Chicago suffers their worst loss in NWSL franchise era
By Lesley Ryder
The Chicago Stars might want a do over.
Injuries and illness made the club field a young squad against the defending double champions. Orlando dominated the Stars for the entirety of the match. Haley McCutcheon scored the opener in the 7th minute, and Ally Watt netted a header off a corner kick to put Pride up 2-0 before halftime.
The Stars struggled to move the ball out of their own half in the first 45 minutes, managing just 2 shots against Orlando.
Unfortunately for the Stars, Orlando continued to pressure in the second half. Hannah Anderson deflected an own goal in teh 47th minute. Julie Doyle powered a shot past Alyssa Naeher off of a laser-guided pass from Barbra Banda, and Banda finished the scoring with a brace of her own.
The 6-0 score marked the worst loss for the Chicago Stars in NWSL franchise history.
All four Stars FC rookies featured in the match. Justina Gaynor became the 1001st player to take the field for in the NWSL, missing the 1000th spot by seconds to Houston’s Maggie Graham.
“Orlando is just better.” Head coach Lorne Donaldson told media after the match. “[If] you're not comfortable, then there's going to be some jitters. And there was a lot of that, it lasted too long, and you see the results of that.”
“I mean, they can beat you in a lot of different ways. And they've got, you know, a very organized, disciplined and very potent attack that, at times, it's kind of like just playing whack a mole. We have to do a better job staying organized, staying compact,” said Alyssa Naeher. “We have to speed up our movements. I think that's what we need to continue to improve on ball speed, moving the ball around, you know, whether it's working off the ball, just finding openings, I think that's, that's one of the tough things when the other team is doing everything very quickly, we have to start speeding up.”
Some good news for the Stars: Sam Staab made her return to the lineup after missing the second half of the season with a torn achilles. “It's been phenomenal to have her back, on the field, just her leadership, her vocal presence, just her presence in general, makes such a huge difference for for this team,” said Naeher after the match.
Chicago faced criticism for their lack of offseason spending, but GM Richard Feuz dismissed those concerns during Stars preseason. Friday night’s match showed a continuation of concerns from the previous season: a lack of depth, and a lack of connection on the field. The Stars were hesitant in their play, ceding open space to Orlando’s dangerous attack. When the Stars gained possession, it seemed as though they didn’t know what to do with it. Passes were booted downfield to no one, or worse, played backwards into dangerous positions where Barbra Banda lurked.
It’s still early, and Friday night’s lineup was not the strongest XI this team could muster, but given what little was done in the offseason, Stars fans are right to feel unease.
Next week’s home-opening match comes against the Houston Dash. The Dash finished last in the league table last season, but showed promise in their season opener against the Washington Spirit after an offseason overhaul.