The Chicago Red Stars’ seventh-straight playoff campaign came to an early end after a 2-1 loss to San Diego Wave FC in the quarterfinals round of the National Women’s Soccer League playoffs.

KEY MOMENTS:

9’ Yuki Nagasato takes advantage of a short pass from San Diego’s goalkeeper, Kailen Sheridan, and sends the ball to the back of the net giving the Red Stars an early lead

18’ Mallory Pugh takes possession from inside San Diego’s box but her shot goes just wide

26’ The Red Stars are awarded a free kick and Pugh takes the shot, caught by Sheridan

31’ A string of passes sets up Sarah Luebbert for a clear look that is blocked. Immediately after, Rachel Hill causes a turnover, giving Pugh an opportunity for a shot that ricocheted off the post and the Red Stars receive another corner kick.

40’ San Diego takes a corner kick, going to Taylor Kornieck for a goal attempt off her head, but it goes just wide.

45+1’ Alyssa Naeher makes a diving save, narrowly avoiding an Alex Morgan goal late in the first half.

49’ The ball bounces around the legs of multiple San Diego players in dangerous territory before a shot is blocked by Tatumn Milazzo.

67’ San Diego’s Jakobsson makes a run into the Red Stars’ box, but the ball gets loose after the shot is blocked that allows Van Egmond to level the score.

96’ A long shot from San Diego being assisted by Kornieck’s head is grabbed out of the air by Naeher to strike down a potential goal

GAME NOTES:

• With her start today, DiBernardo becomes just the third NWSL player to start 10 playoff games. She’s one of just 2 to start 10 for the same club (Sinclair/POR).

• With her goal tonight, Yuki Nagasako is the oldest player to score in the NWSL playoffs at age 35 years and 3 months. Previously, the oldest player to do so was Heather O’Reilly at age 34 and 9 months scoring a penalty kick for North Carolina in the 2019 semifinal vs. OL Reign.

• The Red Stars left it all out on the pitch for the full 120 minutes. The team came out on top in possession, dominating the Wave with 52.9 percent possession overall, as well as notching an impressive 80.9 percent passing accuracy.

Goals by Half

         1 2 E T F

CHI  1 0 0 1

SD  0 1 1 2

Scoring Summary:

CHI: 9’ Yuki Nagasato

SD: 67’ Emily Van Egmond, 90+20’ Alex Morgan

Disciplinary Report

CHI:

SD: 29’ yellow card Emily Van Egmond, 90+17’ yellow card Christen Westphal

Lineups

CHI: Alyssa Naeher, Tatumn Milazzo, Zoe Morse, Arin Wright, Morgan Gautrat (Stevens), Danielle Colaprico, Vanessa DiBernardo, Rachel Hill (Griffith), Yuki Nagasato (Cook), Mallory Pugh, Sarah Luebbert (Aguilera)

SD: Kailen Sheridan, Kaleigh Riehl, Naomi Girma, Christen Westphal (Pogarch), Taylor Kornieck (Ali), Kristen McNabb, Emily Van Egmond, Belle Briede, Kelsey Turnbow (Jakobsson), Jaedyn Shaw (Doniak), Alex Morgan (Taylor)