Red Stars battle to a scoreless draw at home
After Wednesday night’s games, the Chicago Red Stars sit in second place in the central division of the Challenge Cup.
Angel City Loses 1-3 Against OL Reign, But Finds A Gamechanger
By Christine Espinoza
In their second at home game, Angel City showed that they are a force to be reckoned with; however, OL Reign’s goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce was the person that kept Angel City from its first Challenge Cup victory.
Angel City began to test Tullis-Joyce almost immediately when both Tyler Lussi and Savannah McCaskill fired two shots on target within the first ten minutes. Angel City had better possession of the game until the 12th minute when Reign’s Rose Lavelle broke across the field and slid a ball to Veronica Latsko who scored the first goal of the game against Angel City.
Unfortunately, Reign’s second goal would come just five minutes after the first when Alana Cook delivered a header against goalkeeper DiDi Haracic. Angel City continued to press Reign’s defense including a breathtaking shot from Christen Press at the 20th which Tullis-Joyce rushed to get out of the way.
Bad luck struck Angel City again when McCaskill, who had an awkward tumble with Reign’s Latsko received a red card and was ejected from the game. While at first glance, it seemed as if it was a very hard call, replays showed that McCaskill’s cleats were on Latsko’s shin. While it seemed unintentional, the referee called it by the book, leaving Angel city with ten players for the rest of game. This move saw Jun Endo and Lussi defend more and give Reign slightly more possession into the end of the first half.
The substitution that made the difference in Angel City’s game after halftime was Simone Charley who made her debut and a stunning first impression when she came in for Endo and a created many great opportunities for the team.
The first opportunity came within the first couple of minutes of in the second half. Unfortunately, Reign also continued their attack and scored again at the 50th minute when Angelina raced past Angel City defenders and got the third goal for Reign.
Angel City’s goal came when Jasmyne Spencer ran and got past a Reign player almost to the corner, passed the ball to Charley who took two defenders out of their positions then quickly passed it to Lussi who made a clinical finish past Tullis-Joyce.
Charley attempted again at the 70th minute and 80th minute. Her addition to the game was so critical and should be noted as a promising game changer in future games as she contributed significantly to Angel City tripling their shots from 4 before halftime to 16 at the end of the game.
Although Angel City lost this game, they showed many possibilities to explore in just their second game, especially in a player like Simone Charley.
OL Reign: bold together in LA
Far from home, at the Titan Stadium, OL Reign made an amazing soccer match, with Latsko, Cook, and Angelina scoring the victory goals in the Challenge Cup. The keeper Tullis-Joyce also made a difference, preventing most of Angel City's attempts and guaranteeing the 1-3 on the score.
St. Louis opens MLS NEXT PRO soccer season, beats Rochester
After the loss of the city’s American football team the Rams, St. Louis welcomed their new MLS team with a sellout crowd on March 25 at Saint Louis Universities Hermann Stadium. The game kicked off the MLS NEXT PRO season across the league.
Racing Concedes a Two Goal Lead and Lose, 2-3 Against Houston
By Christine Espinoza
“A good first half and then a gift in the second,” Racing coach Kim Bjorkegren described the game quite accurately as Racing enjoyed a two goal lead in the first half, only to lose by three quick goals in the second half.
The game in general was much to Racing’s favor. They had a slight possession advantage throughout and had several shots on goal; something that needed to be worked on since their last game and last season. Obviously, it was taken to heart as Racing made many approaches to the final third with 9 shots, 5 of those on target.
Racing’s first goal came in the 16th minute when NWSL newcomer Kirsten Davis was able to capitalize on passing error from Dash to score her first league goal. Then, the goal that all Racing fans had been waiting for: at the 40th Jess McDonald, who capitalized on a Dash player’s deflection attempt after Lauren Milliet attempted to score, made the game 2-0.
Racing would shine most in their first half where not only were with their goals, but with their defensive line being able to keep Dash’s forwards Maria Sanchez (more on her later) and Nichelle Prince at bay in the first half.
Things took an interesting turn in the second half where Dash’s Sanchez was able to break through Racing’s defense at the 56th and score the first goal for Houston. The second one came in quick succession when just two minutes later, Sanchez crossed a ball to Marisa Viggiano who found the back of Katie Lund’s net. The unfortunate events would continue at the 65th when a Racing handball earned Dash a penalty kick, which Dash’s captain Rachel Daly converted into the winning goal.
McDonald had a senior player’s perspective on such a turn of events, saying “It’s all about encouragement. We don’t need any type of negativity on the field.”
“Hopefully with our experience, from Gemma (Bonner) in the back and my experience in the front, we just help the girls learn from that and learn to move on because we’re going to be in situations like that.”