Match Recap: OL Reign Concede Three Goals and Three Points in Chicago

OL Reign (3-6-1) suffered its sixth loss of the season against the Chicago Red Stars (5-4-2) at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois. The Reign found the back of the net early on and dominated the first half, making the most of their 58.1% of possession but failed to carry the same energy into the second half. 

OL Reign had a strong start to the match, with Bethany Balcer and Eugénie Le Sommer leading the attack on the Chicago Red Stars. Similar to the team’s win over Kansas City last weekend, the intense start paid off. Celia crossed the ball into the box to a darting Balcer, who directed it beyond Chicago goalkeeper Cassie Miller into the back of the net to put OL Reign up 1-0 in the 12th minute. Though OL Reign came up with five shots on goal compared to Chicago’s two, the Reign could not get another goal on the board, allowing Chicago to stay in the game. 

As the second half kicked off, the momentum shifted in favor of the Red Stars. Two back-to-back own goals for the Reign in the 48th when a cross ricochet off defender Celia past OL Reign goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi, and another in the 55th minute when the ball bounced off the Reign defensive line coming from a Chicago corner kick. These two unlucky goals put the Red Stars in front and left the Reign scrambling to make a comeback. 

Mallory Pugh scored Chicago’s third goal in the 64th minute of the match with a shot past Bouhaddi in the box, marking Chicago’s first run of play goal since June 5. Despite making several substitutions, OL Reign did not find the energy needed to put Chicago under pressure for the remainder of the match. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS:  

• With this loss, OL Reign remains in ninth place in the NWSL standings 

• Bethany Balcer has now scored three goals in two games and has scored OL Reign’s last four goals  

• Kelcie Hedge made her OL Reign and NWSL debut when she subbed in for Eugénie Le Sommer in the 60th minute 

• Sofia Huerta hit the 10,000-minute mark in her NWSL career after the 81st minute of the match