The Chicago Red Stars kick off the 2019 NWSL season on the road against North Carolina Courage (6:00 p.m. CT; Yahoo! Sports) in the season opener. Here is the Starting XI, presented by Magellan:
Lineup Notes:
- Rookie Tierna Davidson earns her first start of her NWSL career. The first overall pick in the NWSL College Draft, Davidson has tallied 19 caps for the U.S. WNT.
- Midfielder Julie Ertz will captain the side in her 81st appearance for the club. Last season, Ertz hit over 7,000 minutes for Chicago since being drafted by the team in 2014.
- Back-to-back NWSL Golden Boot winner Sam Kerr will play in her 20thmatch for Chicago.
- Sarah Gorden earns the start against North Carolina, marking her 16thoverall start since drafted by Chicago in 2016.
- DefenderArin Wright (nee Gilliland) enters the starting lineup with 85 appearances (81 starts) all for Chicago.
- Alyssa Mautz will continue to tally her number of games representing the Red Stars. The midfielder earned her 100thappearance for the club last season and is will earn cap 119 with her start today.
- CenterbackKatie Naughton will earn her 55thstart tonight for Chicago. The 2016 draft pick earned 23 starts on the backline in 2018.
- Nikki Stanton will earn her 17thstart tonight for Chicago since being acquired in the 2018 offseason.
- Emily Boyd is available as backup in the goalkeeper position, while Morgan Brian, Vanessa DiBernardo, Brooke Elby, Katie Johnson, Maria Sanchez and Michele Vasconcelos are available of the bench.
- The Red Stars finished the 2018 season a 9-10-6 record on the season, losing to North Carolina in the playoffs.
- On the road in 2018 Chicago went 4-6-3.
- The two clubs match up evenly by record with a 3-1-3 (W-D-L).
