Match Preview: Chicago Red Stars vs. North Carolina Courage
SeatGeek Stadium | Bridgeview, Illinois – Sunday, July 10 at 6:00 PM ET
Players to watch:
Chicago’s Ella Stevens became the first Red Star player to have a goal and an assist in the same game other than Mallory Pugh this season. The last time a Red Star player scored and assisted in the same game that was not Pugh or Stevens was in September 2019, when both Sam Kerr and Yuki Nagasato did so against the Spirit.
On the other side, the Courage’s Kaleigh Kurtz won possession a game-high 15 times in the North Carolina’s loss to the Reign. It was also the most times winning possession by a Courage player this season and the most in any game in Kurtz’s five-year NWSL career.
Match facts: The Chicago Red Stars will look to continue their impressive unbeaten run on Sunday night as the North Carolina Courage travel to SeatGeek Stadium in the second of three games on the night.
A large part of Chicago’s success in its eight-game run without a loss, the Red Stars have shut out their opponents in three straight home games, matching their longest such streak in team history. The only other team with a run of three straight shutouts at home this season is OL Reign, who have kept clean sheets in five straight.
Meanwhile, North Carolina has lost two consecutive games, adding to the three straight to begin the season. The five losses in eight games are the most in Courage history through 8 games. After winning the Challenge Cup, North Carolina has yet to find its spark and will look to turn that around in the first of two meetings with the Red Stars in the regular season this year.
The last time these teams met in the regular season in August last year, North Carolina shut out Chicago for the first time in a regular season game en route to a 1-0 win. However, Chicago has never lost at home in the regular season to the Courage, winning five of the six games.
