The Chicago Red Stars gritted out a 0-0 draw in their first clash with regional rival FC Kansas City. Alyssa Naeher practically stood on her head in the second half to secure her fourth straight clean sheet with the Red Stars.
In the first half, both teams had difficulty getting into the opponent’s final third and creating quality chances. Each team had only two corner kicks and three shots on goal. Amanda Da Costa, making her starting XI debut for Chicago, had the first chance of the match. Chicago won a corner in the 10th minute and Da Costa’s diving header went wide of the left post. In the 17th minute, Jen Buczkowski almost put her name on the score sheet in her final match for the Blues. The Kansas City Iron Woman struck a volley to the upper right corner of the Chicago net. Alyssa Naeher parried the ball away before it could enter the upper 90 and easily collected the loose ball. Chicago’s Sam Johnson earned a yellow card for a reckless challenge in the 38th minute. She stepped up to intercept a through ball as KC’s Shea Groom sprinted onto it. Groom turned to look where she was going as the ball went past her and ran, smack-dab, into Johnson, falling to the grass as though hitting a wall. Luckily, Groom was unhurt.
After the halftime break, Chicago tried to take the game to Kansas City, pushing hard for a goal. Christen Press almost put the Red Stars up 1-0 in the 56th minute. She collected the ball near the center circle and drove toward the KC defense. She managed to fend off Becky Sauerbrunn at the top of penalty area and fire a shot. KC goalkeeper, Nicole Barnhart made a lovely fingertip save to keep Press’ shot out of the net and the Blues defence cleared the ball upfield. Chicago kept the pressure up, but couldn’t find the killer pass. The Blues defense thwarted them at every turn, forcing Chicago into bad shooting angles, making life easy for Barnhart.
As the Red Stars tired, the Blues gained the upper hand and created several dangerous scoring chances. Naeher made her first potential save of the week stop in the 71st minute. A nice bit of combination play from KC put Frances Silva in on goal. Naeher charged out of her goal and slid as Silva shot, blocking the ball up onto the crossbar. Minutes later, Naeher added another solid choice to her save of the week cohort. Mandy Laddish fired a low cross from the right flank into the Red Star’s goal area. Shea Groom dove and headed the cross directly into the perfectly positioned Naeher. The 85th minute brought her final potential save of the week candidate. A poor Chicago clearance fell to right foot of KC substitute Katie Bowen at the right side of the goal area. Bowen’s first-time shot nearly beat Naeher to the near post. Despite her momentum going the wrong direction, Naeher managed to get her left foot out and block the shot.
The game was a fantastic defensive chess match. Both teams did well getting in passing lanes and breaking up the opponent’s attack. Despite stalwart defensive play, the Red Stars are still having trouble closing out matches. Again, the majority of their opponent’s chances occurred in the last 20 minutes of the match. Again, Alyssa Naeher proved her worth. Chicago’s offense has got to give the defense some help. Their possession play was better in this match. The Red Stars can build on this by becoming more attack-minded – looking to play forward into space and getting more players into the penalty area.
Next Match:
Chicago is on the road again, facing Seattle Reign FC on Sunday, 22 May at 6pm CDT.
Kansas City travels to Boston. They take on the Breakers on Sunday 22 May at 5:30pm CDT
Lineups:
Chicago Red Stars 4-4-2 (Flat back with diamond midfield)
Naeher; Gilliland, Naughton, Johnson, Short; Mautz, Colaprico, DiBernardo, Huerta; Press (C), Hoy
Substitutes:
70’ Comeau for Da Costa
88’ Hoy for Colaprico
FC Kansas City
Barnhart; Arlitt, Sauerbrunn (C), Averbuch, Taylor; Silva, Scott, Buczkowski, O’Reilly; Laddish, Groom
Substitutes:
46’ Tymrak for O’Reilly
84’ Bowen for Laddish
92’ McCarty for Silva
Goals:
Misconduct:
37’ Yellow Johnson (CHI)
