Stars fall 3-1 to the league leaders
By Lesley Ryder
It was a vintage Shea Groom goal.
Defender Sam Staab took a perfectly placed free kick as Shea Groom muscled through the Kansas City defense to flick the perfect header past Lorena. The Stars could not overcome the deficit against the Current, and lost keeper Alyssa Naeher late to an injury, but the team got a much-needed spiritual lift in Groom’s goal.
The goal was Groom’s first since July 31, 2022. She was emotional in her celebration, and hugged her teammates tight. “When you go through an injury like that, you don’t feel like yourself until you notch that first one,” Groom said after the match. “I was just happy to finally get one, and put some of those doubts to bed. Eleven years in, sometimes you think ‘maybe my time has passed’ so it was a nice little boost.”
The Stars lined up in a 3-4-3 formation, similar to their lineup in the latter half of the North Carolina Courage match. The move pushed Sam Staab out wider on the pitch, leaving the Temwa Chawinga guard duty to Cari Roccaro, and Hannah Anderson. Chawinga broke through the defensive line several times in the match, and notched a goal on the night.
Head coach Masaki Hemmi explained the formation strategy after the match. “In those moments, we try to push Cari Roccaro and Sam Staab into another layer, and so Hannah Anderson is in that lower layer to try to break that line with [Staab’s] higher layer.”
Moving the team’s best defender higher up the pitch is an interesting strategy to pursue as the Chicago Stars keep trying to find goals wherever they can. “Nothing really came from it, but in terms of getting [Staab] higher up the field, I think it was working there.”
The worst news of the day for the Stars came in the 90th minute when Alyssa Naeher came off with an apparent left arm injury. Minutes earlier, Naeher stopped a Chawinga shot from point-blank range. Naeher stayed down for a moment, but called off a visit from the Chicago trainers. She was visibly bothered, and tried to shake it off, but after a few minutes she took a knee on the field to be assessed and ultimately could not continue. Halle Mackewicz, former ACC goalkeeper of the year, made her debut for the Stars as she took over for the remainder fo the match.
The Stars extended their losing streak at home to eight matches, going back to September 21, 2024. They’ll return to action on the road against Angel City on June 7th, at 9PM central time.
From the notebook
- Jenna Bike made her 2025 debut after missing the first nine matches of the season with a quad injury.
- Three stars will be heading out on international duty during this window: Julia Grosso (Canada), Ludmila (Brazil), and Jameese Joseph (USWNT U-23)