Defending shield winners defeated 2-1
By Lesley Ryder
The Chicago Stars won their home opener for the first time since 2024 against the league’s shield holders, the Kansas City Current in a windswept match just steps away from crashing waves on Lake Michigan. The Mary Poppins-summoning gusts turned crosses and corner kicks into knuckleballs, making play unpredictable at times. The hometown Stars made the most of the day’s circumstances to beat the Current 2-1.
For the first 20 minutes or so of Sunday’s tilt, it seemed the stars were doomed to repeat their performance against Angel City. Just under two minutes into the match, KC’s Gabby Robinson sent a long pass down the left side. Izzy Rodriguez beat Michelle Alozie to the ball, and sent a cross to a wide open Debinha, who could not control the ball for a shot on target. Ten minutes later, a Bea Franklin giveaway to Croix Bethune lent another opportunity for the Current. Bethune’s through ball in the box couldn’t find Debinha, but Michelle Cooper recovered the ball and chipped a cross into the mixer. Chicago’s Mana Hayashi attempted a header, but the ball fell to Rodriguez, who blasted a shot on net. Alyssa Naeher parried the shot away, but not out of danger. The rebound went right to Bethune for another chance that bounced wide of the Chicago net.
As the first half progressed, the winds of opportunity blew for Chicago. In the 41st minute, a long throw-in from Michelle Alozie found Briana Pinto in the box. She wheeled around her defender, to put a shot on Lorena, who knocked it out of bounds behind the net. On the following Corner kick, Sam Staab’s in-swinger was headed by KC’s Robinson, but popped up for a waiting Tessa Dellarose. She guided the rising ball with her left foot past Lorena to give Chicago the lead just before halftime.
The goal was Dellarose’s first as a professional player, and in her first professional start. After the match, she told media that she was just hoping to do her job on a set piece play. “My job was kind of just to stand [in front of] the goalkeeper, make things a little bit chaotic, and be ready for the second ball if and when it came in. And luckily for me, it did come in, and I was in the right position.”
Last weekend, the Kansas City Current went into the second half in similar circumstances. A set piece goal in the first half, gave way to a second half comeback over the Utah Royals. But on Sunday, Chicago opened the second half ready to grow their lead over the league’s shield holders.
In the opening minutes of the second half, Mana Hayashi recovered the ball in the midfield and connected a short pass to Julia Grosso. Grosso broke free in the wide open lane given by the Current’s positioning, dribbling thirty-ish yards down the field before sliding the ball out wide to Ryan Gareis, who sent a cross to the front of goal with her left foot. Jordyn Huitema rose up in front of Lorena to head the ball home for her first goal as a Star.
The connections between Grosso, Gareis and Huitema showed in glimpses last weekend, but Gareis was glad to see it come through on the scoreboard in Sunday’s match. “They are both very dynamic players, and they make it very easy to play with with their movements,” Gareis told media in the postgame presser. “They're very clear in what they're wanting and I think over time, since Jordan has joined our team, we've just been really focused on that in training.”
Julia Grosso hugs Jordyn Huitema after she scores her first goal as a Chicago Star (Photo: Emily Anderson)
Last weekend Gareis started further back on the field as an outside back. But this weekend she played a more familiar role on the left wing. While Gareis is always happy to play where she’s needed, being on the wing gives “a sense of excitement in terms of, like, how can I make their back line have a hard time?”
But the Kansas City Current would not go quietly into the night. In the 57th minute, Croix Bethune took a short pass of a KC free kick restart, and dribbled down the left side of the field. She sent a quick give-and-go pass to Ally Sentnor that split the chicago defenders. Bethune continued downfield and slotted an outlet pass to Izzy Rodriguez. She sent a hard, low cross to the front of the net to Haley Hopkins, who hit the ball past Naeher to make it a 2-1 game.
Kansas City continued to press for the equalizer, registering the last six shots of the match, but Chicago was able to outlast the attack for their first win against the Kansas City Current since April 15th, 2023.
After the match, Chicago head coach Martin Sjogren praised the players efforts to put in the work needed after last weekend’s blowout. “We've been talking so much this week about staying as a unit, because we weren't happy how it looked in LA, especially in defending,” Sjogren told the media in his postgame presser. “We've been talking about what it takes to actually be in this team. If you want to be in this team, it takes a lot of hard work. It takes a lot of running. It takes a lot of running for your teammates, [and] running for the team.”
The effort on the field for the Stars was definitely better than what was shown in Los Angeles, but there were still defensive lapses that will need some attention. That attention might be difficult to work out on the training field with Chicago’s tight schedule this week with a home match Wednesday, and a long distance road match just three days later.
The question for the Stars now will be if they can sustain this performance today on a tight turnaround for the next match.
Any Given Sunday strikes again
After a 4-0 drubbing on the road, few would have picked the Chicago Stars to triumph this weekend… but not everyone!
The Chicago Stars swung from a parity denying performance against Los Angeles, to parity sicko mode against the shield defenders in the span of a week.
Perhaps on a day with nicer weather, or on a day when Kansas City attacking threats Croix Bethune and Michelle Cooper aren’t on a minutes restriction, the Current can finish the comeback. On a day with Temwa Chawinga in the lineup, maybe the Current wouldn’t need a comeback performance at all.
But for whatever reason, despite being outshot, and out chanced, the stars came away with the win. Because in sports, all that matters is who scored more before the final whistle.
Up next
The Stars have a quick turnaround for a home match against the Orlando Pride on Wednesday, and a trip west to play San Diego on Saturday evening. Wednesday will be a rematch of September’s inaugural Martin Field match, when the Stars beat Orlando, the then-defending shield holders 5-2. They’ll have another quick turnaround to head west for a game against the San Diego Wave on Saturday. Wednesday’s match will stream on Victory+ at 7PM Central, and Saturday’s match will be on ION at 7:45 PM Central.
Notes from the field
- After the match, rookie Tessa Dellarose had only just seen her notifications on social media
- Alyssa Naeher became the second NWSL goalie to record 15,000 minutes with one team. She trails only Houston’s Jane Campbell.
- With two more games this week, head coach Martin Sjogren expects a lot of rotation in the starting XI. “Without promising anything to anyone. But of course we won't see the same starting lineup for these three games.”