2018 Chicago Red Stars season

The 2018 Chicago Red Stars season was the team's tenth season and sixth season in the National Women's Soccer League, the top tier of women's soccer in the United States. For the fourth consecutive season, the team qualified for the post-season playoffs and lost in the semi-final, as they were defeated by the North Carolina Courage 2–0.^{[o 1]}

Chicago Red Stars

2018 season
Owner	Arnim Whisler
Head coach	Rory Dames
Stadium	Toyota Park (capacity: 20,000)
NWSL	4th
Top goalscorer	League: Kerr (16) All: Kerr (16)
Highest home attendance	13,678 (March 31, vs Portland)
Lowest home attendance	2,027 (May 2, vs Orlando)
Average home league attendance	4,004
Home colors Away colors
← 2017 2019 →

Team roster

2018 squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  USA Alyssa Naeher 2 MF  USA Nikki Stanton 3 DF  USA Arin Gilliland 4 MF  USA Alyssa Mautz 5 DF  USA Katie Naughton 6 DF  USA Casey Short 8 MF  USA Julie Ertz 9 FW  USA Stephanie McCaffrey 10 DF  USA Vanessa DiBernardo 12 FW  JPN Yuki Nagasato 13 MF  USA Morgan Brian 14 DF  USA Sarah Gorden 15 FW  USA Michele Vasconcelos

No. Pos. Nation Player 19 MF  USA Summer Green 20 FW  AUS Sam Kerr 21 GK  USA Emily Boyd 22 MF  NZL Rosie White 23 MF  USA Brooke Elby 24 MF  USA Danielle Colaprico 25 MF  USA Erin Yenney — GK  USA Ryann Torrero — DF  MEX Christina Murillo — MF  USA Jo Boyles — MF  USA Chandra Eigenberger — DF  USA Zoey Goralski

Player transactions

College draft

Source: National Women's Soccer League^[1]

Round	Pick	Nat.	Player	Pos.	Previous Team
Round 2	15		Emily Boyd	GK	University of California, Berkeley
Round 2	18		Indigo Gibson	D	University of California, Berkeley
Round 2	19		Brianna Visalli	M	Pepperdine University
Round 3	24		Megan Buckingham	M	University of North Carolina
Round 3	27		Zoey Goralski	D	University of California Los Angeles
Round 4	37		Alexa Ben	M	DePaul University

Transfers in

Date	Player	Positions played	Previous club	Fee/notes	Ref.
January 18, 2018	Sam Kerr	FW	Sky Blue FC	Acquired in 3-team trade with Sky Blue FC and the Houston Dash.	[2]
January 18, 2018	Nikki Stanton	MF	Sky Blue FC	Acquired in 3-team trade with Sky Blue FC and the Houston Dash.	[2]
January 30, 2018	Rosie White	MF	Boston Breakers	Selected with the 7th pick in the Boston Breakers Dispersal Draft	[3]
January 30, 2018	Ashton Miller	MF	Boston Breakers	Selected with the 12th pick in the Boston Breakers Dispersal Draft	[3]
January 30, 2018	Joanna Boyles	MF	Boston Breakers	Selected with the 25th pick in the Boston Breakers Dispersal Draft	[3]
June 18, 2018	Brooke Elby	MF	Utah Royals FC	Acquired in 3-team trade with Utah Royals FC and the Houston Dash.	[4]
June 19, 2018	Morgan Brian	MF	Olympique Lyonnais	Signed.	[5]

Transfer out

Date	Player	Positions played	Destination club	Fee/notes	Ref.
January 1, 2018	Morgan Brian	MF	Olympique Lyonnais	Signed with Olympique Lyonnais, Chicago retained her rights in the NWSL	[6]
January 18, 2018	Christen Press	FW	Houston Dash	Traded to the Houston Dash as part of a 3-team trade with Sky Blue FC and the Houston Dash.	[2]
January 18, 2018	Jen Hoy	FW	Sky Blue FC	Traded to Sky Blue FC as part of a 3-team trade with Sky Blue FC and the Houston Dash.	[2]
June 16, 2018	Lauren Kaskie	MF	Hammarby	Waived, signed with Hammarby	[7]
June 18, 2018	Samantha Johnson	DF	Utah Royals FC	Traded to Utah Royals FC as part of a 3-team trade with Utah Royals FC and the Houston Dash.	[4]
June 18, 2018	Sofia Huerta	MF	Houston Dash	Traded to the Houston Dash as part of a 3-team trade with Utah Royals FC and the Houston Dash.	[4]
June 18, 2018	Taylor Comeau	DF	Houston Dash	Traded to the Houston Dash as part of a 3-team trade with Utah Royals FC and the Houston Dash.	[4]

