeeper Karina Leblanc, defender Julie Johnston and forwards Adriana Leon and Melissa Tancredi away with their respective national teams for the Canada USA friendly on Thursday. Taryn Hemmings (recovering from her ACL injury) is still out as well. Christen Press is also in the USA squad, but is still in Sweden with Tyreso (she will return home after the Champions League Final in Lisbon on May 22nd). New signing, Kiwi defender, Abby Erceg, will be available for as early as the end of next week!

SUSPECTED LINEUP
Either a 4-4-2 with either Mautz or Bywaters, or a 4-5-1/4-2-3-1 with either Hoy or Brock up top.

GK Vancil
DEF Wenino, Santacaterina, Johnson, Quon
MID Sitch, Chalupny, DiBernardo, Mautz/Bywaters
FOR Brock, Hoy

Recently signed forward Nikki Read could also play her first game for the club.

KEY MATCH UPS

Chalupny vs Schmidt
Two tough midfielders will have to out-do each other tonight. Despite being the first line of defence in their teams, both Lori Chalupny and Sophie Schmidt can provide goals. Whoever is able to command the middle of the field to best effect could end up swinging the tie.

Johnson vs Ocampo
Rookie Samantha Johnson is likely to get her first start for the Red Stars, against Mexican forward Monico Ocampo. The young centre back will have to keep last season’s fourth highest scorer quiet.

Hoy vs Foord
With veteran captain Christie Rampone with the US national team, Sky Blue’s defence will most likely be left under command of young Australian Caitlin Foord. The 19 year old already has a year of NWSL experience, along with 12 caps with her national team. Both players have remarkable speed, and the battle will be sorely contested.

GO CHI!

red stars / fckc as it went down

Chicago Red Stars at FC Kansas City
April 30, 2014
– Sarah Smith @SMSmith53

FC Kansas City starting XI: Nicole Barnhart; Leigh Ann Robinson, Becky Sauerbrunn, Nikki Phillips, Kassey Kallman; Jenna Richmond, Jen Buczkowski, Erika Tymrak, Frances Silva, Lauren Holiday; Amy Rodriguez.

Chicago Red Stars starting XI: Karina LeBlanc, Samantha Johnson, Julie Johnston, Michelle Wenino, Kecia Morway, Julianne Sitch, Zakiya Bywaters, Lori Chalupny (C), Vanessa DiBernardo, Adriana Leon, Jen Hoy

After a hard luck loss to the Washington Spirit, the Chicago Red Stars make their first road trip to midwestern rival FC Kansas City.

Solid work to start the game. FCKC struggled to connect with runners up top and sustain an attacking presence. On the other hand, the Red Stars struggled – as they have in their previous two games – to mount an attack of their own. Young Jen Hoy is certainly gonna have her work cut out for her against national team regulars Becky Sauerbrunn and Nicole Barnhart.

9’ In much the fashion of last season, FCKC combines beautifully with a lot of one- and two-touch connecting to move the ball from the back. Coming up the right, Jen Buczkowski draws Karina LeBlanc off her line and lays off a great ball that Amy Rodriguez taps off the inside of her right foot into an open net. The home team up early, 1-0.

17’ Seeing A-Rod with an open goal face in front of her Leigh Ann Robinson threads the ball through the box to the striker who fires right at LeBlanc. The Canadian handles it easily.

19’ Chicago gains possession and makes a breakaway. Off to the races go 3 Red Stars in line with a few Blues gaining quickly. Lori Chalupny rips a shot as they start losing ground and it goes far wide. Off the goal kick, the Blues mount a nice counter. Erika Tymrak puts a beautiful back heel right at Kassey Kallman’s feet. The defender carries down to the endline and slides a shot along the front of the goal. No one up front, but Jenna Richmond rips a shot from the opposite side that gets deflected out for a corner. The result is two more shots from Tymrak. Wish we were so bold in that final third.

29’ Good battle for possession around midfield. Julie Johnston able to get a solid touch but Frances Silva comes up to intercept. Vanessa DiBernardo challenges to regain team control and gets her knee out for the ball but gets whistled for the foul. A good play on the ball but a foul nonetheless.

