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Chicago Red Stars

2021 season
Owner	Arnim Whisler
Head coach	Rory Dames
Stadium	SeatGeek Stadium (capacity: 20,000)
NWSL	4th in season Championship finalists
Challenge Cup	4th in East Division
Top goalscorer	League: Kealia Watt (5) All: Kealia Watt, Mallory Pugh (5)
Highest home attendance	Regular season: 4,488 (Oct. 16 vs. KC) Postseason: 7,027 (Nov. 7 vs. NJNY)
Lowest home attendance	2,265 (June 5 vs. NC)
Average home league attendance	3,143
Biggest win	3–0 (Aug. 28 vs. KC)
Biggest defeat	0–5 (May 16 vs. POR)
Home colors Away colors Third colors
← 20202022 →

The 2021 Chicago Red Stars season was the team's thirteenth season and ninth season in the National Women's Soccer League, the top tier of women's soccer in the United States.

Team

Management and staff

As of October 8, 2021.

Technical staff
Head coach	Rory Dames
Assistant coaches	Julianne Sitch
Goalkeeper coach	Rade Tanaskovic
Medical staff
Medical director	Roger N. Chams
Head athletic trainer	Emily Fortunato
Physician assistant	Molly Uyenishi
Physical therapist	Bria Wanzung

Rory Dames resignation

On November 22, 2021, two days after losing to the Washington Spirit in the NWSL championship final, the Chicago Red Stars announced that head coach Rory Dames had resigned effective immediately. Later that day, The Washington Post sports reporter Molly Hensley-Clancy reported that prior to resigning, the Post had approached the Red Stars front office with allegations from players, both previous and current, of abuse by Dames. The Post also provided documentation of reports made to United States Soccer Federation by players, including Christen Press, dating as far back as 2014 that detailed abuse, harassment, and inappropriate use of Dames's power as head coach to manipulate players. “Three former Red Stars players, including one who played on the team at the time of the investigation, told The Post that they had wanted to speak to U.S. Soccer investigators but had never heard from them,” reported Hensley-Clancy. “Two had left the team because of Dames's abuse, they said.”

On November 24, the Red Stars ownership released a statement apologizing to "Christen Press, Jennifer Hoy, Samantha Johnson and those players who didn't feel safe to come forward" and saying that "our club will require significant reflection and evaluation to ensure this does not happen again."

First-team squad

As of October 30, 2021.

No.	Pos.	Player	Nation
1	GK	Alyssa Naeher	United States
2	FW	Kealia Watt	United States
3	DF	Arin Wright	United States
4	MF	Alyssa Mautz	United States
5	FW	Rachel Hill	United States
6	DF	Casey Krueger	United States
7	MF	Nikki Stanton	United States
8	MF	Julie Ertz	United States
9	FW	Mallory Pugh	United States
10	MF	Vanessa DiBernardo	United States
11	DF	Sarah Gorden	United States
13	MF	Morgan Gautrat	United States
14	DF	Zoe Morse	United States
15	FW	Makenzy Doniak	United States
16	MF	Sarah Woldmoe	United States
18	MF	Ella Stevens	United States
21	GK	Emily Boyd	United States
22	DF	Bianca St. Georges	Canada
23	DF	Tatumn Milazzo	United States
24	MF	Danielle Colaprico	United States
26	DF	Tierna Davidson	United States
28	DF	Kayla Sharples	United States
32	FW	Zoey Goralski	United States
33	FW	Katie Johnson	Mexico
38	GK	Cassie Miller	United States

Out on loan

No.	Pos.	Player	Nation
19	MF	Sarah Luebbert (at América)	United States

Competitions

Challenge Cup

Group stage

West Division standings

Regular season

Matches

Regular season standings

Results summary

Last updated: October 30, 2021.
Source: NWSLsoccer.com

Results by matchday

Playoffs

Matches

Transactions

2021 NWSL Draft

Draft picks are not automatically signed to the team roster. The 2021 NWSL Draft was held on January 13, 2021.

