Hopeful for another Red Stars run

Reflections of the past two seasons at Toyota Park's press row

The final image of the Chicago Red Stars' 2010 Women's Professional Soccer season was the always animated Megan Rapinoe running like crazy after netting a goal during the team's home finale.

I'm hopeful that is not the last snapshot of the Red Stars. The organization's ownership has given indications that it would like to return for the 2012 season, and like you, I will wait with anticipation to see how things play out.

I can't help but reflect on the past two years -- one covering the team for pretty much a hobby, then having the privilege to work on the public relations side. I have not taken a single minute of my work for granted. Working in PR or covering professional soccer for a living is an absolute joy as a fan of this fine game, and the Red Stars staff, players and organization as a whole are top-notch.

Those who are understandably skeptical about the "hiatus" lingo, let me just say this ... I have worked for other soccer teams that were visibly on life support, and the Red Stars do not come close to falling into this category. This team has unbridled passion. This team knows how to stretch a dollar. This team knows how to connect with fans and supporters and bring in one of WPS's higher draws in one of the most highly competitive sports markets in the country.

I do not know this team's future, but if any organization could pull off a brief suspension and return, I think the Red Stars could certainly do it.

I want to quickly thank the media folks who either attended the games or wrote about the team from afar. The Chicago dailies (Chicago Tribune stepped up big-time this past season), the online media (too many of you to thank individually, but Windy City Soccer was ALWAYS there), radio (WNDZ's Sportsline, and thanks to WBBM and NPR for some recognition), photographers, some TV segments away from the pitch (WGN, NBC, ABC), the great folks at Zapwater, and the other writers and bloggers out there, we've appreciated the exposure.

Some of you I'll still run into when I'm covering the Chicago Fire or working at Chicago Riot games. But there will be a massive void not having the Red Stars for 2011. (I'll also miss the regular Pinoe references on F#@k Yeah, Chicago Red Stars!)

In my cheesy and non-original way of coping with the team suspending operations, I put together some of my favorite Red Stars memories at Toyota Park over the past two years, seeing as how I had a bird's-eye view of the game from press row.

For a team that came up short of the playoffs in two seasons, there still were plenty of wonderful moments:

 

1. Cristiane's hat trick: I'm amazed even today that Cristiane is the only person in WPS's two-year history to score three goals in one game. I would have thought that the Brazilian would have some company by now. But on July 12, 2009, Red Stars fans were in for a treat as Cristiane netted a triple against FC Gold Pride -- the only hat trick in WPS to date. Cristiane's best tally for me was her final goal where she completely schooled Brandi Chastain and delivered a rocket to the far left post. I wish Cristiane had a few more big moments like that.

2. United against Gold Pride: The Red Stars' first month of the 2010 season was an all-time low -- a 1-4-1 record that led to the dismissal of Red Stars head coach Emma Hayes. It had to be a difficult moment for the players having to come back to the pitch with little time to let that soak in, while at the same time take on a Marta-led FC Gold Pride squad that had won five straight coming into the match. With the coaching search still in progress, Red Stars President and General Manager Marcia McDermott took the coaching reigns for one game on May 29, 2010, and a united Red Stars squad pieced together a victory. Kosovare Asllani netted a 55th-minute goal and a well-deserved celebration at the northeast corner of the pitch. Chicago kept Bay Area off the scoreboard the rest of the way for an exciting 1-0 win.

3. Running off into the sunset: I wish there were more people who outwardly wear their love of the game like Megan Rapinoe. Pinoe was having a tremendously difficult 2010 season. She knew it. Everyone knew it. But heading into the season finale against the Washington Freedom on Sept. 5, 2010, with nothing to play for except pride, Rapinoe tallied the second goal of the game and dashed to the Red Stars bench. Her teammates had a difficult time trying to catch up to her! That gave Chicago a 2-0 lead, and that goal proved to be incredibly important. The Freedom's Beverly Goebel tallied a goal 1 minute later, but the Red Stars held off Washington for the final minutes of stoppage time. Whew! This also marked the first run of back-to-back wins in the team's history.

4. Four scores: In the first season, the Red Stars were touted to be a favorite to compete for the first WPS title. And early on in the season, Chicago looked like it was on the right track with a 2-0-2 start. That fourth game included a dominating 4-0 victory over the Boston Breakers on April 25, 2009. Though clearly Boston did not play well, the Red Stars took advantage with four different players tallying a goal: Carli Lloyd, Megan Rapinoe, Karen Carney and the hard-nosed Brittany Klein tallied their goals in a span of just over a half hour. That was the absolute high point of the season, before the bottom fell out and the team was winless and scoreless in three straight home games in May. I prefer to forget about that massive drought.

