Both teams trade late goals to end on a 1-1 draw
By Lesley Ryder
The Stars survived an early onslaught to stay scoreless in the first half, and stayed alive through the second half on Alyssa Naeher’s goaltending heroics. Jameese Joseph opened the scoring in the 85’, but Louisville was able to respond with an equalizer by Bethany Balcer in the 93rd minute.
For Louisville, the opening whistle could’ve been a starting gun. Their feverish press out the gate pinned Chicago in their own end, earning 3 corner kicks in the first five minutes. The Stars shook off the first attack to mount one of their own. A 7th minute free kick for the Stars led to their first opportunity to work the ball around Racing’s 18’. Mana Hayashi floated a ball into the mixer, and Ally Schlegel won the header, but sent the ball over the bar.
It wasn’t long before Louisville was back in the driver’s seat. Racing outshot Chicago 12-6 in the first half, putting five shots on target, while Chicago had none. The Stars had no answer for Louisville’s press. “We were struggling quite a lot, I thought in the first half, especially solving this pressure that they are good at,” Interim head coach Anders Jacobson said “Overall, there are things that have to improve. But I have to say Louisville, what they are doing, i think they are doing in a very very very good way. So I have to say from that perspective, they made this game hard for us.”
The second half brought more of the same for Chicago. Louisville came out flying, and continued to pummel the Chicago defense. They found the woodwork twice, and forced Alyssa Naeher to make multiple saves.
Amazingly, it was Chicago who registered the opening goal. Alyssa Naeher swept a pass to Sam Staab, who sent a long ball downfield toward a streaking Ludmila and Chacón. A Louisville defender attempted to clear the ball away, but Chacón was able to chase it down. She held up play for a moment while Jameese Joseph raced through the open channel down the middle of field. Chacón’s pass found Joseph, who sent her shot past a diving Jordan Bloomer for the lead.
Ivonne Chacón holds up play. Photo: Nicole FInch/Chicago Stars FC
”When Ivonne has the ball, I know she's gonna hold the ball up. She's a really good nine back to goal, and her footwork is really good. So as she like, started to stutter step and step. And was looking for that option. I saw the space at the top of the box, and I called for it, and we made eye contact, and yeah, simple as that,” said Joseph of the connection with Chacón leading to the goal.
Ludmila nearly scored a dagger just three minutes later. She beat two defenders to a long Staab pass, and poked the ball past Bloomer, but she could not recover the ball in time to beat the retreating Louisville defense.
Unfortunately, the second half comeback queens were fed a taste of their own medicine. In the last minute of stoppage time, Louisville earned a throw-in on the left side of field. Janine Sonis ran unchallenged and sent a perfectly placed pass to Bethany Balcer, who poked the ball past Naeher to bring Louisville level at the death.
While the draw was nice to have, Joseph felt it was an opportunity lost. “I felt like we did have that win. I felt like the win was in our hands and our time management just wasn't the best. I think we we have to be better at that towards the end of the game when, especially when we are leading.”
Jacobson agreed. “I think we had moments where we could kept the ball higher up on the pitch, where we lose it too simple, which gives them their chances of doing those things that ends up with throw-ins and so on, so I thought that was unnecessary from our side.”
One positive certainly taken away from the match? Alyssa Naeher’s season-high 8 saves on the night. Naeher also passed the 500-save mark for a single club in the first half. “Alyssa was a really great part of our defense tonight. She had amazing saves, and she really held our team together,” said Joseph.
With Chicago earning the draw, Racing Louisville was unable to clinch a playoff spot, but they now sit in 8th place, 4 points clear of 9th place North Carolina.
Next weekend the Stars will visit San Diego Wave FC, another club hungry for points in the playoff race.
Notes from the field
- The Stars Starting XI had a few surprises: Sam Staab started in midfield, and Ludmila started the match on the bench. Jacobson said after the match that it was not a matter of experimentation, but rather, an illness had been going around the team, affecting who was available for training earlier in the week.
- Joseph netted her 3rd goal of the season, putting her in second place behind Ludmila for team goals. She also passed her rookie scoring mark of 2 goals last season.
- Alyssa Naeher recorded 8 saves for the first time since the 2023 season.
- Taylor Malham appeared in her 50th match for the Stars, and tied Casey Krueger for the most consecutive minutes played with 2,520.