32’ Chicago tries their hand at Kansas City’s combination play and decently moves the ball around a crowded left midfield. Unfortunately, the visitors still don’t carry into the box as DiBernardo gives it a go from 25 yards. Fortunately, Barnhart underestimates Jen Hoy’s pressure. The ‘keeper plays short her goal kick and Buczkowski’s back pass almost gets stolen by the aggressive forward who was lurking not far behind. The national team veteran is able to cover the mistake and clear, but the threat encourages Chicago’s ability to hang in this game.

To follow, FCKC moves the ball around very well in their offensive third. Zakiya Bywaters dispossesses her mark and carries across the entire midfield only to rip a 30 yard shot. The chance only reinforces this seeming reliance on distance shooting will get us nowhere fast. Michelle Wenino sends a few good crosses close or into the box, but none of her teammates make good touches like they do in every other part of the field.

41’ FCKC awarded a free kick just outside the box as Buczkowski found herself sandwiched between Adriana Leon and DiBernardo. Lauren Holiday sends it over everyone and wide of the goal to the relief of those in white.

42’ Jen Hoy demonstrating what a physical presence she can have! The young starter elevates for a header against a formidable Barnhart whom she knows has the right to extend her height advantage when the GK punches it away. Both players hit the ground, but with no one home for the Red Stars the Blues’ defense is able to scoop up the ball and clear from just in front of the 6-yard box.

We go into half time down a goal despite great plays to keep the home side from getting on the board again.

The second half kicks off with the same line-up for the home team, but Chicago swaps Leon for Alyssa Mautz for some fresh legs in the attack.

53’ A foul called against Kecia Morway just outside of the box wins FCKC another free kick. Holiday steps up and delivers a nice ball but the charging header goes out for a goal kick.

56’ LeBlanc keeps the Red Stars in the game again with an incredible dive to keep Holiday without a goal. The midfielder might not have gotten as much power behind it as she wanted, but that sure was a sharp (and pretty) turn with the holding back line trying to disrupt her shot.

60’ Holiday, reportedly battling allergies in this classic Midwestern spring, is subbed out by Merritt Mathias and Liz Bogus comes on for Silva. While I hope she isn’t a difference maker, I sure enjoy watching Mathias play.

We see some decent crosses edging more and more inside the box, but the Red Stars aren’t connecting and not pushing numbers forward. Aggressive in the midfield but hesitant in the attack means Chicago will continue to take shots from a distance and depend on set pieces for any chance of a goal…until something changes.

67’ Morway and Bywaters get tricky in the left corner going back and forth and toeing that sideline with FCKC defenders. DiBernardo accelerates in to steal the ball back just when the home team looks like they will clear for good. To maintain team control, the rookie tips the ball to Bywaters at the edge of the 18’. Bywaters one-times it to Hoy at the top of the 6’. Hoy feeling the pressure sends it right back, but Sauerbrunn reads her like a book and steps right up to the pass, tips it off DiBernardo and nullifies the threat winning her team the goal kick. The youth of the team shows when we can’t attack without space in the box (if we even make it to the box). Eagerly waiting to see who the leader will be who sparks confident offensive touches.

Best offensive series we’ve seen today from the visiting squad. The great news is that even when A-Rod gets a breakaway immediately following, the back line comes through to stifle her and LeBlanc comes up with a sweet kick save to hold the deficit to one.

75’ Chalupny wrangles the ball and chips it in to Mautz, sandwiched between Robinson and Sauerbrunn. Mid-air, Mautz extends her left foot to get past the rushing ‘keeper. The ball trickles past Barnhart and is gathered by the forward. She gains control near the post but can’t turn in time to get a shot. The Blues defense recovers quickly and eliminates the danger.

76’ Jackie Santacaterina comes on for Julianne Sitch to invigorate our attack. Not a minute later, Tymrak gets clipped and comes off for Morgan Marlborough. The rookie happily takes the field in front of not just her home crowd but her hometown crowd.

81’ Just have to admire Jen Hoy’s incredible speed even after most of a game of long runs and few touches. Sure, her physical perseverance is remarkable but that mental endurance is phenomenal.

82’ Chicago makes its final substitution hoping for that last spark from Hayley Brock, coming in for Wenino. On the subsequent throw-in, double-teamed Chalupny gets scrappy bringing down Mathias and earning a corner kick. Despite being so dangerous on set pieces at times this season, nothing doing there tonight.

