Red Stars Will Take the Tie: Losing Streak and Scoring Drought End in LA

How do you cure a slump? End your scoring drought. Tie the first place team.

That's exactly what the Chicago Red Stars accomplished at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA against the LA Sol with a 1-1 draw.

In fact, the Red Stars scored first, in the 86th minute and appeared set to win the match, until Agily scored on a rebound in the 90th minute to save the tie for the home team.

The Red Stars came out fighting from the opening whistle. Their first half play was essentially on par with that of the Sol on both sides of the ball.

Chicago's tight midfield seemed to be frustrate the LA attackers, holding them to just two legitimate chances in the first half.

On the other end of the pitch the Red Stars attack had at least one near miss and kept the pressure on the Los Angeles defenders.

The second half was dominated more by the Sol, offensively, but the Red Stars defense held firm, and keeper Caroline Jonsson was looking more like the star she had been before the team's three game slide.

Jonsson also benefited from impressive performances in front of her by Natalie Spilger and Jill Oakes, who played the full ninety minutes as central defenders. 

Neither Spilger nor Jonsson had seen much playing time until the previous outing, against St. Louis, when they had an opportunity to start in the absence of four national team players on international duty. They started tonight's game in place of Nikki Krzysik and Dieke Ifume.  

Although the home side contributed most of the offense in the second half, the Red Stars poured it on in last few minutes. The team's first goal in four hundred minutes came with a powerful shot by Cristiane (pictured above in international action) to the left post—her first of the season, on a brilliant assist from Ella Masar who had just entered the game.

Masar subbed in for Megan Rapinoe in the 85th minute. Rapinoe was undoubtedly the player of the game for Chicago despite not being on the field for Chicago's lone goal.

Rapinoe was busy offensively and defensively from the first minute until she was replaced. The defensive highlight of the game was a reverse tackle by Rapinoe, near the 80th minute, that killed a LA attack and created a strong Chicago counter attack.  

Marian Dalmy was in top form leading the counter attack throughout the game, and protecting the penalty box with some critical deflections, especially during stoppage time as the Sol continued to threaten a second, go-ahead score, as the clock wound down.

As disappointing as it was for Chicago to come so close to victory only to fall into a tie, the fact that they ended a losing streak and a scoring drought, and did so against the league's leading team, on the road, will be consolation enough for now.

Finally, some interesting notes about trends and numbers.

As noted in my article WPS Needs Psychologists, the league is still without a come from behind victory. LA's come from behind tie is the second such accomplishment. The other was achieved by Washington against this Chicago team in week two.  

As noted in my article, "There's No Such Thing as a Good Bye..." the number four continues to be Chicago's lucky number. The Red Stars' losing streak ends at three. The scoring drought ends at 400 minutes.

And how about this irony? Although the Red Stars moved at least momentarily out of last place by adding a point tonight, they remain unbeaten on the road, making them the best road team in WPS to date.

Chicago will try to keep the momentum swinging in a positive direction when they face FC Gold Pride in Santa Clara on Sunday June 7. If they play as well in the Bay Area as they played in Los Angeles, Chicago fans may be singing, "Wish they all could be California games."