Bridgeview, Ill. – The Chicago Red
Stars were shutout for the third consecutive game Saturday, falling 2-0 to Saint
Louis in front of 4,461 at TOYOTA PARK.
Athletica’s first score came off a Chicago own goal
in the 25th minute.
Eniola Aluko fired a shot that hit Red Stars defender Ifeoma Dieke and
went over goalkeeper Caroline Jönsson’s stretch and into the net. Aluko found the net herself in the
41st off an assist from Kendall Fletcher.
Despite
outshooting Athletica 12-5, including a 6-1 margin in shots on goal, the Red
Stars (2-3-2) suffered their third consecutive loss. Chicago has not scored in 308 minutes –
dating back to Brittany Klein’s second half goal against Boston on April 25.
Saint
Louis deputy goalkeeper Jillian Loyden was impressive in her WPS debut, stopping
a pair of strong Chicago opportunities in the first half. In the 17th minute Karen
Carney’s corner kick was headed on goal by Cristiane, but Loyden perried it over
the net to deny the Red Stars a goal.
Carney fired a strong shot from the top of the box in the 38th
minute, but Loyden again knocked it over the net.
The match
featured the return of Red Stars forward Danesha Adams and midfielder Heather
Garriock from injuries. Both
entered as substitutes at halftime, but Garriock logged just eleven minutes
before re-pulling a muscle in her leg and leaving the game. Natalie Spilger also left the Chicago
lineup in the 78th minute after a head-to-head collision with Saint
Louis’ Kerri Hanks. Spilger did not
return to the game.
With
tonight’s result Saint Louis (2-2-2) moves even with Chicago for fifth place in
the WPS standings – each team with eight points.
In other
Red Stars news, midfielder Carli Lloyd suffered a laceration to her left knee
Saturday in a scrimmage with the U.S. Women’s National Team. Lloyd will miss the U.S. friendly with
Canada in Toronto on Monday and may be out two weeks.
Chicago
will now hit the road for four straight matches, beginning June 3rd
at WPS leader Los Angeles. The Red
Stars return home to TOYOTA PARK June 21st for a 3 pm match with the
Boston Breakers. Tickets are
available by calling (866) WPS-2009 or logging on to www.chicagoredstars.com.
Saint Louis Athletica
(2-2-2) vs. Chicago Red Stars (2-3-2)
May 23, 2009 – TOYOTA PARK
SCORING
1
2
FINAL
Saint Louis
2
0
2
Chicago
0
0
0
SCORING SUMMARY:
1. STL – Ifeoma
Dieke (Own goal), 25th.
2. STL – Eniola Aluko, 2 (Kendall
Fletcher, 1), 41st.
Saint Louis – Loyden; Cross,
Ellertson, Larsson, Weber; Francielle, Stoia (Walter, 70), Woznuk, Fletcher;
Aluko, Hanks (Welsh, 88).
Chicago Red Stars – Jönsson; Igwe (Adams, 46), Krzysik
(Garriock, 46; Wenino, 56), Dieke, Spilger; Oakes, Östberg, Klein; Carney, Masar,
Cristiane.
STATISTICS
SHOTS: STL – 5
CHICAGO – 12
SHOTS ON GOAL: STL – 1 CHICAGO – 6
SAVES: STL – 6 CHICAGO – 0
FOULS: STL – 12 CHICAGO –
11
CORNER KICKS: STL – 2 CHICAGO – 4
OFFSIDES: STL – 6 CHICAGO –1
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY:
CHI – Chioma
Igwe (caution; foul), 9.
STL – Eniola Aluko (caution; dissent), 81.
Referee: Sandra Serafini
Referee’s Assistants:
Stephanie Toth, Katherine Dziedzic
4th Official: Jorge
Cuate
Time of Game: 1:55
Attendance: 4,461
Weather: 70 degrees, partly
cloudy with showers
All
statistics included in this box score are unofficial.
POST GAME QUOTES
SAINT LOUIS HEAD COACH JORGE
BARCELLOS
“To play against
Chicago is always a complicated thing. I think we did everything we needed to
do.”
“We were in a situation similar to Chicago. We lost
three games (in a row). We were
able to find our game today and get three points away from home. This last week
we were able to work on things we needed to work on. We recently had players that went to the
national team and we did ok.”
“We were also missing six players for today’s
game. We were down six of our
starting players. I’m very happy
because we don’t have just a group, we feel like we have a family.”
ATHLETICA FORWARD ENIOLA ALUKO
“I was trying to cut it back to Kerri Hanks but it
deflected off the defender and went in. Sometimes you get goals like that.”
“Well to be honest nothing was different, we
prepared the same as if they were here.”
ATHLETICA GOALKEEPER JILLIAN LOYDEN
“The transition was so easy next to my teammates and
coaching staff and how much faith that they’ve had in me in the last two weeks
and basically the whole time that I’ve been here. They gave me such confidence
and they knew that I would do a good job.”
“We’re just united. We’re covering for each other
and dropping for each other. I just
felt like we played so well together. It was a lot of fun out there.”
CHICAGO RED STARS HEAD COACH EMMA HAYES
“I think the team
started quite well in the earlier period. I thought we were dominating the opening
moments. You’ve seen with this team
we get vulnerable mentally. I think
after the goal we became disconnected as a team. In all fairness, they had two moments,
back to back, it’s a group that’s going to have to work through having to solve
and to stay on top emotionally in the game if they’re going to find a way back
into it from this point on.”
“This is the time that the team as a whole has to
come together and along with the staff, we have to find solutions on things in
my opinion which are not based off ability. Mentally we have to develop a collective.
For us, we’re better than we’re
showing at the moment.”
“I’ll say this time and time again. Now is the test again of our character.
We can’t fold, we lost the game in
two moments. It’s crucial that we
identify what those problems are once a goal goes in. It is emotional, I can
assure you that. We need to get on the same page and have a collective focus.
You can’t solve it as an
individual, you have to solve it as a collective. I think we’re lacking with that at the
moment, and it’s something that we’re going to have to work at.
RED STARS GOALKEEPER CAROLINE JÖNSSON