CHICAGO, Ill. (September 25, 2022) - The Chicago Red Stars fell to the Portland Thorns 3-0, fighting to the last minute in their penultimate regular season match. The Red Stars close out the regular season at home next Sunday, October 2, when the team takes on Angel City FC at SeatGeek Stadium at 5:00 p.m. CT.
KEY MOMENTS:
4’ Mallory Pugh sends a free kick into Portland’s penalty box that finds the head of Arin Wright, but the ball goes just over the cross bar
17’ Portland’s Sophia Smith broke past the Red Stars defense to set up for a direct shot from just outside the box, which goes just left of the goal with the help of Chicago’s Alyssa Naeher tapping it off course
24’ Pugh finds a hole in the Thorns’ defense to arc a shot from behind the 18-yard line, forcing Portland’s Bella Bixby to tip the ball above the cross bar in order to keep the game scoreless
28’ Naeher saves another close shot from Smith, making a difficult save by deflecting it off her legs to keep it out of the goal
38’ Zoe Morse makes two critical clearances, stretching and landing in a split the second time, sending the ball out of bounds and clearing the danger
48’ Morgan Weaver makes it past the Red Stars defense to find the back of the net, putting Portland on the board first
59’ Weaver again finds the back of the net for Portland, placing them up by two scores
90+’ Portland’s Taylor Porter seals the deal for the Thorns, adding a third goal to the final score
GAME NOTES:
Alyssa Naeher broke the NWSL record for all-time regular season appearances while tending goal today, putting in 142 regular-season appearances, 97 of which were with the Red Stars.
The Red Stars had a strong first half, having possession 53% of the time and an 83% passing accuracy compared to Portland’s 78.3%.
Goals by Half
1 2 F
CHI 0 0 0
POR 0 3 3
Scoring Summary:
CHI:
POR: 48’ Weaver (Coffey), 59’ Weaver (Smith), 90+’ Porter
Disciplinary Report
CHI: 58’ Bianca St-Georges red card, 62’ Zoe Morse yellow card, 90+’ Zoe Morse red card (yellow card accumulation)
POR: 31’ Kuikka yellow card, 44’ RodrÃguez yellow card
Lineup
CHI: Alyssa Naeher, Tatumn Milazzo, Zoe Morse, Arin Wright (Kowalski), Morgan Gautrat (Luebbert), Danielle Colaprico, Vanessa DiBernardo, Bianca St-Georges, Yuki Nagasato (Cook), Mallory Pugh, Jill Aguilera (Griffith)
POR: Bella Bixby, Meghan Klingenberg (McGrady), Becky Sauerbrunn, Kelli Hubly, Natalia, Kuikka, Sam Coffey (Porter), Rocky RodrÃguez (Beckie), Christine Sinclair, Morgan Weaver (Dunn), Hina Sugita, Sophia Smith