Sjogren: “All eleven positions are up for grabs”
By Lesley Ryder
It was only a matter of time before Temwa Chawinga scored her first goal of the 2026 season. And then she scored two more times for her first hat trick in the NWSL. The Stars were shut out for the seventh time of the season, and despite leading the match in possession, their attack was toothless, generating only 0.66 xG.
The Current took control of the match early, earning four set pieces in the first three minutes of the match. Michelle Cooper nearly opened the scoring in the 12th minute after firing a pass from Temwa Chawinga off the right post. Ten minutes later, the Current capitalized on a Stars turnover. A Croix Bethune pass found an unmarked Temwa Chawinga, who slipped the ball past a diving Alyssa Naeher.
Chawinga’s first goal of the season came in her fourth match of the season, and she wasted no time adding to her total. While the Stars calmed the KC attack in the later stages of the first half, they could not bring that same momentum out of the halftime break. In the 47th minute, Michelle Cooper evaded Ryan Gareis and crossed a ball into Chicago’s box. Alyssa Naeher tipped the attempt off her gloves, but the rebound was gifted to, you guessed it, an unmarked Temwa Chawinga.
The back-to-back NWSL MVP competed her hat trick just two minutes later. The Current cycled the ball around the Chicago box, patiently awaiting an opening. A flick from Cooper, and Chawinga’s Charmin-soft touch settled the ball before ripping her third goal of the match past Alyssa Naeher. This joyful sequence might be the best thirty seconds of play the KC Current have put together all season.
The Stars managed two shots on net for the remainder of the match, and though they kept the majority of possession, they could not register a serious threat to kill the clean sheet.
“Everything” a challenge against KC
After the match, both players and head coach alike knew this was not Chicago’s best day. Martin Sjogren believed the team showed life at the end of the first half, but allowing the early second half goals killed their chances at a comeback. “I think after that, I think the second half is not the performance we want, or we need,” said Sjogren. “I think we're passive. We don't want to be a part of the game. We don't take responsibility for for our roles and our tasks within that role. So I think I'm really, really disappointed on the second half.”
The Stars are fighting issues all over the field this season, and they are no closer to finding a solution than they were a year ago. Sjogren’s post match presser listed a CVS-length receipt of problems for the club. While the lack of goals has been a problem, the defending has dropped them to a league-worst -14 goal differential, twice as in the red as last place Boston Legacy. “We don't take the duels in the way we want. We don't press the way we need to. We don't box defend the way we have to able to stay in this game in a good way,” Sjogren went on. “So it's not all about how to play the offensive game, but it's also about how you defend. And that has been an issue that we let too many easy goals in, I would say.”
When asked about the challenges against Kansas City, Sam Staab was frank. “Everything. They presented a lot of attacking threats. I don't think we helped ourselves out. I think we gave the ball away in really bad situations, and we didn't recover very well.”
For Staab, the struggle call is coming from inside the house. “I think we're just doing it to ourselves. I don't think we're taking care of the ball. I don't think we're helping each other, like, communicating efficiently. So, yeah, I think there's a lot to go back to the drawing board with.”
In the second half, as KC’s Croix Bethune was tended to by the team’s trainers, Staab, her fellow defenders, and Alyssa Naeher gathered together. “We basically just said we have nothing to lose. We can't keep playing scared like this. We all just kind of got to grow up and take care of the ball.”
At the end of last season, Staab was one of many players who believed the Stars were building momentum with their stronger performance in the second half of the campaign. But whatever progress was made then seems lost. “It feels like we're starting over again. It doesn't feel like we were able to build off of last season,” said the veteran center back. “So we're still building, we're still going, we're still trying. But, yeah, it's been tough, that's for sure.”
Short bench gets shorter
The Stars lost another outside back to injury early in this match. Michelle Alozie, who stepped in for the injured Tessa Dellarose, who stepped up for the injured Taylor Wood, appeared to go down with a non-contact injury to her leg in the 17th minute. Ryan Gareis, a forward, moved to left back, and Brianna Pinto came on to join as an attacking midfielder.
Backline depth has been an issue for the Stars going back to last season. In pre-match media, Martin Sjogren revealed that Taylor Wood suffered a dislocated knee during preseason training in Spain. This injury came after Natalia Kuikka’s ACL tear on the first day of training. Despite the immediate need, the Stars didn’t recruit enough dedicated defenders to replace them.
After the match, Sjogren said the transfer market search “is ongoing…of course, we need to strengthen the team for the summer,” he added “we keep on getting injuries in the same position, which doesn't help us out, but still, I think no matter what, we should be able to do better as a team.”
As the defensive woes pile up for the Stars, Stanford first-team All-American center back Elise Evans remains the only outfield player who has yet to record a single minute of play through nine games. As the team’s goal differential continues its free fall, surely Elise Evans is worth a look.
“I'm looking at her every day in training. She's been doing better and better in the training as well. She's she's working hard, which is a good sign,” Sjogren explained “And then we see how this week will progress. It's going to be an interesting week, because I think when we come from a second half performance like this, I think all the [starting] eleven positions are up for grabs.”
Road trip continues to North Carolina
Up next for the Stars is a trip to see the North Carolina Courage, another team hungry for a win. The Courage also have two wins on the season, but they’ve kept their games close—all but one of their eight games has been decided by one goal or less.
Saturday’s match will be a homecoming for Brianna Pinto. Her 73 minutes on Sunday marked her longest run on the pitch since suffering a foot injury against San Diego in March. The circumstances were not ideal, as she replaced the injured Alozie, but she was happy to step up when her team needed her. “I hope that in our next game, we can just be sharper defensively so that we don't concede as many goals. Because, you know, it's really, it's really difficult when we lose them the way that we did,” Pinto said after the match. “And hopefully we can learn from our mistakes and build forward, because we've got a big game next week”
Pinto is excited to play in front of friends and family, and is hopeful the trip can spark Chicago’s engines. “We have something to prove here as a Chicago team. We need to stack some wins and just get some pride back, because I do think we have talented players, but we just need to consistently show what we're capable of.”
The Stars will kick off their next match at WakeMed park on Saturday, 5:30 CT.
[Photos: Gretchen Schneider/Chicago Stars FC]