Chicago Falls to Washington in Fall Series Opener

CHICAGO – The Chicago Red Stars displayed a mix of experience and youth as they fell to the Washington Spirit 2-1 in their NWSL Fall Series opening match. The Red Stars’ lone goal came from Sarah Luebbert, who would score her first professional goal. 

 KEY MOMENTS 

26’ – Sarah Luebbert receives a cross from Kealia Watt and slots the right-footed shot past Aubrey Bledsoe for the game’s first goal and her first career NWSL goal. 

41’ – Savannah McCaskill was shown a red card after a second yellow. 

42’ – A Washington corner kick produces a header towards goal, but Naeher quickly grabs the ball to prevent a scoring opportunity.  

71’ – Bayley Feist scores the equalizer off of a Dorian Bailey cross. 

87’ – Kealia Watt’s shot attempt on goal bounces off the post and finds Dani Rhodes for a rebound attempt, but Bledsoe makes the point-blank save to keep the game tied. 

90+1’ – Meghan McCool gets a point-blank shot on goal, but Naeher is there again to stop the shot. A rebound attempt is fired towards goal, but once again Naeher makes the save.  

90+3’ – Jessie Scarpa scores inside the box to give Washington the late lead.

GAME NOTES 

• Sarah Luebbert’s first-half goal was her first in the professional scene, picking up where she left off during her collegiate days. The former Missouri Tiger scored 29 career goals, making her one of nine players to score at least 21 goals in their career at the program. During her time in Missouri, Luebbert was named SEC Freshman of the Year in 2016, All-SEC second-team honors two years in a row (‘16 -’17), and All-SEC first-team honors in her final two seasons in the program (‘18 -’19) 
• With their second-half substitutions, Aerial Chavarin, Dani Rhodes, and Camryn Biegalski earned their first professional minutes. Chavarin (35th overall) and Biegalski (16th overall) were both selected during the 2020 NWSL College Draft and subbed in at the 86’ and 90+6’ marks respectively. Rhodes, who also subbed in at the 86’ minute mark, signed a short-term deal with the Red Stars prior to the start of the NWSL Fall series.  
• Zoe Morse and Zoey Goralski led the way defensively for the Red Stars, preventing the Spirit from scoring for most of the match. Goralski led all players in Saturday’s contest in tackles with six, also adding one clearance and interception each. Morse had the second-highest amount of clearances in the game with seven while also leading the game in interceptions (five) and winning all four of her duels. 

NEXT GAME

The Chicago Red Stars return home to play at Seatgeek Stadium for the first time in 2020 when they face Sky Blue FC on Sunday, September 20th. Game time is at 1 p.m. CT on CBS All-Access.  

 Washington Spirit vs Chicago Red Stars 

September 12, 2020 

Segra Field (Leesburg, VA) 

Goals by Half                        1 2 F  

Washington Spirit                 0 2 2  

Chicago Red Stars                1 0 1  

 Scoring Summary: 

CHI: Leubbert 26’ (Watt) 

WAS: Feist 71’, Scarpa 90+3’ (Thomas) 

 Disciplinary Report  

CHI: McCaskill 27’ (yellow card), 42’ (second yellow card; red card) 

WAS: Dougherty Howard 28’ (yellow card), Bailey 47’ (yellow card) 

 LINEUPS  

CHI: GK Naeher, D Morse, D Goralski, D Davison, D St. Georges, M Gautrat (Chavarin 85’), M Colaprico, M DiBernardo, F McCaskill, F Watt (Biegalski 90+5’), F Leubbert (Rhodes 85’),  

 WAS: GK Bledsoe, D Jacobs (Hellstrom 66’), D Bailey, D Staab, D Nielsen, M Dougherty Howard, M Boissiere (McCool 45’), M Feist, F McClure (Hendrix 80’), F Sanchez (Scarpa 87’), F Yokoyama (Thomas 80’)