[#8.NJ-CHI.#3] E.Johnson for Hoy (and Skroski => RB, Dydasco => LM, Lloyd => LF). Beautiful day for it! #NJvCHI pic.twitter.com/eE37j1koKl— NJ/NY Gotham FC (@GothamFC) September 15, 2019 Elby for Stanton; McCaskill for K.Johnson. Your #MKOT Starting XI for #NJvCHI presented by @MagellanCorp pic.twitter.com/ANdBKxUY6x— Chicago Red Stars (@chicagoredstars) September 15, 2019 Sky Blue: Q none / OUT (=) Freeman Tiernan / (4YEL James Doyle) Chicago: Q (OK =>) DiBernardo / RED K.Johnson / OUT (=) Jahansouz Mautz Vasconcelos Wright Nagasato reaches 50! 50 𝕮𝖆𝖕𝖘 𝖋𝖔𝖗 𝕹𝖆𝖌𝖆𝖘𝖆𝖙𝖔Congratulations, @Yuki_Ogimi pic.twitter.com/WPFArpx2BS— Chicago Red Stars (@chicagoredstars) September 15, 2019
28' 0-0 Dorsey left throw-in to Monaghan at midfield wide left, Monaghan turns and chips long into Lloyd's stride at 35m center, splitting Davidson and Short caught high. Davidson overtakes Lloyd on the left at 16m center, Lloyd does a right drag-back and veers to 6m 1/4 left, Naeher slides out through 6-top and stuff-blocks ball off Lloyd's feet. .@AlyssaNaeher makes a 🔑 block on a point-blank shot from Carli Lloyd. 0-0 | #NJvCHI pic.twitter.com/oYfGFW4nzE— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) September 15, 2019 31' 0-1 Skroski intercepts a through-ball at own 25m mid-right, Short harasses her on the outside. Square pass clearance goes right to Brian, Kerr promptly spins ccw and starts her acceleration through arc top left. Brian chips one-touch right instep down mid-left, Kerr chases it down at 0.5m and hooks a backpass to spot. Brian runs on, shoots one-touch right instep behind Sheridan's leftward momentum, into 1/5 left back low. Brian's 1st-ever NWSL goal! .@moeebrian. Mo' problems. @chiredstarsPR takes the lead over @SkyBlueFC. 0-1 | #NJvCHI pic.twitter.com/YdqgKbJdxr— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) September 15, 2019 33' 0-2 Nagasato counters through circle top, kicks a forward pass to arc left, dying perfectly in Kerr's stride as she overtakes Lewandowski on the outside. Kerr follows to 9m 3-left, Sheridan comes out to 7m, Kerr shoots left instep through Sheridan's wicket, into 1/3 right back low. Kerr's 75th, and her 16th in 2019 If you blinked, you might have missed @chiredstarsPR double the lead in quick fashion through @samkerr1. 0-2 | #NJvCHI pic.twitter.com/aGyipNIuPX— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) September 15, 2019
oooooh, maybe that's where I'd heard it happening before, with the final sub being a one-way sub in deference to the player coming off. Geez, was that really three years ago already though? I could've sworn I had heard of something similar more recently than that... Have any other USWNTers had a send-off game like that since?
62' 0-2 Rodríguez dribbles to 30m mid-right, slips a pass through 4 defenders to Lloyd wide-open at box top mid-right, held onside by Gorden at arc left. Lloyd touches to 9m 7-right, shoots right instep rising toward right post, Naeher blocks it down, Short clears. .@AlyssaNaeher makes another BIG 🛑 on Carli Lloyd in this one. 0-2 | #NJvCHI pic.twitter.com/FnB5gqZrBG— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) September 15, 2019 63' 0-2 Sky Blue subs in (1 of 3) #7 Jennifer Hoy for #3 Caprice Dydasco. 64' 0-2 Chicago subs in (1 of 3) #2 Nikki Stanton for #9 Savannah McCaskill. 69' 0-2 Sky Blue subs in (2 of 3) #9 Nahomi Kawasumi for #19 Elizabeth Eddy.
76' 0-2 Chicago subs in (2 of 3) #32 Zoey Goralski for #23 Brooke Elby. 78' 0-2 Yellow card on R.Rodríguez, for a foul on Goralski. 80' 0-3 Gorden dribbles across midfield wide right, passes ahead between R.Rodríguez and Dorsey to Goralski sneaking past Dorsey up right touch. Goralski turns inside and receives at 35m box right, outruns Dorsey on her back, to 32m mid-right. Nagasato front-cuts Skroski through 24m left post, Goralski no-look right outstep pass through box top right post, to 15m 1/6 right. Nagasato shoots one-touch right instep past Sheridan's dive, into back right edge 3/4 high. .@chiredstarsPR are not done with goals just yet. @Yuki_Ogimi tacks on a third. 0-3 | #NJvCHI pic.twitter.com/pzpGgdUbnG— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) September 15, 2019 85' 0-3 Chicago subs in (3 of 3) #5 Kathleen Naughton for #13 Morgan Brian. 87' 0-3 Sky Blue subs in (3 of 3) #29 Amandine Pierre-Louis for #4 Paige Monaghan.
FT 0-3. Chicago slip into 2nd on 38 pts from 22 played, temporarily ahead of Portland on 36 pts from 21. They have only 2 matches left: vs. Washington and vs. Utah. More importantly, they lead Utah/Reign by 7 pts with 4 to play, so they're not quite safe.
On the other hand, one of the games in hand that the Reign and Royals have on the Red Stars is against each other, making the margin of error that much smaller. The highest bar they can set is 41 points - with both the Reign and Royals going 3-1-0. Given the remaining schedules, that's incredibly unlikely, but it does set up a potential three way tie at 41 if the Red Stars lose to the Royals but beat the Spirit. A four way tie at 41 is not possible with Portland and the three above as Portland needs to go 1-2-0 to get to 41 and the Reign need to go 3-0 in non-Royals games. That combination isn't possible as the Reign and Thorns still have a game to play. All of this assumes that the Courage are going to get at least two points in their remaining four games.