Red Stars stumble against the Orlando Pride in 'Welcome Back Match'
Marta scored in the 37th minute to lead the league-leading Orlando Pride past the Red Stars 1-0 at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview. At 7-10-2 (23 points), the Red Stars remain in eighth place in the league standings with seven matches remaining.
The ‘‘Welcome Home Match’’ drew 7,291 fans pushing the total regular-season attendance for the NWSL past 1.5 million for the first time in league history.
The event celebrated Olympic gold medalists Alyssa Naeher and Mallory Swanson; welcome new Red Stars, Olympian Julia Grosso (Canada) and Olympic silver medalist Ludmila (Brazil).
"I’d like to thank each and every person in attendance this afternoon for joining us in celebrating our and Orlando’s Olympians, and for helping make the Red Stars the club that pushed the league to this new attendance record," said Chicago Red Stars president, Karen Leetzow.
The Red Stars hit the road to take on the Portland Thorns on Friday before returning home to host the North Carolina Courage on Sept. 21.