Coming into Sunday’s match, the Chicago Red Stars had not scored in the run of play since their match against the NC Courage on June 5th but were unbeaten in their 2 previous matches.
The Reign were coming off a busy week themselves. A few days after the Reign beat Kansas City, it was announced that Laura Harvey would return to the team as the Head Coach following the Olympics with the USWNT.
From the beginning of the match, the Reign looked like the stronger team. They were pressing high and looking to create chances in the final third. In the 12th minute, Reign forward Balcer was able to connect on a cross from defender Celia and score to put the Reign up early. The rest of the half continued with the Reign dominating possession of the ball, however the score remained 0-1 in favor of OL Reign.
In the second half, the Red Stars made a key substitution that changed the course of the game. Danielle Colaprico came on for Sarah Woldmoe. With Colaprico in the midfield, it allowed Morgan Gautrat to be more involved in the Chicago attack rather than dropping back and to play more defense. The impact was almost instant. In the 48th minute Mallory Pugh received the ball on the left and sent in a cross. Reign defender Celia stuck out her leg to block the shot and the ball was deflected off her foot and into the goal. In the 54th minute, a corner was given to Chicago. Pugh took the corner and Reign defender Alana Cook deflected the ball into her own net to put Chicago on top 2-1. The last goal of the evening came from a Chicago throw-in. Kealia Watt flicked the ball to Pugh who hit a strike past the OL goalkeeper.
The second half of the match was all Chicago. They were able to build off of the momentum of their goal 3 minutes after the half began and they didn’t slow down. OL Reign were not able to match the energy and only managed 1 shot on goal in the second half.
After the final match of the night was played, Chicago found themselves in second place in the standings with 17 points. They will travel to New Jersey to face Gotham FC on Sunday 7/25 at 5:00pm ET.