The Chicago Red Stars are heading into the NWSL playoffs with a three-game losing streak and will face the regular season’s best team.
The eighth-seeded Red Stars visit top-seeded Orlando at 7 p.m. Friday in the quarterfinals. The Red Stars had a 1-1 draw at Orland on March 29 and lost 1-0 in Bridgeview on Sept. 8.
The Red Stars (10-14-2) had been hugging onto the sixth seed for weeks, but Portland and Bay FC passed them after the Red Stars’ 3-1 loss to Kansas City on Nov. 3 in front of an announced crowd of 5,595 at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview.
KC (16-3-7) scored three goals in the first half and Chicago was able to muster only an Ally Schlegel goal in the 52nd minute. It was her seventh of the season to tie Mallory Swanson for the team lead.
It doesn’t look promising for the Red Stars in the playoffs, but they will reset their mindset with the regular season behind them.
“We’re searching for the final piece so we can get a result against one of these (top) teams,” Red Stars coach Lorne Donaldson said. “We’re still searching, and we’ll keep searching and see what happens.”
Ludmila suspension increased
Brazilian star Ludmila was originally given a one-game suspension by the NWSL for receiving a red card during an altercation with Washington’s Rosemonde Kouassi in an Oct. 20 match.
On Oct. 28, the league delved deeper into the incident and tacked on two more games for Ludmilla and one more for Kouassi.
Ludmilla missed the Kansas City match on Nov. 3 and will miss the Red Stars’ quarterfinal match.
If the Red Stars advance to the semifinals, she will be gone from that match as well. If the Red Stars fail to advance, she will serve the suspension in the team’s 2025 opener.
The two stars mixed it up in the 69th minute of the match, won by Washington, 2-0.
The Red Stars acquired Ludmila in late July. In six starts, she scored three goals and fired off 12 shots.
Big Ten pairings
The Big Ten will host two rounds of its men’s soccer tournament on Nov. 7 and 10 at SeatGeek Stadium.
Second-seeded Indiana faces seventh-seeded Michigan at noon, third-seeded Maryland faces sixth-seeded UCLA at 2:30 p.m. and fourth-seeded Washington takes on fifth-seeded Michigan State at 5 p.m. on Nov. 7.
On Nov. 10, the semifinals will take place at noon and 4:30 p.m. Top-seeded Ohio State takes on the Washington-Michigan State winner in the late game.
SXU falls again
St. Xavier’s football team suffered its third straight Mid-States Football Association Midwest League loss, 31-20 to Marian (Indiana) Nov. 2 in Chicago.
Stuart Ross threw for 244 yards but was sacked eight times. Brother Rice grad and Evergreen Park native Jessi Plunkett scored his fourth TD of the season for the Cougars (4-5, 0-3).
The Cougars visit St. Francis (Indiana) at noon Nov.9. St. Francis (7-2, 3-0) beat St. Francis (Joliet) 28-20 on Nov. 2.
College hoops openers
Trinity Christian College’s men’s basketball team opened the season with a wild 121-114 double-overtime win over St. Mary-of-the-Woods on Nov. 1 at the IU Northwest Redhawk Classic in Gary.
California native Marcus Green led the Trolls with 34 points while former Southern Illinois player Chris Cross added 28.
Other openers didn’t go so well for area teams.
The Trolls women lost 87-56 to Taylor on Nov. 2.
St. Xavier’s women’s team fell 89-60 at home to NAIA No. 3 Indiana Wesleyan on Nov. 1. Jaidn Green had 18 points.
“We hung around with them for three quarters,” Cougars coach Sidney Lovitsch said. “But they are the No. 3 team in the country for a reason. We will learn from this and this will prepare us for the rest of the season.”
Moraine Valley’s men opened the season with a 78-72 loss to Wabash Valley in Wabash’s tournament on Nov. 2 and the night before, the women’s team lost 77-72 to Parkland in Parkland’s tournament.
Daley’s men lost 87-52 to Triton on Nov. 1. Daley’s women fell 86-49 to Southwestern Michigan on Nov. 1 and 57-47 to Glen Oaks (Michigan) on Nov. 2.