Chicago Red Stars vs. Washington Spirit
Bridgeview, Illinois – The Chicago Red Stars (6-5-2, 20 points) picked up three big National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) points with a 3-1 defeat over the Washington Spirit (5-4-3, 18 points).
Mallory Pugh recorded the first goal of the game in the 19' for Chicago. She stole the ball in the mid field and dribbled up the right side of the field where her shot from just outside the box went in between the defenders legs and just out of reach of the diving goalkeeper bouncing off the left post into the back of the net.
The Red Stars would strike again in the first-half after a dangerous corner kick was sent in that ultimately Rachel Hill deflected in to give Chicago the 2-0 lead in the 39'.
Trinity Rodman put the Washington Spirit on the scoreboard in the 71' after she gained possession and dribbled just passed the goalkeeper and stayed patient waiting for the Red Stars defenders to go past her where she fired it into the empty net. Washignton then had another great chance to tie the game up two minutes later but Chicago's Cassie Miller made a diving save to her top left.
In the 80' the Red Stars were rewarded a penalty kick after a handball was called on the Spirit as Morgan Gautrat stepped up to the spot and her shot went to the top left corner of the goal to give Chicago the 3-1 lead which would hold for the remainder of the game. Chicago has now lost just once in its last 12 regular season matches with Washington, (8-1-3) scoring in 11 of those 12 matches. The late goals continue the clubs trend of scoring in the 61' or later as it was the Red Star's eighth of the season and the Spirit's seventh. Washington will now shift their attention to Portland as they will host the Thorns on Saturday, August 7th at 7:30 PM ET. Up next for the Red Stars will be another home contest as the club is set to take on the Orlando Pride at 6:00 PM ET on Sunday, August 8th.