5. Another festive finale: The Red Stars had a knack of at least closing on the right note. On Aug. 2, 2009, a record 7,959 fans came out to see Chicago's home finale against Marta and the regular-season champion Los Angeles Sol. Cristiane vs. Marta was the interesting Brazilian draw, but Marta was kept off the scoreboard as the Red Stars earned a 3-1 win. It took a second-half stoppage time goal for Cristiane to get in the scoring column. Lindsay Tarpley had a goal and assisted a long-awaited goal from Carli Lloyd, who had only two tallies on the season.

Thanks Red Stars! Don't wander off too far!

Charlie Corr
Chicago Red Stars Communications Manager

• Feel free to share your favorite Red Stars moment below. First road win at Saint Louis Athletica? Ella Masar's LONG-awaited first goal? Would love to hear it!

Red Stars blank 1st-place Gold Pride

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. -- Kosovare Asllani netted her first goal and the Chicago Red Stars defeated first-place FC Gold Pride, 1-0, on Saturday in Women's Professional Soccer action in front of 3,845 at Toyota Park.

Next up for the Red Stars is a 5 p.m. match on Sunday, June 6, against the Atlanta Beat at Toyota Park. The Red Stars' first match against Atlanta is televised live on Fox Soccer Channel.

On Saturday, the Red Stars (2-4-1) struck first in the 55th minute when Asllani was on the receiving end of a Marian Dalmy dish from the right side. Asllani had the easy tap-in goal to give Chicago a 1-0 lead. It was the team's first lead at home this season, put an end to a five-half scoreless drought and resulted in Chicago's first home victory.

"We are really excited and I feel like it is our start, in my opinion," Asllani said. "We had a couple of games that we had dominated that we didn't win, and after all, the winning is the most important thing. And I think we got good confidence from this game."

For more, visit ChicagoRedStars.com.

Red Stars host 1st-place Gold Pride

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. -- Following a bye week from Women's Professional Soccer play, the Chicago Red Stars take on four-time FIFA Women's World Player of the Year Marta and FC Gold Pride at 7 p.m. Saturday, May 29, at Toyota Park.

The match marks the second meeting between the two clubs in the month of May. In their last contest on May 8, the Red Stars (1-4-1) fell on the road to Gold Pride, 2-0, in Castro Valley, Calif., playing most of the match shorthanded when defender Ifeoma Dieke was red-carded in the 21st minute.

Gold Pride (5-1-0) leads the all-time series between the two sides with a 2-1-1 record. The Red Stars are looking to secure their first home victory of the 2010 season.

As the Red Stars progress with their search for a new head coach, General Manager Marcia McDermott will serve as the temporary team coach in Saturday's match against Gold Pride. McDermott, who was named the 62nd President of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America in January, last served in a coaching capacity as an associate head coach for the University of Illinois women's soccer team in 2006 and 2007.

For more, visit ChicagoRedStars.com.

Shorthanded Red Stars fall to Gold Pride

CASTRO VALLEY, Calif. -- The Chicago Red Stars fell to first-place FC Gold Pride, 2-0, on Saturday in Women's Professional Soccer play at Castro Valley Athletic Stadium.

The Red Stars had to play for approximately 65 minutes with only 10 players on the pitch. In the 25th minute, Red Stars defender Ifeoma Dieke was issued a red card for fouling Gold Pride's Kelley O'Hara in the box.

Chicago avoided any initial damage when Gold Pride's Tiffeny Milbrett missed that particular penalty kick attempt. But Milbrett and O'Hara would make up for it with goals in the 45th and 78th minutes, respectively.

"We hoped to get into halftime scoreless, and them scoring a minute before halftime was a blow for us," Red Stars Head Coach Emma Hayes said of Milbrett's goal. "Chasing the game for 60 minutes is just too difficult for this level."

For the full game recap, visit ChicagoRedStars.com.

Preview: Red Stars vs. 1st-place FC Gold Pride

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. -- The Chicago Red Stars travel out west to Castro Valley, Calif., to take on four-time FIFA Women's World Player of the Year Marta and the league-leading FC Gold Pride for a 9 p.m. CT match on Saturday in Women’s Professional Soccer action.

