Last night in Bridgeview, Illinois, a crowd of 17,388 turned up at SeatGeek Stadium to watch the Chicago Red Stars defeat the North Carolina Courage 2-1 in NWSL play. For a bit of perspective, the Chicago Fire has averaged a gate of 11,209 throughout the 2019 MLS season. According to ESPN’s Sarah Spain, it was the first-ever sellout for a Chicago women’s professional soccer team.
The massive crowd turned out to welcome home a smattering of World Cup talent, including the USWNT crop of Alyssa Naeher, Julie Ertz, Sam Mewis, Crystal Dunn, Tierna Davidson, Abby Dahlkmeper, Jessica McDonald and Morgan Brian.
Additional star power was provided by Australia’s Sam Kerr, Brazil’s Debinha, Canada’s Stephanie Labbé and New Zealand’s Abby Erceg.
Lynn Williams scored the opener for North Carolina in the 30th minute, but Chicago responded through Vanessa DiBernardo and Kerr, whose nutmeg and finish in the 58th minute proved the match-winner.
Sam Kerr with the lovely nutmeg and easy finish to the back of the net! pic.twitter.com/fAhZDTcoH5
— ESPN (@espn) July 21, 2019
Naeher also made a couple of big saves for Chicago because that’s what she does. Here are the full match highlights.
#Highlights: @chiredstarsPR 2 - @TheNCCourage 1
17,000+ at @SeatGeekStadium
---- #CHIvNC on ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/ktS8bifWIE
— NWSL (@NWSL) July 22, 2019
“I really would hope that the fan base that we got today — 17,000 people — I don’t want that to be just a couple times a year,” said Dunn. “We put out good performances, we’re such an intense league. People should wanna come out and watch us play. It should happen every single year in the NWSL.”
The victory moves Chicago up to third in the table while North Carolina remains one point behind league-leading Portland.
Closing up shop on #NWSL Week with @ThornsFC holding down the top spot again.
How's everyone feeling about their squad? pic.twitter.com/me2KNO8qlg— NWSL (@NWSL) July 22, 2019
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