By Lesley Ryder
Stars fall to late Spirit surge
The Chicago Stars could not outlast the struggling Spirit side. Gift Monday scored in the 83’ minute to break to put the Spirit ahead 3-2. Rosemounde Kouassi recorded a goal and an assist for the Spirit, and Julia Grosso scored her first NWSL goal for the Stars.
The Spirit opened the scoring in the 31st minute when Kouassi put a ball on goal that forced an own goal by Ally Schlegel. The Stars responded just 5 minutes later. Camryn Biegalski sent a pass to Julia Grosso, who dribbled downfield and sent a shot on goal inside the 18’. The first half flurry continued with Kouassi’s first NWSL goal in the 41st minute.
In the second half, the Stars equalized. Sam Staab moved the ball downfield, and followed her pass. Julia Grosso held the ball just outside the Washington 18’ and passed to Ludmila who chipped the ball to the front of the keeper. Sam Staab picked up the loose ball in front of the net and buried her shot for her first goal of the season.
Unfortunately for the Stars, they could not hold on to the end. Washington broke the deadlock in the 83rd minute when Kouassi maneuvered past two Chicago defenders to send a pass to a waiting Gift Monday, who tapped it past Alyssa Naeher. It was the sixth time Chicago surrendered a goal in the final 15 minutes of a match—the most in the NWSL.
According to American Soccer Analysis, Chicago recorded their highest non-penalty xG at home since 2022. “I think it was good we scored goals. We needed that,” said defender Camryn Biegalski after the match “I also think we need to stop letting goals in. Could’ve been way better defensively.”
Julia Grosso notched her first NWSL goal in the first half. “It feels like a weight off my shoulder. I really wanted to get that,” she said after the match. She then looked over to Biegalski, seated next to her “and thanks for the assist.” The assist was Biegalski’s first in the regular season.
It was another match of incremental progress for the Stars without securing the points they need to climb the table. “I think we made some mistakes in critical moments of the match, and we got punished for it,” head coach Masaki Hemmi observed after the match.” I think overall the player’s effort was there, we just have to be better in those moments.”
Up next
The Stars travel to North Carolina this weekend to face the Courage. They last beat the Courage in 2021, when they won 1-0 at home. They haven’t won on the road in North Carolina since May 21, 2017.
With a challenging road opponent ahead, The Stars are continuing to work on themselves. “The number one focus right now is improving us first. But also making sure that tactically we’re exposing the areas that we can expose against them, making sure that our defending is in a tight block, and our attacking is fluid in a different press shape that they throw at us,” Hemmi said in his pre-match media availability.
From the notebook
- Bea Franklin was nominated for the Lauren Holliday Impact Award for her work with Digs with Dignity, a Chicago organization dedicated to helping families transitioning out of homelessness.
- Micayla Johnson, the Stars’ youngest player graduated high school last Friday, and intends to continue her education with online college courses.
- I sat down with Richard Feuz and Karen Leetzow for The Equalizer to try to understand where the team sits with their rebuild. Feuz had a lot of interesting things to say! The article’s behind a paywall, but the Equalizer is well worth an addition to your woso news lineup.
Some good news
Ashley Shirey, Houston-area teacher on TikTok has been doing a unit on the NWSL with her class, and the results have been absolutely adorable. Students wrote to individual clubs with questions, and some clubs have responded with gift packages full of goodies, including team-signed scarves! This week, the class will get their biggest gift to date: a classroom visit from the Portland Thorns.