Chicago Red Stars 2-0 Philadelphia Independence

by John Schulz

 

BRIDGEVIEW, IL--Veronica Boquete and Marian Dalmy both scored their first goals of the season as the Red Stars defeated Philadelphia 2-0. It was the Red Stars’ first victory over Philadelphia this season. The match was played in front a crowd of 2,173 at Toyota Park. The win also broke the Red Stars’ three-game losing streak.

The loss dropped the Independence to third place, but did clinch a spot in the WPS playoffs due to Sky Blue FC and FC Gold Pride playing to a draw earlier this evening.

The first round of playoffs will be the fourth place team taking on the third place team. Higher seeds will host playoff games. The winner of the first round will take on the second place team in the semi-finals. FC Gold Pride has clinched a spot in the championship game and will host on Sunday, September 26.

The Red Stars would strike early on. Boquete would score in the 4th minute of play. Casey Nougeria took a free kick and pass to Boquete who would shoot the ball just past Philadelphia goalkeeper Val Henderson. 

"Anytime we get that first goal it seems like if we can ride it out. Tonight was no different. we had decent spurts of play, but we could have scored a lot more. But overall, the possession wasn't as good as some of the games we've lost. having said that, I'll take the win,” Red Stars head coach Omid Nazami said.

Dalmy would double the score in the 54th minute. After taking a Karen Carney pass, she would strike the ball from 30 yards outside in to the upper left corner of the net.

Coach Nazami gave his defense credit for the game they played. Philadelphia came into the game with second best offense in the league.  

"I felt our back line did a great job of containing [Amy] Rodriguez,” said Namazi. “She really puts a lot of pressure on the defense and has outstanding speed. So we dropped off. The space in front of us was pretty occupied by Formiga. She did a great job, [Katie] Chapman. We weren't worried about that space. We were worried about the space behind. I thought our back line, especially our two central defenders, did a great job."

Nazami rested some regular players tonight and it was announced earlier that Chicago’s leading scorer Ella Masar would miss the last two games of the season due to a nose injury she had surgery on this week. Her spot was taken by Boquete who started her first game for the Red Stars.

"It was very tough to know that I could not contribute. Yet because of some visa issues I couldn't get on the field and help the team and get into the playoffs. At the end of the day, it is what it is. I'm happy that now I've sorted out the visa and obviously very happy with what I did tonight." Boquete said through a translator after the game.

The Red Stars will finish the season on Sunday. They will play the Washington Freedom at 5pm at Toyota Park.

SCORING SUMMARY:

CHI-Veronica Boquete (Nogueira) 4

CHI-Marian Dalmy (Carney) 54

BOOKING SUMMARY:

CHI-Katie Chapman (caution) 36

CHI-Caroline Seger (caution) 77

CHICAGO RED STARS (4-3-3):  #1-Jillian Loyden; #2-Marian Dalmy, #9-Whitney Engen, #15-Kate Markgraf (C), #13-Natalie Spilger; #8-Formiga, #14-Karen Carney (#11-Cristiane 57), #7-Megan Rapinoe (#21-Lydia Vandenbergh 73), #17-Katie Chapman; #4-Veronica Boquete, #27-Casey Nogueira (#16-Sophie Reiser)

PHILADELPHIA INDEPENDENCE (4-3-3):  #1-Val Henderson; #3-Allison Falk, #18-Kelly Henderson (#19-Danesha Adams 70), #7-Sara Larsson (#17-Joanna Lohman 46), #4-Jen Buczkowski; #25-Tina DiMartino, #15-Nikki Krzysik, #6-Lori Lindsey (#10-Lianne Sanderson 64), #9-Caroline Seger; #26-Holmfridur Magnusdottir, #8-Amy Rodriguez

TOTAL SHOTS:  CHI 16-12 PHI

SHOTS ON GOAL:  CHI 7-4 PHI

FOULS:  CHI 12-10 PHI

OFFSIDES:  CHI 0-3 PHI

CORNER KICKS:  CHI 4-2 PHI

SAVES:  CHI 4-5 PHI

Referee:  Moo Hackett

Assistant Referees: Said Ravanfar, Ian Gut

Fourth Official:  Miguel Panduro

Attendance:  2,173

Woman of the Match:  Veronica Boquete (CHI) for scoring her first goal.

Second Star:  Marian Dalmy (CHI) for getting her first goal of the season as well.

Third Star:  Katie Chapman (CHI) who almost got a third Red Star goal in the second half.