Off-season loans

After the 2018 season several Chicago Red Stars players were loaned to clubs of W-League, Australia to play in their 2018-2019 season.^[8]

Player	W-League club
Sam Kerr	Perth Glory FC
Nikki Stanton
Alyssa Mautz
Katie Naughton
Danielle Colaprico	Sydney FC
Yuki Nagasato	Brisbane Roar FC

Management and staff

Front office

• Owner: Arnim Whisler

Coaching Staff^[9]

• Manager: Rory Dames
• Assistant Coach: Craig Harrington
• Assistant Coach: Gary Curneen
• Goalkeeper Coach: Jordi King
• Strength & Conditioning Coach: Evan Johnson
• Volunteer Assistant Coach: Brian Kibler

Competitions

League standing

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	North Carolina Courage (C)	24	17	6	1	53	17	+36	57	NWSL Shield
2	Portland Thorns FC	24	12	6	6	40	28	+12	42	NWSL Playoffs
3	Seattle Reign FC	24	11	8	5	27	19	+8	41
4	Chicago Red Stars	24	9	10	5	38	28	+10	37
5	Utah Royals FC	24	9	8	7	22	23	−1	35
6	Houston Dash	24	9	5	10	35	39	−4	32
7	Orlando Pride	24	8	6	10	30	37	−7	30
8	Washington Spirit	24	2	5	17	12	35	−23	11
9	Sky Blue FC	24	1	6	17	21	52	−31	9

Source: NWSL
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(C) Champions

Weekly ranking

Week ending	March		April				May				June				July					August				September
	X	25	1	15	22	29	6	13	20	27	3	10	17	24	1	8	15	22	29	5	12	19	26	2	9	X
Week		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24
Rank		3	7	4	4	2	3	4	5	6	5	5	6	5	4	4	4	5	5	5	5	4	4	4	4
Games		1	2	3	5	6	8	9	10	11	12	12	13	14	15	17	18	18	18	18	19	21	22	23	24
Points		1	1	4	8	9	10	11	12	12	15	15	16	19	22	25	28	28	28	28	29	31	34	37	37

Update September 8, 2018 Source: NWSL 2018 season ^{[n 1] [n 2] [n 3]}

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
24	9	10	5	38	28	+10	37	5	4	3	22	15	+7	4	6	2	16	13	+3

Last updated: September 8, 2018.
Source: NWSLSoccer.com: 2018 Schedule: Chicago Red Stars

National Women's Soccer League

Main article: 2018 National Women's Soccer League season

Preseason

Marquette Golden Eagles v Chicago Red Stars

Sat Feb 24	Marquette Golden Eagles	0–2	Chicago Red Stars	Milwaukee, Wisconsin
14:30 CT		[p 1]		Stadium: Valley Fields Attendance: Closed-door

Portland Thorns FC v Chicago Red Stars

Sun Mar 11 Thorns Spring Invitational	Portland Thorns FC	0–1	Chicago Red Stars	Portland, Oregon
7 PM CT		[p 2]	Gilliland 62' (Nagasato)	Stadium: Merlo Field Attendance: 3,822

Houston Dash v Chicago Red Stars

Wed Mar 14 Thorns Spring Invitational	Houston Dash	0–1	Chicago Red Stars	Portland, Oregon
15:30 CT		[p 3]	Huerta 9'	Stadium: Merlo Field

United States U-23 v Chicago Red Stars

Sat Mar 17 Thorns Spring Invitational	United States U-23	1–0	Chicago Red Stars	Portland, Oregon
15:30 CT	Catalina Macario 32' (penalty)	[p 4]		Stadium: Merlo Field

Regular season

Houston Dash v Chicago Red Stars

Sat Mar 25 1	Houston Dash	1–1	Chicago Red Stars	Houston, Texas
4 PM CT	Keever 38' (Jordan) Brooks  81'	[m 1]	Naughton  69' Comeau 90+1' (Colaprico)	Stadium: BBVA Compass Stadium Attendance: 5,846 Referee: Jasmine Peralta

