Chicago Red Stars fall short in NWSL championship game, losing 2-1 to the Washington Spirit

Another season ended in heartbreak for the Chicago Red Stars, who fell in the NWSL championship game in a 2-1 extra-time thriller Saturday.

More than 10,000 fans filled Lynn Family Stadium in Louisville, Ky,. for the first NWSL championship match since before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Red Stars also lost the 2019 championship match and the final of pandemic-created Challenge Cup last year.

The Red Stars had been on their back foot for nearly an hour when Trinity Rodman arced a cross to Kelley O’Hara in the box to score the game-winning header in the first half of extra time. The goal shattered the redemptive arc for a Red Stars team plagued with injuries and challenges throughout the 2021 season.

The match started with disaster for the Red Stars when Vanessa DiBernardo, the team’s heartbeat who has started every NWSL playoff game in club history, went down with an unspecified injury in the 14th minute.

The early gut punch echoed the start of the semifinal last Sunday, when star forward Kealia Watt left the game with an injury in the opening minutes of the first half.

The Red Stars were already short-staffed for the postseason — defender Casey Krueger was sidelined with illness while goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher and captain Julie Ertz returned from the Tokyo Olympics with injuries.

That list grew even longer when Mallory Pugh suffered an injury in first half stoppage time. Pugh missed the semifinal after entering the COVID-19 protocol.

The injury provided the extra seconds needed to set up the Red Stars’ opening goal. Arin Wright burned O’Hara on the sideline to drive toward the box, lofting a pass to the back post for Rachel Hill to head into the net.

Despite taking the lead, the Red Stars suffered in the second half with the front line stripped of its stars. With a diminished lineup remaining, the Red Stars leaned into the chaos of the moment. Neither side created consistent rhythm, instead setting a breakneck pace as they streaked from end to end in transition.

But after matching Washington’s intensity in the first half, the Red Stars floundered under an onslaught led by Rodman in the second. The pressure finally broke through in the 66th minute when Tierna Davidson conceded a penalty.

Spirit captain Andi Sullivan leveled the score from the spot, skipping the ball just under the diving body of keeper Cassie Miller.

Miller — who has started in Naeher’s place since July — finished the game with eight saves but couldn’t fend off the flurry from Rodman and the Washington front line.

Makenzy Doniak and Wright both nearly scored equalizers in the final three minutes of extra time, but goalkeeper of the year winner Aubrey Bledsoe made big saves to hold off the Red Stars comeback.