The Chicago Red Stars may have caught more than lightning in a bottle when they signed Brazilian star Ludmila on July 29.
They may have caught lightning, period, never mind the bottle.
“The girl is as fast as lightning – you don’t even see her,” Red Star Ally Schlegel said. “She is a wonderful, wonderful addition to the attack. Just her ability to come here and seamlessly enter into this team has been a real positive.
“But her speed is electric, and she is a dangerous player. It’s hard to defend.”
Ludmila scored her third goal in as many games on Oct. 4 when Mallory Swanson fed her a pass during a free kick in the seventh minute. Ludmila headed it into the net to set the tone early and the Red Stars went on to win 2-0 over Houston in NWSL action on the road.
The Red Stars (10-11-2) remain in a good place in the playoff picture. They stayed in sixth place with 32 points; the top eight teams in the 14-team league qualify for the postseason.
But the final three games of the regular season may not provide easy points. They host Gotham at 3 p.m. Oct. 12 at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, visit Washington Oct. 20 and host Kansas City on Nov. 3 to close out the regular season. All three teams are in the top five in the NWSL standings.
The Red Stars officially knocked Houston (4-14-5) out of the playoffs. Schlegel scored on a penalty kick in stoppage time in the first half. Goalie Alyssa Naeher notched the shutout.
Milestones
In the 73rd minute of play, Naeher passed former Red Star Vanessa DiBernardo to become the club’s all-time leader for regular-season minutes. Naeher ended the night with 12,482 career regular-season minutes for the Red Stars and her first career shutout against Houston on the road.
Shea Groom made her 150th NWSL regular-season appearance and logged her 10,000th regular-season minute. The former Houston player enjoyed her trip back.
“They were super welcoming, even though they didn’t need to be,” Groom said of the fans.
Ludmila is the eighth Red Star in club history to score in three straight games. She joins teammate Mallory Swanson and former Red Stars Penelope Hocking, Jen Hoy, Sofia Huerta, Sam Kerr, Yuki Nagasato and Christen Press on that list.
Playoff pressure
Rookie Leilanni Nesbeth is looking forward to seeing how her team attacks the pressure of playoff implications in the final three games.
“It’s super exciting,” she said. “I think, being a professional, these are the games that you want to be a part of. This is the position that you want to be in — every game matters.
“If I’ve learned anything in my first year as a rookie, it’s that you can’t underestimate any opponent; all of them are good. All of [our opponents have] got incredible players with a lot of skill and they can punish you.”