March 23, 2024 – National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL)
Chicago Red Stars News Release
CHICAGO – The Chicago Red Stars took down Seattle Reign FC, 2-1, in the club’s home opener at SeatGeek Stadium. Midfielder, Julia Bianchi, and defender, Maxi Rall, provided the goals tonight for Chicago. The team is now 2-0-0 with six points to start the season, the first time the club’s started with six points.
KEY MOMENTS:
6′ Playing out of the back, Chicago’s Sam Staab sends a long ball into Seattle territory that finds Mallory Swanson on a run. Swanson takes a shot, but Seattle’s keeper gets a hand on it to prevent Chicago from opening the scoring
27′ Chicago’s Jenna Bike carries the ball deep into Seattle’s 18-yard box, sends a cross that gets deflected to forward, Ally Schlegel, but traffic catches up with the forward and the ball is cleared before the Red Stars can capitalize
42′ Jenna Bike sends a cross into Seattle’s box that rattles out to a charging Julia Bianchi who blasts a shot into the upper ninety of the goal and opens the scoring for Chicago, 1-0 Red Stars
63′ Seattle receive the ball at the top of Chicago’s 18-yard box and Ji So Yun sends a shot past the keeper’s outstretched arm to even the score, 1-1
67′ Chicago’s Julia Bianchi sends a pass in Seattle territory to Taylor Malham who sends a cross to the back post that finds a charging Maxi Rall who gets a shot into the back of the net to retake the lead for Chicago, 2-1 Red Stars
GAME NOTES:
Julia Bianchi and Maxi Rall both scored their first NWSL goals tonight. Bianchi scored a goal for the Red Stars last season in a friendly match against Mexico’s Women’s National Team, but had not scored in NWSL competitions until tonight.
Tonight was Rall’s second goal involvement in as many games. The defender had the hockey assist that led to Ava Cook’s goal last week against Utah.
With tonight’s win, Chicago is now 2-0-0 with six points for the first time in club history.
All goal scorers tonight are foreign born players: Julia Bianchi (Brazil), Ji So Yun (South Korea) and Maxi Rall (Germany).
Tonight, marked goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher’s 50th win with Chicago. Naeher is the first goalkeeper in the NWSL to win 50 matches with one club.
Chicago is unbeaten in the last five matches when leading at the half, dating back to October 2022.
Chicago’s win over Seattle marks the first win for the club over the Reign since June 4, 2022
Next Game
Orlando Pride vs.Chicago Red Stars March 29, 2024, 6:00 p.m. CT at Inter&Co. Stadium, Orlando,…