Chicago Red Stars v Portland Thorns FC

Sat Mar 31 2	Chicago Red Stars	2–3	Portland Thorns FC	Bridgeview, Illinois
7:15 PM CT	Mautz 31' (Huerta), 67' (Huerta) Colaprico  64'	[m 2]	Horan 9' Sinclair 40', 65' (pen.) Boureille  58'	Stadium: Toyota Park Attendance: 13,678 Referee: Greg Dopka

Utah Royals FC v Chicago Red Stars

Sat Apr 14 3	Utah Royals FC	0–1	Chicago Red Stars	Sandy, Utah
1:30 PM MT		[m 3]	Colaprico 27'	Stadium: Rio Tinto Stadium Attendance: 19,203 Referee: Karen Abt
Note: Televised on Lifetime.

Chicago Red Stars v Houston Dash

Wed Apr 18 4	Chicago Red Stars	3–0	Houston Dash	Bridgeview, Illinois
6:30 PM CT	Mewis 7' (o.g.) Gilliland  9' Kaskie 11' Huerta 74' (Colaprico) Johnson  90+2'	[m 4]	Keever  45' Brooks  82'	Stadium: Toyota Park Attendance: 2,327 Referee: Ekaterina Koroleva

Chicago Red Stars v Sky Blue FC

Sat Apr 21 5	Chicago Red Stars	1–1	Sky Blue FC	Bridgeview, Illinois
7 PM CT	Huerta 1' (Mautz)	[m 5]	McCaskill 78' (Johnson)	Stadium: Toyota Park Attendance: 2,413 Referee: Reyna Fonseca

Washington Spirit v Chicago Red Stars

Sat Apr 28 6	Washington Spirit	1–1	Chicago Red Stars	Boyds, Maryland
7 PM ET	Ordega 4' (Pugh)	[m 6]	Mautz 20'  56' Nagasato  83' Kerr  90+1'	Stadium: Maureen Hendricks Field Maryland SoccerPlex Attendance: 3,448 Referee: Daniel Gutierrez

Chicago Red Stars v Orlando Pride

Wed May 2 7	Chicago Red Stars	0–2	Orlando Pride	Bridgeview, Illinois
6:30 PM CT	Comeau  87'	[m 7]	Ubogagu 28' (Leroux) Hill 81' (van Egmond)	Stadium: Toyota Park Attendance: 2,027 Referee: Greg Dopka

North Carolina Courage v Chicago Red Stars

Sun May 6 8	North Carolina Courage	1–1	Chicago Red Stars	Cary, North Carolina
3 PM ET	Mewis  45' Zerboni  71' 82'	[m 8]	Kerr 37' Nagasato  45+3' Vasconcelos  73'	Stadium: Sahlen's Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park Attendance: 4,068 Referee: John Krill

Chicago Red Stars v Houston Dash

Sat May 12 9	Chicago Red Stars	2–2	Houston Dash	Bridgeview, Illinois
7 PM CT	Kerr 20' (Gilliland) Johnson  26' Comeau  59' Huerta 68' (penalty)	[m 9]	Daly 6' (Prince) Mewis 48' (Simon) Ohai  89'	Stadium: Toyota Park Attendance: 2,372 Referee: Danielle Chesky

Seattle Reign FC v Chicago Red Stars

Sat May 19 10	Seattle Reign FC	0–0	Chicago Red Stars	Seattle, Washington
7 PM PT	McNabb  86'	[m 10]	Stanton  26' Naughton  46' Colaprico  90+3'	Stadium: Memorial Stadium Attendance: 3,597 Referee: Ekaterina Koroleva

Chicago Red Stars v Orlando Pride

Sat May 26 11	Chicago Red Stars	2–5	Orlando Pride	Bridgeview, Illinois
2:30 PM CT	Kerr 21' (Nagasato) 60' (Nagasato) Johnson  42'	[m 11]	Hill 2' Morgan 6' (Marta) Leroux 62' (Krieger) 64' Weatherholt 83' (Morgan)	Stadium: Toyota Park Attendance: 5,047 Referee: Reyna Fonseca

Washington Spirit v Chicago Red Stars

Sat Jun 2 12	Washington Spirit	0–2	Chicago Red Stars	Boyds, Maryland
3:30 PM ET	Lohaman  24'	[m 12]	Kerr 25' Stantaon  31' Nagasato 49' (Mautz) Mautz  75'	Stadium: Maureen Hendricks Field Maryland SoccerPlex Attendance: 3,199 Referee: Karen Abt
Note: game was delayed due to weather

Chicago Red Stars v Portland Thorns FC

Sat Jun 16 13	Chicago Red Stars	1–1	Portland Thorns FC	Bridgeview, Illinois
7:00 PM CT	Nagasato 43' Stanton  62'	[m 13]	Hubly  42' Horan 48'  54'	Stadium: Toyota Park Attendance: 4,093 Referee: Danielle Chesky
Note: Televised on ESPNews.