87’ The hero of Chicago is Karina LeBlanc, hands down. Free and clear A-Rod can’t get her shot anywhere other than directly at KK’s hands. The rocket’s a little too hot to handle and hits the ground. Going down to smother it, Marlborough rushes to pressure the ‘keeper and winds up giving LeBlanc a scary knock to the face. The whistle is blown and play stopped to tend to her despite a frustrated Kansas City attack.

Even with four minutes of stoppage time, the Red Stars can’t get one in the back of the net. The offense has yet to settle in and come together. We just don’t seem to know where we’re going and believe in ourselves to execute. Personally, I miss those 90th minute heartbreakers that devastate our opponents.

As much as these growing pains leave us Red Stars fans wanting more, the team is still holding strong against formidable competition. While the others are also fitting together the pieces, every club in this league is chock full of outstanding players. It’s damn impressive Chicago’s only let in 2 goals in 3 games against 2 of last year’s playoff teams. With some additions with international experience on their way, the 2014 season still looks bright for the gritty gals on the West Side.

photos from nwsl news’ twitter.

red stars / kansas city in which we score two beautiful goals, win, and end the season on a high note

stadium announcer sounds kind of like jello biafra doing a parody of an announcer. weird.

kansas city plays a tech possession and passing game of the kind that i enjoy watching. normally. today. fuck that. let’s beat ’em. word up.

oh. they switch to sean wheelock. and his mic is conveniently placed in the next room over from where he is talking. fix please?

oh. co-announcer is at a normal volume. what’s up?

slowly slowly bringing original play by play guy volume up. this is an audio art piece.

i think we are kicking it 4-4-2 diamond stylee.

grings / hoy
mautz
leon / sitch
osborne
quon / fuss / santacaterina / wenino
mcleod

nice to see hoy get the start.

5th minute – leon plays a long ball towards the center of the field looking for mautz. for some reason nicole barnhart comes way way off her line to collect the ball and ends up surrounded by mautz and hoy who hound her. barnhart has to pass back to sesselmann and bolt for the goal, but sesselman clears it out. strange play.

7th minute – wheelock mentions chalupny and boxx being out with injuries. hemmings, bywaters. we know you’re out too. and both of you are crucial!

9th minute – fc kc’s robinson out with an injury. jones in.

there’s been a lot of quick back and forth, getting to know you, finding a rhythm sort of action for these opening ten or so minutes.

12th minute grings pressures sauerbrunn in the back and almost forces a turnover. sauerbrunn quickly passes to sesselmann and speedy speedster hoy almost picks the ball off. good stuff.

nice, there’s a camera on the sideline for reaction shots.

15th minute – kc is probing our goal a lot. getting up close and creating chances, but so far no clear shots on goal. no clear chances.

17th minute – i say that and holiday gets a shot off that goes a little wide. we’re camping out in our half for now.

19th minute – mautz has had enough and decides to take a shot at goal from long distance. it goes way high over the goal. but y’know. it was a shot.

20th minute – holy god. that was pretty awesome from tymrak. sesselmann gets a ball through sitch and leon to tymrak who is unmarked and makes her run taking on fuss but slips the ball to courtney jones to her right. jones shoots it right at mcleod but mcleod can’t collect it and the ball deflects off her and rolls into the goal. sadness for us. but man, tymrak. she’s good.

23rd minute – leon crosses, hoy tries to get her head on it, the ball bounces to wenino who tries to do some sort of horizontal header but tymrak gets her foot on it but it goes back to hoy whose touch sends it back off of wenino’s head. wenino then tries to get her foot on it for a volley but it bounces around between kc defenders then falls to grings who tries to get a shot off but her shot is deflected into the sky by sauerbrunn. wenino heads back towards goal and grings gets her head on it but the ball goes just wide of the goal. keystone cops realness there! and we win a corner that comes to nothing.

28th minute – massive save from mcleod! holiday slots the ball through to henderson. mcleod comes out of the box to challenge. henderson tries to get around her, but mcleod scoops it up. nice!

grings seems to be playing the high forward and hoy is lying back a bit in the withdrawn striker role.

37th minute – osborne does kind of a half bicycle volley thing to send the ball forward to hoy who heads it to grings who holds it up a bit while hoy makes her run and grings passes back to her. hoy takes it out right and makes her shot but it goes high over the bar. these two seem to be clicking together though.

40th minute – mautz forces a turnover and hoy collects it and lays it off to sitch making a run on the right. sitch takes a shot from distance that goes well wide. we’re pressuring a bit more.

