By Amelia Hirtle
In the third-place match of the inaugural Women’s Cup, the Chicago Red Stars took the field against the powerhouse PSG in Louisville, Kentucky. Both Chicago and PSG lost in their opening matches on penalty kicks, thus the teams would meet to determine the third place on Saturday afternoon.
The match started out on the front foot of Chicago. There was a giveaway in the box from a PSG defender that almost resulted in a Red Stars goal in the first minute. Chicago continued to keep the pressure up, using the front line of Makenzy Doniak, Katie Johnson, and Alyssa Mautz to disrupt the PSG backline. Chicago had success for quite some time, however, PSG was able to strike first. De Almeida sent a ball in from the right side to Marie-Antionette Katoto who was able to chest it down for the volley. Her shot put PSG in front 1-0 in the 33rd minute.
The Red Stars got into a bit of a lull in the second half but had multiple chances as the game came down to the wire. In the 83rd minute, Kayla Sharples had a headed attempt that the PSG keeper was able to save. Chicago did not quit their attack until the final whistle sounded.
In the end, despite many close chances for Chicago, they were not able to find the back of the net. PSG came in third place in the Women’s Cup with a final score of 1-0. In the game for first place, Louisville took on Bayern Munich. The match ended in a 2-2 draw and then went into penalty kicks. The Louisville keeper, Katie Lund, made some spectacular saves and then converted a PK of her own to seal the deal for Racing.
After this weekend in the NWSL, Chicago sits right below the playoff line in seventh with 21 points. With just 8 regular-season games left, the team has no time to waste. There are 24 points up for grabs and the jockeying for the 6 playoff spots will continue as the weeks move on.
Chicago will play again on Saturday, August 28th at 7:00 PM CT (8:00 PM ET) against Kansas City.