Chicago Red Stars 4-4 Portland Thorns
BRIDGEVIEW, IL—History has a way of repeating itself, especially when Portland and Chicago meet up since both clubs have a lot of respect for each other and there’s plenty of national team players on both sides. On this day, it was also the home opener for the Red Stars and it turned into a classic.
Both Portland and Chicago played back and forth scoring goals during its match-up and ended up in a 4-4 draw at SeatGeek Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Christine Sinclair scored a hat trick and Ana Crnogorcevic had the other Thorns goal. The Red Stars were led by Yuki Nagasato with a brace, Sam Kerr, and Michele Vasconcelos also tallied goals.
“I thought out group was really resilient,” Chicago head coach Rory Dames said. “That PK like last year would’ve ended us. I don’t think we would’ve had the perseverance in us and I thought we lacked that l last year. So, not only to come back and get the fourth goal and have two great chances to get the fifth was a credit to the group. It’s the belief that they have with each other this year.”
For Chicago (0-0-2, 2 points), a 3-2 defeat last year still sits on their minds from last year and every time they meet up Portland (1-0-1, 4 points) tends to be a (no pun intended) thorn in their side.
“If you talk to anybody from our team, I think they’re disappointed,” Dames said. “For some reason we just can’t get over the hump past Portland. It’s now lost on us, doubleheader, we had them last year, thought we deserved better, I thought we were the better team. Don’t think we were the better team to be honest. We grinded it out 4-4. So, we have to figure out what mental issue we have with this team and we have to get past this team when it matters. We’ve got to figure it out.”
Chicago Red Stars and Portland Thorns draw 4-4, April 20, 2019 (Photo by Leslie Smith).
The Thorns have also had a tough time trying to get past the Red Stars and playing on the road hasn’t been the best of trips for them. But not getting the three points and only getting the one really doesn’t fit to well with them.
“This was a tough place to play.” Portland Thorns head coach Mark Parsons said. “It was a tough game and we just got a point out of it. We had a 4-3 lead late and let it go. It feels bad. Defensively, we stopped and fell into bad habits. We needed to close it out and get the points that we might need later on. From here, we need to recharge and refresh. Get better as individuals and I believe in the process.”
It was a scoring onslaught the entire match, it was tied at 2-2 at the break. Sinclair broke the tie with a back post goal scoring on the run off a pass from Meghan Klingenberg in the 51st minute for a 3-2 Thorns lead.
The Red Stars brought the score back level at 3-3 in the 77th minute. When Vasconcelos came off the bench a couple of minutes earlier, she took a through ball from Julie Ertz and placed into the back of the net.
Portland took over the lead again late in the 87th minute of play after Chicago’s Katie Naughton fouled Margaret Purce in the penalty area. Sinclair stepped up to the spot and converted the penalty for the one-goal advantage.
But the Red Stars kept pushing forward and found the tying goal that was deflected right to Nagasato, who hit a half-volley past Thorns keeper Adrianna Franch that tied the match 4-4 in the 90th minute.
“I was feeling that someone was going to make something,” Nagasato said. “I tried to get a cross and something happened. I just tried to take a shot and there was no time to get it on my foot. It actually, hit my knee and it went in.”
Over the next few minutes of extra time, the Red Stars had a few chances to take over the game with the best opportunity coming from Vanessa DiBernardo, who had sent a shot off the crossbar leaving the match in a draw.
Portland’s Sinclair scored the opening goal in the 16th minute off an assist from Lindsey Horan.
Chicago Red Stars and Portland Thorns draw 4-4, April 20, 2019 (Photo by Leslie Smith).
Then, Chicago scored the next two goals taking the lead, 2-1. First, Nagasato scored on a penalty kick in the 18th minute and then Sam Kerr stole the ball up top off a defender and found an open net three minutes later.
The Thorns’ Crnogorcevic scored its second goal off an assist from Klingenberg in the 33rd minute for a 2-2 tie before halftime.
“If we score 4 goals, we should never lose a game,” Red Stars goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher said. “We shouldn’t give up four goals and tie a game. That starts with me. We’ll go back and see what we can fix and see what we might have to adjust. Portland had Sinclair, who scored three goals and she’s one of the best goal scorers in the world and we shouldn’t let that happen.”
The Red Stars will host Reign FC next Saturday at SeatGeek Stadium starting at 7pm CT, while Portland travels again on the road to Sky Blue FC for a 3pm PT start.
For photo recap click here.
SCORING SUMMARY:
POR-Christine Sinclair (Horan) 16
CHI-Yuki Nagasato (penalty kick) 18
CHI-Sam Kerr (unassisted) 21
POR-Ana Crnogorcevic (Klingenberg) 33
POR-Christine Sinclair (Klingenberg) 51
CHI-Michele Vasconcelos (Ertz) 77
POR-Christine Sinclair (penalty kick) 87
CHI-Yuki Nagasato (unassisted) 90
BOOKING SUMMARY:
None
CHICAGO RED STARS (4-4-2): #1-Alyssa Naeher; #6-Casey Short (#7-Michele Vasconcelos 75), #5-Katie Naughton, #26-Tierna Davidson, #3-Arin Wright; #4-Alyssa Mautz (#13-Morgan Brian 63), #8-Julie Ertz, #24-Danielle Colaprico (#10-Vanessa DiBernardo 76); #12-Yuki Nagasato; #20-Sam Kerr, #33-Katlyn Johnson
Subs not used: #21-Emily Boyd, #23-Brooke Elby, #14-Sarah Gorden, #2-Nikki Stanton
PORTLAND THORNS (4-2-3-1): #24-Adriana Franch; #15-Ellie Carpenter, #16-Emily Sonnett, #2-Katherine Reynolds, #25-Meghan Klingenberg (#35-Gabby Seiler 67); #30-Celeste Boureille (#11-Dagny Brynjarsdottir 89), #10-Lindsey Horan; #7-Ana Crnogorcevic (#23-Margaret Purce 79), #12-Christine Sinclair, #17-Tobin Heath; #9-Caitlin Foord
Subs not used: #33-Britt Eckerstrom, #11-Dagny Brynjarsdottir, #20-Kelli Hubly, #34-Tyler Lussi, #26-Mallory Weber
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 20-10 POR
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 7-5 POR
FOULS: CHI 6-10 POR
OFFSIDES: CHI 1-4 POR
CORNER KICKS: CHI 1-4 POR
SAVES: CHI 1-3 POR
Referee: Karen Abt
Assistant Referees: Deleana Quan, Kaili Terry
Fourth Official: Kyle Hannon
Weather: Clear and 61º
Attendance: 12,967
Woman of the Match: Christine Sinclair (POR)
Chicago Red Stars
Portland Thorns
