BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. - Heading into the 2009 Women’s Professional Soccer season, the Los Angeles Sol and Chicago Red Stars were thought to be two of the better organizations to take home the inaugural title.The Sol have lived up to their billing, securing a place in the title game. The Red Stars missed the playoffs. But on Sunday, Chicago showed some life with the combinations that were thought to make a significant impact from the get-go, especially in the midfield.
Carli Lloyd (pictured), Lindsay Tarpley and Cristiane each provided a goal as the Red Stars defeated the Sol, 3-1, in front of a record Red Stars crowd of 7,959 at Toyota Park.
In some ways this result was both sweet and bitter for the Red Stars (5-9-5), since it was a high-quality win against the Sol (11-3-5), but did not have any bearing toward a postseason.
“This game in some levels is meaningless, to us at least because we are out of the playoffs. For me, this is a benchmark - a building platform for next season,” Red Stars head coach Emma Hayes said.
“If we bring consistent elements to our game every time we play, we’re going to be a competitive team, and we hope to win,” Tarpley said. “So whether we’re playing a first-place team or whoever, it doesn’t matter. Every game is important. And we’re disappointed we’re not in the playoffs. That’s fair to say, and that’s our goal. We want to be at the top of the league. We’ve got some work to do. But today, I think it was great for us to go out there and play well and have fun.”
Lloyd’s first-half goal was set up by Tarpley on a give-and-go in the middle of the field. Lloyd got a right foot on the ball and found the back of the net past Sol goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc in the 24th minute for a 1-0 lead.
The Lloyd-Tarpley combination was probably a welcome sight to Red Stars fans, especially since in the preseason this was supposed to be a bread-and-butter mode of attack. They are two allocated players with U.S. Women’s National Team experience and an already successful career before WPS.
“Today there was no pressure on us. This was like the first game where there was no pressure,” Lloyd said. “Sometimes you play better, and we just went out there and played hard. Tarp and I have a good relationship on the field, as well as with the national team.”
Chicago came out at halftime and immediately added to its lead in the 47th minute. Megan Rapinoe provided a cross from the left wing. Brittany Klein headed the ball to Tarpley, whose header found the goal for a 2-0 advantage.
And though the Sol cut the Red Stars’ lead to 2-1 later in the half, Chicago responded with a Cristiane tally, with Ella Masar assisting, in stoppage time for the eventual 3-1 final.
The Sol’s Han Duan netted a 90th-minute goal, and the team definitely had some other chances. The best defensive stop from the Red Stars’ perspective came in the 55th minute, when Brazilian sensation Marta put a ton of pace on the ball and Red Stars goalkeeper Caroline Jonsson somehow managed to react quickly enough to her left to stop the strike and maintain the 2-0 lead at that point.
“Marta is very threatening, and dangerous. But that’s Marta for you,” Hayes said.
Jonsson made six saves and LeBlanc made four for L.A.
Next up: The Red Stars conclude their 2009 season for a 7 p.m. match on Wednesday, Aug. 5, at St. Louis Athletica.
SlideTackles.net thoughts: This was the Red Stars team everybody expected from Day 1. The close calls on the defensive side were expected against L.A.’s high-octane offense. But the midfield contributions and the ability to respond to an opposing team’s goal were clearly elements that this team wanted to showcase earlier in the season on a consistent basis.
Over the course of the season, the focus has been mostly on Cristiane because she has been the main scoring weapon, now with seven goals on the season. Up until her goal, the Brazilian showdown between Marta and Cristiane really didn’t develop. Marta threatened periodically, but her shots were wide of the net or stopped impressively by Jonsson. In the first half, Cristiane attempted to dribble through some cramped spaces and other times was not really present in the attack.
But her goal was a team character builder. This team does have the potential to be in the upper tier of WPS. On Sunday, Chicago tallied more goals against L.A. than any other WPS team. That definitely counts for something, but not in the grand scheme of things.
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