Chicago Red Stars v Utah Royals FC

Sat Jun 23 14	Chicago Red Stars	2–0	Utah Royals FC	Bridgeview, Illinois
7PM CT	Naughton 62' (Colaprico) DiBernardo 70' (Kerr) Nagasato  87'	[m 14]		Stadium: Toyota Park Attendance: 3,317 Referee: Natalie Simon

Chicago Red Stars v Washington Spirit

Sun Jul 1 15	Chicago Red Stars	2–0	Washington Spirit	Bridgeview, Illinois
5 PM CT	Short 34' (Colaprico) Nagasato 60' (Kerr) Mautz  65'	[m 15]	Johnson  24' Hatch  86'	Stadium: Toyota Park Attendance: 2,858 Referee: Sergii Demianchuk

North Carolina Courage v Chicago Red Stars

Wed Jul 4 16	North Carolina Courage	4–1	Chicago Red Stars	Cary, North Carolina
8 PM ET	Dunn 20' (McDonald) Williams 67' (Mathias) Debinha 69' (Mewis) Hamilton 87' (Williams)	[m 16]	Ertz  32' Nagasato 90+3' (pen.)	Stadium: Sahlen's Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park Attendance: 5,295 Referee: Mathew Franz
Note: Match start delayed 1 hour, 50 minutes due to inclement weather.

Sky Blue FC v Chicago Red Stars

Sat Jul 7 17	Sky Blue FC	1–3	Chicago Red Stars	Piscataway, New Jersey
3:30 PM ET	Dorsey 73' (McCaskill)	[m 17]	Kerr 40' (Mautz), 46' (Nagasato), 63' (Nagasato)	Stadium: Yurcak Field Attendance: 2,846 Referee: Jasmine Peralta

Chicago Red Stars v Seattle Reign FC

Sat Jul 14 18	Chicago Red Stars	1–0	Seattle Reign FC	Bridgeview, Illinois
7 PM CT	Kerr 87' (Nagasato)	[m 18]	Fishlock  35'	Stadium: Toyota Park Attendance: 3,375 Referee: Natalie Simon

Chicago Red Stars v Sky Blue FC

Sat Jul 28	Chicago Red Stars	postponed	Sky Blue FC	Bridgeview, Illinois
7 PM CT		[10]		Stadium: Toyota Park
Note: Match postponed due to the cancellation of Sky Blue's flight to Chicago

Chicago Red Stars v North Carolina Courage

Fri Aug 10 19	Chicago Red Stars	1–1	North Carolina Courage	Bridgeview, Illinois
7 PM CT	Kerr 64' (DiBernardo) Nagasato  72'	[m 19]	Debinha 21' (McDonald) Hamilton  87'	Stadium: Toyota Park Attendance: 3,567 Referee: Matthew Franz

Seattle Reign FC v Chicago Red Stars

Wed Aug 15 20	Seattle Reign FC	0–0	Chicago Red Stars	Seattle, Washington
7:30 PM PT	Oyster  47'	[m 20] boxscore	Kerr  27' Colaprico  44' Gilliland  75'	Stadium: Memorial Stadium Attendance: 3,341 Referee: Lukasz Szpala

Portland Thorns FC v Chicago Red Stars

Sat Aug 18 21	Portland Thorns FC	2–2	Chicago Red Stars	Portland, Oregon
7:30 PM PT	Heath 60' Sonnett  67' Sinclair 69' (Heath)	[m 21]	Kerr 44' (Nagasato), 49' (DiBernardo) White  81'	Stadium: Providence Park Attendance: 18,631 Referee: Malik Badawi
Note: Televised on ESPNews