45th minute – gooooooal!!! hoooooy!!! it started with hoy picking desiree scott’s pocket in the midfield then making a run up the middle before laying it off to grings on her right, kc’s defenders go after grings who makes a quick run before passing it back to hoy who now has space in front of her. she takes her shot and puts it into the upper right past the diving barnhart. grings/hoy are making an awesome team up top! niceness!

stoppage time – mautz takes a strong shot from a little ways out, it’s on target but barnhart is able to stop it.

stoppage time – on the following run by kc, scott tries to make up for her pocketpicking by making a run up the right and crossing the ball for henderson who gets it by mcleod. but it is ruled offsides. tough to see on the replay, but apparently henderson was past our defensive line. small miracles! mcleod stays down though. gets up and is testing her right leg gingerly. but she takes her goal kick and the ref whistles the end of the half.

second half

vandenbergh on for leon

46th minute henderson earns a free kick for running into osborne.

i assumed there would be some backline shuffling with vandenbergh coming on, but it looks like she actually just swapped spots with leon. who is our attacking/playmaking mid?

49th minute – wenino breaks up a play in front of goal. nicely done.

51st minute – osborne lobs the ball from the center of the field to hoy who timed her run perfectly to stay onside and uses her speed to beat the backline to the ball. she sets herself up on the run and makes a looping shot that just drifts wide. hoy! i’m glad we get her for the full season next year.

55th minute – mcleod comes out past the halfway mark to take a free kick. nothing happens though. we are going for this one.

59th minute – nice sequence from the red stars. lots of give and go passing through the midfield but our attack is finally shut down in the final third.

61st minute – snap! hoy with an amazing backheel pass. so slick. look it up on the video. (1.32.30) i’m so glad she’ll be here for full season next year.

65th minute – grings gets a yellow for pulling mewis down. grings did come at her from behind and put her hands on mewis’ shoulder, but mewis kinda went down easy on that one.

68th minute – yellow for santacaterina for her tackle of tymrak. not sure that should’ve been a yellow. probably a foul. but santacaterina came in from the side, not behind, it didn’t look like much contact was made. and tymrak wasn’t behind all of the red stars defense. oh well.

69th minute – snap! holiday takes the free kick. she lofted it over the wall and it would’ve just slipped in under the crossbar, but mcleod leapt and got her fingers on it to tip it over the woodwork. massive save from mcleod.

70th minute – masar on for mautz.

72nd minute – masar causes some trouble for kc’s backline running down a pass from grings and chesting it forward, sauerbrunn just beats her to it. if not for a stumble, masar would’ve been in on goal.

i’ve been lulled by the back and forth. not a whole lot to comment on right now.

80th minute – grings and masar with some good combination action though.

81st minute – dominguez on for vandenbergh. sub for a sub. we are fucking going for this one. four forwards on right now. i’m calling it 4-2-4

dominguez / masar / hoy / grings
osborne / sitch
quon / fuss / santacaterina / wenino

86th minute – quon shuts down a threatening tymrak run. and then hoy makes a fabulous run all the way up but her pass to grings gets blocked.

88th minute – mcleod comes off her line to deny henderson of her shot. crucial save. keeping us in it. henderson was in on goal.

stoppage time – holy fucking shit!!! that is a fucking class finish to this game! amazing passing leading to an an amazing goal by hoy!!! quon collects an errant pass from holiday and slots it through to grings who has space. in fact everyone has space right now. grings lays it off to dominguez in the middle. dominguez sends it out right (and through three kc defenders) to sitch. sitch one times it sending it across to the other side of the goal to hoy who also one times it off of the pass into the back of the net. fucking gooooooooooooal! sean wheelock says it’s shocking. i say, that’s chicago, yo!

stoppage time – dangerous free kick for kc, everyone forward including barnhart and holiday takes it. mcleod deals with it aces like.

and that’s the end.

wheelock calls it shocking again. and again – that’s just how we roll. we don’t stop playing ever. chi don’t dance no more, all we do is win!

but, if it makes you feel any better kansas city, i hope you guys win the whole thing. do it!

that is an awesome way to end our 2013 season. it was tough, we lost way too many to injuries and seemed to have the shittiest luck in the land. but the team held up, everyone played together and put on an awesome performance. next season will be even better.