On Saturday night, the Chicago Red Stars were in Kentucky to take on Racing Louisville in their 5th game of the Challenge Cup.
Prior to the match, the visiting team were first in their division, leaving them in a good place to advance to the semifinals of the tournament.
It is no surprise that Mallory Pugh was involved to get Chicago on the board early. In the seventh minute, Pugh took the ball toward the end line where she played in a cross. Louisville keeper Katie Lund leapt up to tap the ball away, but the rebound went right to Amanda Kowalski for an easy tap-in at the back post. Lund did well to get a hand on the ball in, but it wasn’t clear far enough from the net for her to make a quick recovery for a second save.
Early in the second half, Chicago were forced to take Pugh out of the match due to injury. No update has been given on her apparent injury.
With Pugh out, the Red Stars struggled to string their attack together and were forced to be more aggressive on the defensive end.
The next goal came in the 76th minute from Racing Louisville’s Emina Ekic. Ekic took a free kick about 20 yards out that was out of reach for goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher.
The Red Stars return to action on Sunday April 24th, as they go up against the Kansas City Current on the road. Now in second place, Chicago must win this match to make it to the Challenge Cup Playoffs.