This marks the teams' first head-to-head matchup of the 2010 WPS season. FC Gold Pride (3-1-0, 9 points) enters the match on a three-game winning streak and is only the second team in WPS history to sit alone in first place. The Red Stars (1-2-1, 4 points) are fresh off their first win of the 2010 season, a 2-0 road victory over the Boston Breakers last Saturday. It marked the end to a dubious road streak. The Red Stars had not earned a road victory since the team's inaugural WPS match, a 1-0 win over Saint Louis Athletica on April 4, 2009.

In the last meeting between the Red Stars and FC Gold Pride in 2009, Red Stars forward Cristiane scored the first hat trick in WPS history to lift the Red Stars past the Gold Pride, 3-1, on July 12, 2009, at Toyota Park.

For the full preview, visit ChicagoRedStars.com.

FC GOLD PRIDE 1, RED STARS 0

Chicago drops 2nd straight home match

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. - Both the Chicago Red Stars and FC Gold Pride were coming off of disappointing shutout losses last week in Women’s Professional Soccer play. The Bay Area turned the tide, but Chicago could not break through with a goal.

The Gold Pride topped the Red Stars, 1-0, on Saturday night at Toyota Park, and Chicago (2-2-2) dropped its second straight during a five-game home stand.

“It’s a quiet locker room in there right now, because they know they could have gotten more from the game,” Red Stars head coach Emma Hayes said.

The Bay Area improved to 3-3-1, thanks to an early goal and a clean sheet in the second half.

“Defensively, we held strong against an excellent attacking team,” Gold Pride head coach Albertin Montoya said. “Chicago may be the best attacking team in the league, and I have a lot of respect for them.”

This game carried quite a bit of value for the Red Stars because they will lose defender Marian Dalmy and midfielders Carli Lloyd, Megan Rapinoe and Lindsay Tarpley to the Women’s National Team next week. The WNT takes on Canada on May 25, and the Red Stars’ four stars will not be available for Chicago’s May 23 home match against St. Louis Athletica.

On Saturday, the Red Stars started to create some chances on the offensive end in the first half, and the buildup was evident with Cristiane heavily on the attack, and Rapinoe the main catalyst trying to get Cristiane the ball. Then, in the 30th minute, the Gold Pride grabbed the momentum in a heartbeat.

Christine Sinclair netted the only goal, unassisted. She was the beneficiary of a ball that was booted into the side from their right side and bounced away from Red Stars goalkeeper Caroline Jonsson. The ball wound up at Sinclair’s feet and she practically dribbled it all the way into the net for a 1-0 lead.

“This was huge for us to get a goal in the first half,” Sinclair said. “We’ve struggled to get goals lately.”

In the net, Jonsson made four saves for the Red Stars while Nicole Barnhart had three saves for the Gold Pride. Barnhart made a clutch save in the 83rd minute on a Karen Carney strike. It was the best Red Stars scoring chance in the second half, but nothing mirrored their attack between the 20th and 30th minutes.

“It’s a little bit disappointing obviously,” Rapinoe said of the turn of events in the first half. “We played really well in that stretch in that moment there. But I think as a player, you can’t let yourself get deflated after they score a goal. We still had plenty of time left in the game. I thought we played well at times today and I thought that we had a lot of attacking chances.”

* * * * *

Next up: The Red Stars host St. Louis Athletica at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 23, at Toyota Park. Not television or Web cast are available for the match.

* * * * *

SlideTackles.net thoughts: The Red Stars needed a victory Saturday for many reasons: to rebound from their previous defeat against Sky Blue FC, to take advantage of their five-game home stand, and to capitalize on having a full roster before they are shorthanded against St. Louis.

Now they have to juggle a few things around to try and match up against St. Louis Athletica. Thankfully for the Red Stars, St. Louis will be without goalkeeper Hope Solo and defender Lori Chalupny, who are joining the WNT.

On Saturday the Red Stars did showcase some creativity with the ball, especially in the first half. Here are just a few moments within that buildup between the 20th and 30th minutes: Rapinoe was called offside in the 21st minute after making a quick run, otherwise she would have had the game’s first goal. In the 27th minute, Rapinoe made a fantastic touch with the outside of her right foot on a cross from the left wing, but it was just out of reach for Cristiane. Then in the 29th minute, Cristiane had a shot on goal after another good setup by Rapinoe.

“I think the first half, our attacking play was exciting. I think it was the best we’ve been this season,” Hayes said. “I think Cristiane proved her worth and her abilities.”

Thankfully Cristiane’s attacking skills are available next week. She and Carney will need to shoulder the load offensively when they are shorthanded against St. Louis.