**BRIDGEVIEW, Ill** . – The Chicago Red Stars defeated Racing Louisville FC, 1-0, behind a 33 ^rd minute goal from midfielder Bianca St-Georges, the lone action of the evening contest. The win helps Chicago into 10 ^th place with 24 points from 20 games, level with 9 ^th place Louisville on points but just behind them on goal differential. The result is also Chicago's fourth unbeaten in a row, sparking a late push for a postseason appearance.
Early on, Chicago took the majority of the chances as midfielder Bianca St-Georges tested Louisville goalkeeper Katie Lund in the 3 ^rd minute with a flashed chance. St-Georges was launched down the right side with a through ball over the top, and she raced onto it and broke into the box to increase the threat. Inching toward goal, St-Georges opted to try and break through at the near post but Lund was quick to it and sent it away.
Then, just about 10 minutes later, Louisville midfielder Kayla Fischer rattled the bar with a shot from distance that left the Chicago defense stunned. Fischer pulled up from just outside the box and arrowed toward the top left corner. However, her shot cracked the bar as it was eventually collected by Naeher to end the move.
Back-to-back chances for Louisville came again in the 24 ^th and 26 ^th minutes through defender Carson Pickett and midfielder Elli Pikkujämsä. The latter Pikkujämsä made it a second time that Louisville would hit the bar when she opted to go for goal from even further out than Fischer, sending Naeher sprawling in attempts to stop the shot from finding the back of the net only for it to clip the bar on its way out.
Turning the game back in their favor though, Chicago would then open the scoring in the 33 ^rd minute through St-Georges, who this time found the goal from a similar position to her run earlier in the evening. St-Georges had been played in down the right again, where this time she fired high past Lund and in as celebrations ensued. Then, a lengthy VAR review followed, but the decision stood and St-Georges’s goal was allowed as Chicago took the lead just after the half-hour mark.
Louisville’s attempts to equalize came as far as forward Nadia Nadim’s deflected effort in first-half stoppage time, but her effort was held safely by Naeher in the end as Chicago carried a 1-0 lead into the halftime break.
Right on the hour mark, Louisville then thought that its fortunes had turned when midfielder Savannah DeMelo was taken down inside the penalty area with a penalty awarded to Racing on first look. However, after another lengthy VAR review, the center official returned to the field of play and wiped away that decision, instead producing a drop ball that restarted play.
In the 70 ^th minute, Chicago pressured the Louisville goal again with forward Penelope Hocking nearly getting a taste in attack again if not for a great save by Lund in the end. Hocking was played in between defenders and into space where she opened up and attempted to blast her effort past Lund. However, Lund was big enough to make the initial save and then did well to keep out a rebounded effort, though the flag was raised for offside on the rebound anyhow, thus neutralizing the move ahead.
The closest Louisville would come again to finding an equalizing goal came in the second of eight minutes of added time for forward Uchenna Kanu. Kanu was in the middle of the box where she received a pass from the left side. Opening up her foot in attempts to guide the ball into the back of the net, Kanu got her shot away from close in but looked on in agony as the ball crashed into the outside side netting and out of play.
In the end, it was a big win for Chicago as Bianca St-Georges scored the lone goal of the night, with Red Stars goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher and crew earning an important clean sheet with the regular season wrapping up in just two weeks.

Match Highlights

Match Highlights