The 2020 Chicago Red Stars were haunted by the ghost of roster past. Not a match went by without her name mentioned by commentators or in analyzing their 2020 dip in the offense. It got to the point where commentators of the Challenge Cup were in on the joke, saying her name to make sure money was raised for charity. Three-time NWSL Golden Boot and two-time NWSL MVP winning Sam Kerr leaving the team left an impact. After winning two of those awards in 2019, she practices her craft with Chelsea in England’s Women’s Super League. If 2020 was a constant look into the past, 2021 is a great chance to shift towards the future.
2020 Season
Challenge Cup: sixth place, preliminary round, lost in the Cup final to Houston.
Fall Series: sixth place – 4 points.
Now, this attention to the-name-that-will-no-longer-be-said likely was not a conversation within the locker room of the Chicago Red Stars. After all, the team does like to control the competitive narrative and has a history of making smart roster moves. They brought in Kealia Watt, from the Houston Dash, who was looking for a new challenge. The first Dash college draftee in their history and leave five seasons later as their captain requested a trade. This was not a like-for-like replacement. After all, it’s hard to replace a golden boot-winning 19-goal scoring forward without selling the farm. Watt ended the year with two goals and two assists in 10 appearances.
Albeit with a smaller sample size due to COVID-19 putting a halt on the regularly scheduled 2020 season, the Red Stars slid from 42 goals in 26 matches to just 12 in 11. Good for a drop in over half a goal average per match. They also had just two multi-goal scoring results. Part of the reason for that dip isn’t solely on Watt. The group around her kept changing due to injury. US National Team defensive fullback Casey Krueger and forward Yūki Nagasato both suffered injuries in the Challenge Cup. Both players part of the Chicago offensive attack, with Short, even scoring the late 85th-minute winner to get the Red Stars to advance to the NWSL Challenge Cup Playoffs.
One of their only two multi-goal matches came in the Challenge Cup where they won 3-2 against Sky Blue FC. Part of those three goals was one from 2020 standout Bianca St. Georges, a player drafted in 2019 but missed her first eligible year due to surgery. St. Georges played right fullback in 2020 and showed skill, speed, and awareness on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.
Chicago Red Stars wasn’t able to duplicate their Challenge Cup success in the Fall Series. In the four matches, they won one, drew one, and lost two. Their most successful match being a 4-1 dominance of Sky Blue FC on Sept. 20.
Offseason Moves
Part of controlling the narrative off the field came before the Racing Louisville expansion draft. Instead of allowing Louisville to decide who leaves the Red Stars roster, Chicago traded midfielder Savannah McCaskill, Yūki Nagasato, the 5th pick in the NWSL draft, and an international spot up to 2022 in return for full expansion draft immunity. With Nagasato’s injury in the Challenge Cup, McCaskill did start to find her offensive touch. Something that Chicago had been looking for since they acquired her in 2019. She assisted that Krueger 85th minute winner, and scored one, and assisted two in her four Fall Series matches. Nagasato recovered from injury and made history in Japan, signing with men’s amateur side Hayabusa Eleven. She became the first woman to play for a men’s side in Japan’s history.
On Dec. 29, 2020, the Red Stars made a pre-draft deal with Sky Blue FC that gave the New Jersey side a bright future. Chicago sent international picks in 2021 and 2022, the 4th and 8th overall picks in the 2021 NWSL draft, and a conditional draft pick in 2022. In return, Chicago received midfielder Sarah Woldmoe. She is a holding midfielder that played every minute of Sky Blue’s 10 matches of 2020. The Red Stars also received US National Team forward Mallory Pugh.
Pugh was the first player to go straight from high school to the NWSL, made her senior national team appearance at the age of 17, and has scored in both the Olympics and a World Cup. Pugh comes into the Chicago side after missing a lot of 2020 with injuries including two in the fall of 2020. Bringing her in was a risk, but at only 22, she still has a long career ahead of her. Getting healthy now puts her at the same age as a lot of 2021 draft picks.
Chicago announced another roster move last week. The Red Stars added multiple team investors. Included in the group are longtime Red Stars supporter and ESPN award-winning journalist Sarah Spain, PWHPA star and gold medal-winning hockey player Kendall Coyne Schofield and many more. They join tennis stars Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka, actress Natalie Portman and countless others that have invested in the NWSL in the past year.
Draft Picks
Round 1 – Madison Haley – Forward – Stanford
Round 2 – Kelsey Turnbow – Forward – Santa Clara
Round 3 – Brianna Alger – Defender – Washington State
Round 4 – Channing Foster – Forward – Ole Miss
Round 4 – Alissa Gorzak – Forward – Virginia
In the draft, head coach Rory Dames and the Chicago front office had a clear position in mind. Four of their five selections are forwards. Due to the NCAA fall soccer regular seasons postponement of multiple conferences until the spring, only Gorzak is with the team in preseason.
2021 Roster
The good news for 2021 is that the team lost only two players, and will have a full season to build chemistry. Something that has not been easily done during 2020. The biggest names returning are the allocated players from the US and Canadian Women’s National Teams. US Goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, US defenders Krueger and Tierna Davidson, US midfielder/defender Julie Ertz, Canadian St. Georges, and the aforementioned Pugh.
Overall, the Red Stars have the most allocated players of any team in the league which is a double-edged sword. On one hand, six hard-working, skilled, players represent the club and country on your roster. On the other hand, all six lose a big chunk of the NWSL season due to the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Being an allocated player means that the national team pays their NWSL salary, an agreement made between the federations of Canada, the United States, and the league.
At least half of those players will be at the Olympics. Naeher and Ertz don’t miss US National Team matches often and Davidson is a strong candidate to make the 18. Krueger and Pugh could choose to forego any NWSL matches if brought in for part of the four reserve players the US brings to Tokyo.
St. Georges received her first call up to the Canadian senior side in 2021 but left camp due to a torn meniscus. After undergoing successful surgery, she will return to the Chicago side before the start of the NWSL regular season in May. It’s unsure how that affects her senior team standing but they did choose to allocate her, so they see the potential.
The most interesting positional battle to watch is in defensive midfield. Morgan Gautrat and Danny Colaprico held down the roles in 2020, but the addition of Woldmoe will make both of them nervous.
Watt is the strongest choice for starting forward, especially with most of the college forward draftees not being available to train with the team. But Haley and Turnbow give even more motivation to get back to her 2016 form when she was an MVP candidate and 11-goal scorer.
Predicting a lineup is difficult, with allocated players and St. Georges’ injury leaving them out for part of the Challenge Cup. The US National Team plays friendlies on April 10th and 13th, one day after the tournament starts; which have been part of the motivation to have this tournament style before the regular season in May. Luckily for Chicago, players like defenders Sarah Gorden, Zoe Morse, and Kayla Sharples are available for depth on the backline when Ertz, Davidson, and Krueger are potentially away. Emily Boyd, who suffered an injury during her loan spell to HB Køge in the Danish league, is the backup when Naeher is away.
Who do you think starts for Chicago? Comment below or share on Twitter. We’ll see who Dames goes with in a month when the Challenge Cup begins on April 9th, in the team’s home markets. Following that will be a 24-match regular season that won’t stop for the Olympics, beginning on May 15th.
Check back with Beyond Women’s Sports before the start of the Challenge Cup for previews on all 10 NWSL sides. Also, check out Breaking T’s lineup of NWSL gear and represent your team before the match’s kickoff.
Follow me on Twitter @1ThomasCostello. And check out Beyond Women’s Sports for more articles on amazing women and their sport.
