By Amelia Hirtle
The inaugural Women’s Cup began on Wednesday night with PSG vs. Bayern Munich in Louisville, Kentucky. The match ended in a 2-2 draw, sending the game into penalty kicks where Bayern came out on top. Chicago and Louisville took the pitch next in the cup game that also counted as a regular season game on the NWSL schedule, meaning points in the standings were on the line.
Wednesday night saw the return of Casey Krueger and Tierna Davidson in the Chicago lineup. Both started and played the full match. Julie Ertz is currently rehabbing her knee out of market and Alyssa Naeher will be out a minimum of 4 weeks with a knee injury from the Olympics.
For Chicago, the game did not start as planned. Midfielder Danielle Colaprico was dispossessed by Louisville striker Ebony Salmon in the back field who then dribbled the ball and was able to nutmeg the keeper for an early goal. The Red Stars almost got one back in the 23rd minute on an Arin Wright strike that just missed the frame.
The Red Stars came out in the second half looking ready to dominate. In the 57th minute, forward Kealia Watt scored off a poor clearance near the net from Racing. At the end of the match, the score was a 1-1 draw. For NWSL regular season purposes, each team gained 1 point in the standings but because a team needed to advance to the Cup final, it went to penalty kicks. Chicago lost on penalty kicks to Racing Louisville who will now face Bayern Munich in the Cup final on Saturday night. The Red Stars will go up against PSG for third place. With 2 games in 3 days, the Red Stars lineup will likely look much different on Saturday afternoon at 3 PM ET.