Alyssa Naeher Shoots And Scores, But The Chicago Stars Are Still In The Dark
The injuries came as fast as the goals. One, two, three Chicago Stars players were down and out by the 55th minute of Monday’s match against the Seattle Reign. That moment felt like a low point in what’s already been a dire season for Chicago: second-to-last in the table, a sad succession of head coaches and interims, and now a three-goal deficit to match the number of key players injured for who knows how long.
After the third injury, in the Stars’ third and final substitution window, Jameese Joseph came on, a fiery sophomore who had been injured since May. In hindsight, the injuries read like a sacrifice: If you give three players, you get Joseph back, and it was Joseph who activated Chicago’s pesky forward, Ludmila. The Brazilian has scored a third of the team’s goals this season, including a brace after she was snubbed from Brazil’s Copa América roster. With Joseph beside her, she finally had a someone around to help soak up some defensive attention. In the 73rd minute, Ludmila found herself running at the backline with the ball and more defenders on Joseph than on her. In those situations, she doesn’t miss, and she didn’t this time.
Even after Ludmila put the scoreline at 3-1, it didn’t feel like the Stars would complete the comeback, not really. Not when Seattle had gone up like they did: blazing and assured, the match going exactly how manager Laura Harvey had drawn it up. Welsh extraordinaire Jess Fishlock had scored in the third minute, her third goal in as many matches. Half an hour later, Canadian Jordyn Huitema performed a bicycle kick far better than her neighbor to the south ever could. Then, in what seemed like the death blow, young Emeri Adames capitalized on a long ball from keeper Claudia Dickey not even a minute after the second half started.
But as soon as Ludmila’s ball crossed the goal line, the momentum went topsy-turvy. Chicago had nothing to lose—though I keep thinking that, and they keep losing more—and Seattle seemed to be thinking like I was, that surely the team with eight points on the season wasn’t going to come back with two goals against the team with 24, not with only 17 minutes left in the match. But Camryn Biegalski soon put the comeback in the realm of possibility, making an almost identical run and shot as Ludmila to halve the deficit.
Seattle should have remained in the driver’s seat. As Harvey told the press after the match, “We just needed to sit in a block and let them play in front of us, and we still kept trying to chase things down.” Unforced errors abounded. With a few minutes left of regulation, Fishlock found herself with the ball around the top of the box. Normally, a player as smart and experienced as she is would simply dribble it to the corner flag and play keepaway to kill time. Instead, she shot a lifeless ball to Chicago keeper Alyssa Naeher, who scooped it up easily.
Seattle successfully fended off seven shots following Biegalski’s goal, and victory was in sight as the seven minutes of stoppage time wound to a close. But there was one factor on the pitch no one was crazy enough to consider: Chicago’s captain, Alyssa “Saved Our Asses Too Many Times To Count” Naeher. When Ludmila earned a corner in the ninth minute of stoppage time, Naeher decided it was time to save some more asses. She ran to the other side of the pitch and planted herself right next to her counterpart, knowing exactly where she could inflict the most damage. Dickey made a leaping save, but the rebound landed in a chaotic churn of limbs which Naeher eventually quieted with a tap-in.
In keeping with Chicago’s season so far, Naeher—who was making in her record-setting 200th regular season appearance—didn’t get a proper chance to celebrate scoring her first-ever professional goal, since forward Ally Schlegel went down in the box. It wasn’t even until the broadcast showed a particular replay angle that viewers at home could tell it was indeed Naeher’s foot that sent the ball over the line. Schlegel limped off the pitch, taunting the home fans on her way, and the whistle sounded, and it was over. Chicago had completed the comeback, getting a whole entire point out of the affair.
What ended up being the craziest draw in a matchweek full of draws was also an opportunity to consider the directions these two teams are headed in. It wasn’t so long ago that the Reign were in the same position the Stars now find themselves. After being runners-up for the championship in 2023, Seattle finished second-to-last in 2024. They conceded more goals than any other team, and didn’t score nearly enough to make up for it. But the club’s ownership did what many of their counterparts wouldn’t have: they kept Laura Harvey. In the NWSL, coaches get fired for anything and everything. The San Diego Wave gave the boot to renowned coach Casey Stoney after a short slump in 2024. This season, Chicago fired Lorne Donaldson after just six games. It’s always easier to axe the manager than it is to invest real money and effort into rebuilding a roster, and many owners are happy to keep reaching for new scapegoats.
Seattle’s front office has its issues, but to their credit, they got to work this past offseason. They acquired Lynn Biyendolo, Madison Curry, and rockstar rookie Maddie Dahlien. New-and-improved Sam Meza returned from a developmental loan to the USL side Dallas Trinity. And, midseason, they signed Mia Fishel and got Sofia Huerta back from her loan to Lyon. Huitema, a key part of the Reign since 2022, spoke about the roster refresh after the Chicago game. “This year we changed structures, which was new for a lot of people on the field,” she said. “I think we’ve had a lot of new faces come in and take big roles and responsibilities on this team as well.” She added that they have unique depth, and they’re “learning how to use that.” Off the field, Harvey made a concerted effort to build camaraderie on her squad. She organized a Traitors-inspired team bonding activity during preseason, which the club filmed and released on YouTube as a miniseries called Cloak and Crown. The whole thing is worth a watch, but more than the scheming, it’s the constant laughter that shines through. Now, they’re in the top half of the standings more than halfway through the season.
Chicago has gone the other way. The arrival of a new ownership group, general manager, and coach, as well as the return of Mal Swanson, was enough to get them into the playoffs in 2024, but they followed that progress with a spookily quiet offseason during which the squad was not reinforced at all. General manager Richard Feuz all but admitted that the club is happy to be cheap, so it wasn’t surprising when Donaldson was quickly ousted. The Stars have been in free fall ever since, with just one win in 16 matches this year.
But as the Stars proved on Monday, embers can be relit on even the worst teams. Ella Masar, Chicago’s interim manager, spoke after the game about the team’s attitude. “At 3-0, my legs were shaking, and I’m thinking—excuse my French—‘What the fuck is going on?’” she recounted. “And then, brought them in and said, ‘Listen, let’s smile, let’s have some fun, got nothing to lose. And I would rather you go out—if we lose 5-0 that’s on me.’ And then: ‘What the fuck just happened?’”
At this point, it would take a miracle for Chicago to claw its way into the playoffs. The Reign game offers a glimmer of hope, but the odds are simply not in their favor. Their fourth manager of the season will be arriving soon, and maybe he will be able to benefit from the lessons that were offered by Monday’s result. Masar certainly thinks so. “This is Chicago and this is how we’re going to end the year, regardless who stands up in front,” she said. Yes, there’s still some fight left in this team, but they can learn the most from their opponent. Alyssa Naeher and a lot of scrappiness can be enough to turn one regular-season game around, but if the Stars want to follow the same path as the Reign, they’ll need a front office that gives a shit.
