A first half goal from Chicagoland native Casey Short was enough for the Chicago Red Stars to beat the Western New York Flash. With the victory, Chicago goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher picked up her first shutout of the season.
Early in the match, the Flash had two good scoring chances. Abby Erceg headed a corner kick just over the bar. Then, in the 24th minute, Jessica McDonald’s shot deflected off a Chicago defender, forcing Naeher to change direction and save the ball at the goal line.
Chicago’s hard work paid off in the 28th minute with a goal from a lovely bit of combination play. Vanessa DiBernado drove through the Flash’s left flank, playing a ball to Christen Press about 20 yards from goal. Press back-heeled the pass to Sofia Huerta whose own back-heel found DiBernardo again. She fired a low cross to Alyssa Mautz, who couldn’t get control of it. Western New York cleared the ball to Casey Short lurking just inside the penalty area. Short struck the rebound squarely. Her hard shot deflected off the Flash’s Abby Erceg and into the Flash goal.
Short praised the teamwork leading to her goal: “The build up was great. We had some good combination play. It was good to finally put one in and also to get a clean sheet.”
Chicago continued generating chances by attacking Western’ New York’s flanks. The Flash goalkeeper, Sabrina D’Angelo, cut off each cross under pressure.
Huerta opened the second half attack for the Red Stars with an attempt at chipping D’Angelo in the 51st minute. Her shot went harmlessly wide. DiBernardo followed suit in the 65th minute with rising shot that went wide of the far upper right corner. A couple minutes later, Huerta almost beat D’Angelo to her near post with a narrow-angled shot that caromed off the post and out of bounds.
After surviving sustained pressure from the Flash, Christen Press had the best scoring chance of the second half. She sprinted through the Flash back line. D’Angelo rushed out and bravely stopped Press’ point-blank shot at the top of the penalty area.
Chicago is much improved from last week, tightening up their defense and creating some nice combination play throughout the match. They need to remain disciplined in their style of attack. In the first half, the Red Stars did a great job of getting wide to the touchlines and attacking Western New York’s flanks. As the Red Stars tired, they had trouble getting their heels on the chalk and started to play a more narrow game. They left several chances wanting in the final third and need to punish their opponents. The chemistry between Julie Johnston and Alyssa Naeher and the other players in the back line is clearly growing. The unit as a whole did a much better job marking and defending in the penalty area.
Next Match:
Chicago hosts the Orlando Pride at 5pm CDT on Sunday, 1 May.
Western New York host the Washington Spirit at 7pm EDT on Friday, 29 April.
Lineups:
Chicago Red Stars 4-4-2 (Flat back with diamond midfield)
Naeher; Gilliland, Johntson, Johnson, Short; Mautz, Colaprico, DiBernardo, Huerta; Press(C), Walls
Substitutes:
57’ Comeau for Walls
90+ Naughton for Comeau
Western New York Flash 4-3-3 (Triangle midfield)
D’Angelo; Speck, Erceg(C), Dahlkemper, Eddy;Kennedy, Hahn, Mewis; Leon, McDonald, Williams
Substitutes:
46’ Andrade for Hahn
62’ Smith for Leon
80’ Doniak for Eddy
Goals:
28’ Chicago – Short
Misconduct:
None
