Chicago Red Stars vs Racing Louisville: A Wet Mess

Things are not going very well for the Chicago Red Stars at this point. With an opportunity to turn things around against another opponent that seems to struggling the same way as them, it all fell apart in the second half and Chicago lost to expansion side Racing Louisville 3-0. Here’s what happened.

First of all, the game was delayed multiple hours due to a tornado warning, which meant the match was filled with rain. And that rain was definitely involved in the match as in the 8th minute an Alyssa Naeher goalkick dropped much shorter than intended due to a heavier ball and Savannah McCaskill was given an early shot on goal for Racing Louisville. But it was the Chicago Red Stars who had the better of the chances in the first half as in the 31st and 33rd minute Vanessa DiBernardo set up office at the top of the box and saw one shot pushed over the bar and the clang down of the crossbar. It would be Louisville who found the first goal in the 38th minute when Naeher got too far out of position and without enough traction to get back into position to stop a relatively slow shot from Ebony Salmon.

By the second half, most fans had retreated to cover at SeatGeek Stadium from the constant onslaught of rain. In the 52nd minute, it was Mallory Pugh taking the shot from DiBernardo’s Office, but it was pushed away by Michelle Betos. In the 55th minute, after getting a much softer booking in the first half, Danielle Colaprico received her second yellow after pulling down former teammate Yuki Nagasato on a breakaway. Nagasato converted on the chance created by the free-kick when a miscommunication between Tierna Davidson and Sarah Gorden led to the ball landing right in front of Nagasato with the goal mouth wide in front of her. The final nail in the coffin came from another former Red Star in the 62nd minute when Lauren Milliet’s cross to no one in particular in the box turns out to be for McCaskill driving in towards the back post out of nowhere.

Here are three things we learned from this game:

Soccer in a Lake

To start here, I just want to give a quick physics lesson for everyone. Despite how cool and fun a game being played on a rainy afternoon is, rain is very unhelpful to a soccer game. A pitch with standing rain-water is going to create the friction to slow and possibly stop a ball and make it harder to get the ball off the ground. Not to mention, modern balls are almost built like sponges. Enough water and the ball’s just going to be a lot heavier and harder to play with.

So with that in mind, the heavens unloaded onto SeatGeek Stadium Saturday afternoon with buckets of rain before and during the match. With severe thunderstorms in the Chicago area for possibly the entire week, the game was postponed multiple hours due to a tornado warning in Cook County.

I wouldn’t blame the Chicago Red Stars loss on the rain, but it’s hard to say the rain didn’t have an effect on the match, especially when it looked like the first goal was the result of a slip from Naeher.

A Warm Welcome

I’m starting to hate my sudden knack for prophecy. Much like my prediction in the Washington Spirit game, I spoke in my preview about the returning former Chicago Red Stars players who’d been featuring on Racing Louisville. I said that one or both would have major impacts on the game. And both Savannah McCaskill and Yuki Nagasato scored their first goals of the season against Chicago.

Now, were their trades bad in any way? Not really. It seemed like it was simply a workaround for the expansion draft and might’ve possibly been picked anyway. But it does leave a bad taste in my mouth that these two players specifically were let go as they seemed to be a fairly integral part of the team. But now, they seem to be an integral part of Louisville.

When To Panic

At what point do Chicago Red Stars fans start to truly panic? Because in the past there’s been some bad stretches and even last season wasn’t truly a reason to panic, just be concerned. But now, after losing two in a row and not really feeling in control all season, the Red Stars just don’t feel like they’re in a good position. It feels like the old team has gotten stale.

But that’s where the problem is. If the team is feeling stale, then who do you replace? Rory Dames has never had a losing season coaching the Red Stars, but he’s also never won a real trophy with them. And there are players on the team that have been in Chicago for a long time and have been key parts of what the Red Stars have built, but what they’ve built is a team that’s doing this.

So when do we panic? And what can the Red Stars even do when it’s time to panic?