Round	Pick	Nat.	Player	Pos.	College	Status	Ref.
1	7		Madison Haley	FW	Stanford	Returned to Stanford; did not make final 2022 roster
2	18		Kelsey Turnbow	FW	Santa Clara	Returned to Santa Clara; traded to San Diego Wave FC in December 2021
3	25		Brianna Alger	DF	Washington State	Returned to Washington State; did not make final 2022 roster
4	32		Channing Foster	FW	Ole Miss	Returned to Ole Miss; signed contract in 2022
	35		Alissa Gorzak	FW	Virginia	Not offered a contract

Transfers out

Date	Nat.	Player	Pos.	Destination club	Fee/notes	Ref.
March 29, 2021		María Sánchez	FW	Houston Dash	Rights traded in exchange for Houston's natural second-round pick in the 2022 NWSL Draft.
November 30, 2021		Kayla Sharples	DF	Adelaide United FC	Loaned until March 28, 2022.
December 2, 2021		Makenzy Doniak	FW	San Diego Wave FC	Traded in exchange for protection in the 2022 NWSL Expansion Draft and an undisclosed amount of allocation money.
		Katie Johnson	FW
		Kelsey Turnbow	FW
		Julie Ertz	MF	Angel City FC	Traded with international slots in 2022 and 2023 in exchange for protection in the 2022 NWSL Expansion Draft.
		Sarah Gorden	DF
		Nikki Stanton	MF	OL Reign	Traded for a third-round pick in the 2022 NWSL Draft.
December 8, 2021		Zoey Goralski	DF	—	Retired.

References

1. "Technical staff". Chicago Red Stars. Archived from the original on October 28, 2021.
2. "Rory Dames steps down as head coach of NWSL's Red Stars amid abuse allegations". CBC.ca. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. November 22, 2021. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
3. Hensley-Clancy, Molly (November 22, 2021). "'Nobody cares': NWSL players say U.S. Soccer failed to act on abuse claims against Red Stars coach". The Washington Post. Nash Holdings. Retrieved November 26, 2021.
4. Coleman, Madeline (November 24, 2021). "Chicago Red Stars Ownership Apologizes Amid Rory Dames Abuse Allegations". Sports Illustrated. theMaven, Inc. Retrieved December 2, 2021.
5. "First Team - Chicago Red Stars". Chicago Red Stars. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021.
6. ^ The Equalizer (August 8, 2021). "The assistant to Rory Dames has been sent off 🟥 The other assistant gets a yellow 🟨 for arguing that Kornieck's challenge on Colaprico was a red instead of yellow card. More questions about refereeing in this league, coaches understandably pleading their case" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
7. ^ Munson, Bella (June 11, 2021). "2021 NWSL draftees: Where are they now?". The Equalizer. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
8. ^ "Chicago Red Stars Finalize 2022 Roster" (Press release). Chicago Red Stars. March 15, 2022. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
9. "Chicago Red Stars Announce Roster Moves Ahead of Expansion Draft" (Press release). Chicago Red Stars. December 2, 2021. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
10. "Chicago Acquires Second Round Selection in the 2022 NWSL Draft" (Press release). Chicago Red Stars. March 29, 2021. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
11. Roepken, Corey (June 5, 2021). "Maria Sanchez gives NWSL another shot with Dash". houstonchronicle.com. Texas Sports Nation. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
12. "SPORTS Red Stars defender loaned to Australian team". Windy City Times. November 30, 2021. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
13. Mikula, Jeremy (December 2, 2021). "Chicago Red Stars trade 6 players — including Julie Ertz and Sarah Gorden — but several questions remain less than 2 weeks after Rory Dames' resignation amid abuse allegations". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
14. "Chicago Red Stars Announce Roster Moves Ahead of Expansion Draft" (Press release). Chicago Red Stars. OurSports Central. December 2, 2021. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
15. "Chicago Red Stars Set Roster Ahead of 2022 NWSL Expansion Draft and NWSL Draft" (Press release). Chicago Red Stars. December 8, 2021. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
16. Le Cren, Matt (December 30, 2021). "A torn ACL at Neuqua Valley didn't stop Zoey Goralski. After starring for UCLA and the Chicago Red Stars, she's retiring for a good reason". Naperville Sun. Retrieved July 20, 2021.

External links

• Official website

• 2021 National Women's Soccer League season
• Chicago Red Stars seasons
• American soccer clubs 2021 season
• 2021 in sports in Illinois