Orlando Pride v Chicago Red Stars

Sat Aug 25 22	Orlando Pride	1–3	Chicago Red Stars	Orlando, Florida
3:30 PM ET	Camila  42' Morgan 65' (Marta) Zadorsky  79' Monica  82'	[m 22]	Kerr 44' (Nagasato), 59' DiBernardo 45+1' (Kerr)	Stadium: Orlando City Stadium Attendance: 5,016 Referee: Guido Gonzales Jr

Chicago Red Stars v Sky Blue FC

Tue Sept 4 23	Chicago Red Stars	5–0	Sky Blue FC	Bridgeview, Illinois
6:30 PM CT	Mautz 18' (Gilliland), 46' (Gilliland) Kerr 64' (Elby) White 80' (Kerr) Vasconcelos 90+7' (White)	[m 23] boxscore		Stadium: Toyota Park Attendance: 2,974 Referee: Ismir Pekmic
Note: Match was originally scheduled for July 28th, was postponed due to the cancellation of Sky Blue's flight to Chicago.

Utah Royals FC v Chicago Red Stars

Sat Sep 8 24	Utah Royals FC	2–1	Chicago Red Stars	Sandy, Utah
1:30 PM MT	Rodriguez 55' (Bowen) Stengel 64' (Lytle)	[m 24]	Gilliland  17' Stanton  25' Kerr 39' (Gilliland)	Stadium: Rio Tinto Stadium Attendance: 11,851 Referee: Rosendo Mendoza

Postseason

North Carolina Courage v Chicago Red Stars

Tue Sep 18 Semifinal	North Carolina Courage	2–0	Chicago Red Stars	Portland, Oregon
6:00 PM PT	McDonald 5' (Dunn) Mathias  72' Mewis 86' (Dunn)	[o 1]		Stadium: Providence Park Attendance: 4,646 Referee: Timothy Ford
Note: Televised on ESPNews. Due to the impending arrival of Hurricane Florence, the league rescheduled the Courage-Red Stars semifinal for September 18 in Portland.[11]

Honors and awards

NWSL annual awards

See also: NWSL awards

Award	Result	Player
Golden Boot	winner	Sam Kerr	[12]
Most Valuable Player	finalist	Sam Kerr	[13]
Defender of the Year	finalist	Julie Ertz	[13]

NWSL Best XI
Position	First team			Position	Second team
Forward	Sam Kerr	[14]		Defender	Julie Ertz	[14]

NWSL Player of the Month

Month	Result	Player	Ref.
April	Won	Sofia Huerta	[15]
August	Won	Sam Kerr	[16]

NWSL Team of the Month

Month	Goalkeeper	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards	Ref
April			Sofia Huerta		[17]
May
June	Alyssa Naeher		Yuki Nagasato		[18]
July		Katie Naughton	Yuki Nagasato	Sam Kerr	[19]
August			Vanessa DiBernardo	Sam Kerr	[20]

NWSL Player of the Week

Week	Result	Player	Ref
4	Won	Sofia Huerta	[21]
6	Won	Alyssa Naeher	[22]
10	Won	Yuki Nagasato	[23]
15	Won	Sam Kerr	[24]
22	Won	Sam Kerr	[25]

NWSL Goal of the Week

Week	Result	Player	Ref.
2	Nominated	Alyssa Mautz	[26]
3	Nominated	Danielle Colaprico	[27]
4	Nominated	Sofia Huerta	[28]
6	Nominated	Samantha Kerr	[29]
10	Nominated	Yuki Nagasato	[30]
13	Nominated	Vanessa DiBernardo	[31]
14	Nominated	Yuki Nagasato	[32]
15	Nominated	Samantha Kerr	[33]
16	Nominated	Samantha Kerr	[34]
20	Nominated	Samantha Kerr	[35]
21	Nominated	Samantha Kerr	[36]
22	Nominated	Samantha Kerr	[37]

NWSL Save of the Week

Week	Result	Player	Ref.
1	Nominated	Alyssa Naeher	[38]
3	Nominated	Alyssa Naeher	[39]
4	Nominated	Alyssa Naeher	[40]
6	Won	Alyssa Naeher	[41]
8	Nominated	Alyssa Naeher	[42]
10	Nominated	Emily Boyd	[43]
11/12	Nominated	Alyssa Naeher	[44]
15	Nominated	Alyssa Naeher	[45]
16	Nominated	Alyssa Naeher	[46]
24	Nominated	Alyssa Naeher	[47]