Chicago Stars vs North Carolina Courage Ends in a Draw; Fastest Hat Trick in NWSL History Recorded
Tonight, the Chicago Stars FC played against North Carolina Courage FC at SeatGeek Stadium in Illinois. Many fans and the team were aware that Chicago has not been having its best season this year. Ranked 13th in the league with three previous draws, Chicago FC was now in their hometown, searching for their city’s support. Coach for the Chicago Stars, Ella Masar, pleaded with fans for their support on Chicago FC’s public Instagram account, explaining that “This is Chicago. This is something to be proud of, despite this difficult past season; we need the fans.”
In early July of this year, Chicago Stars FC had a sudden change in its coaching staff. Masar, who at the time was the team's assistant coach, was asked and promoted to the team's interim head coach after coach Masaki Hemmi left in pursuit of “other opportunities.” Though it is apparent that Chicago has a lot to improve on from this trifling season. Masar, regardless of her sudden position change, has shown nothing but love and support for this team and these girls.
The game started messily and disorganized. During the first half, both teams failed to secure a goal. Although it was reported that North Carolina maintained 66% of the game. The Courage defense was unable to stop Chicago from making six reported attempts on goal; however, Chicago failed to score these six goals due to their messy passes, plays, and overall miscommunication within the game.
After halftime, each team demonstrated fiery ambition toward the goal and attempted to make explosive plays off each other. North Carolina Courage notably started to connect more during the second half. With the same 3-4-3 formation that they started with, the Courage was able to take control of the middle, using their four midfielders to their advantage. Tyler Lussi and Shinomi Koyama offered continuous support to their teammates, moving throughout the middle, creating endless opportunities for advancing plays. Although Manaka Matsukubo tonight played with passion and purpose. Throughout this past season, she has been known for creating memorable plays for North Carolina with her quick technical skills and touches. Tonight, Manaka scored the first goal of tonight’s game after receiving a beautifully clean assist from Lussi, which placed Manaka perfectly inside the penalty box and chipped it over Chicago’s goalie, Alyssa Naeher. Soon after, in the 62nd minute of the match, Manaka assisted Lussi in creating an undeniably lucky goal tonight that many couldn’t believe went in right over Naeher’s head.
However, nothing could have prepared the public for this game's final 20 minutes. With a 2-0 lead on the scoreboard, each team began to make its substitutions, which led to an unpredictable final half. The most notable substitutions of the night were gold medalist Jaedyn Shaw for North Carolina and Brazilian soccer player Ludmila for Chicago. Quickly after these substitutions, Ludmila gained control of the ball and took off toward the penalty box. Though she was surrounded by four of North Carolina’s defensive players, that didn’t stop her from finding the perfect opportunity to place the ball in the back of the net. As the crowd went crazy, the Stars regained their determination, as they had just received a fighting chance. Ludmila was unstoppable; right after her first, she quickly scored another goal on the opposite left side and sent the ball flying into the net. In response to Ludmila’s goals, Shaw, without a minute to spare, scored in between Chicago’s two center backs off a cross from the outside. The game paused for a quick moment as Coach Masar argued this goal with the referee, claiming there was a foul against North Carolina in their penalty box. Though passionate, her restlessness caused her to receive her third yellow card of the season and will now be suspended in the Stars’ next game.
Although the score read 3-2, Chicago wasn’t ready to give up hope. Their aggression and connective passes increased, benefiting them toward Carolina’s side of the pitch, proving that they weren’t done yet. Ludmila, once again, for a third time, scored her third goal of the game off a corner. Tonight, Ludmila made history. This was her first hat trick in her NWSL career, and she is also the first to score three goals within the same game and under 20 minutes. The commentary team said that this was “the fastest hat trick in NWSL history.” She is now placed fourth on the top scorer list. Masar mentioned after the game that she hopes that the Brazilian National Team was watching tonight. Manaka, Lussi, Shaw, and Ludmila scored incredible goals tonight. Although the game started rough and messy, these women quickly learned and adapted in the first half of the game and provided an incredible, record-breaking, second half for all of us to watch.
