By Lesley Ryder
The Chicago Stars began preseason training camp for the 2025 season on Monday. The club’s preseason roster returns 22 players from last season, and 7 non-roster invitees.
The invitees include two players Lorne Donaldson has coached before: Jamaican international midfielder Peyton McNamara, and former Real Colorado forward and Arkansas Razorback Macy Schultz. Rounding out the group is former SEC champion Dasia Torbert, third team All-Americans Justina Gaynor and Catherine Barry, 2024 Red Star Sydney Schneider, and University of Michigan keeper Stephanie Sparkowski.
Last season’s co-golden boot winner Mal Swanson informed the club she will not be reporting to camp at this time due to personal reasons. "I’d like to thank the club and the fans for their understanding during this time. I appreciate the kindness and encouragement from my teammates and all the Stars staff and hope to be back with the team and playing in front of our fans as soon as I can," said Swanson in the team’s press release
The club pledged their support to Swanson in the same media statement “As always, the Chicago Stars organization stands ready to provide Mallory whatever support she needs, both on and off the pitch, and we will be ready to welcome her back with open arms whenever she is ready to return.”
New signings for the Stars include 2023 NWSL Champion Maitane Lopez, U-20 World Cup finalist Manaka Hayashi, and US U-17 Youth National team player Micayla Johnson. They join the Stars in the middle of the rebuilding process, having signed Canadian Gold Medalist Julia Grosso, and Brazilian star Ludmila last summer.
The Stars look to improve on their 2024 campaign, which saw them rise from last place in the standings to the first round of the playoffs. “Obviously, we want to be back in the playoffs, you know, we want to see where to push a little bit further in the playoff. That's first and foremost. Nothing less for us is going to be accepted.” Head coach Lorne Donaldson said to the media ahead of the team’s training session.
Defensively, the Stars are lacking in depth. The preseason roster listed eleven forwards and midfielders respectively, but just five defenders, including the recovering Sam Staab. According to Richard Feuz, the Stars may look inward before hitting the transfer market. “We just want to make sure to see what we have here and then decide what could be useful to help the team to be better.”
The Stars will head south to Florida for warm weather preseason training and will open their 2025 campaign in Orlando on March 14th.