# 2021 Chicago Red Stars season

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
#### West Division standings

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Portland Thorns FC | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | +4 | 10 | Qualification for the Championship |
| 2 | OL Reign | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 7 | |
| 3 | Houston Dash | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 6 | |
| 4 | Chicago Red Stars | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | −2 | 2 | |
| 5 | Kansas City | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 8 | −4 | 1 | |

### Regular season
#### Regular season standings

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Portland Thorns FC | 24 | 13 | 5 | 6 | 33 | 17 | +16 | 44 | NWSL Shield |
| 2 | OL Reign | 24 | 13 | 3 | 8 | 37 | 24 | +13 | 42 | Playoffs – Semi-finals |
| 3 | Washington Spirit (C) | 24 | 11 | 6 | 7 | 29 | 26 | +3 | 39 | Playoffs – First round |
| 4 | Chicago Red Stars | 24 | 11 | 5 | 8 | 28 | 28 | 0 | 38 | Playoffs – First round |
| 5 | NJ/NY Gotham FC | 24 | 8 | 11 | 5 | 29 | 21 | +8 | 35 | Playoffs – First round |
| 6 | North Carolina Courage | 24 | 9 | 6 | 9 | 28 | 23 | +5 | 33 | Playoffs – First round |
| 7 | Houston Dash | 24 | 9 | 5 | 10 | 31 | 31 | 0 | 32 | |
| 8 | Orlando Pride | 24 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 27 | 32 | −5 | 28 | |
| 9 | Racing Louisville FC | 24 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 21 | 40 | −19 | 22 | |
| 10 | Kansas City | 24 | 3 | 7 | 14 | 15 | 36 | −21 | 16 | |

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: October 30, 2021. Source: NWSLsoccer.com

#### Results by matchday

| Matchday | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| Stadium | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | A |
| Result | L | D | W | L | W | D | L | L | W | W | W | L | W | L | L | D | W | D | D | W | L | W | W | W |
| Position | 10 | 9 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 3 |

#### 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 | Player | Pos. | College | Status |
| 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 |
| 4 | 35 | Alissa Gorzak | FW | Virginia | Not offered a contract |

### Transfers out

| Date | Player | Pos. | Destination club | Fee/notes |
| 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. |
| December 2, 2021 | Katie Johnson | FW | San Diego Wave FC | Traded in exchange for protection in the 2022 NWSL Expansion Draft and an undisclosed amount of allocation money. |
| December 2, 2021 | Kelsey Turnbow | FW | San Diego Wave FC | Traded in exchange for protection in the 2022 NWSL Expansion Draft and an undisclosed amount of allocation money. |
| December 2, 2021 | Julie Ertz | MF | Angel City FC | Traded with international slots in 2022 and 2023 in exchange for protection in the 2022 NWSL Expansion Draft. |
| December 2, 2021 | Sarah Gorden | DF | Angel City FC | Traded with international slots in 2022 and 2023 in exchange for protection in the 2022 NWSL Expansion Draft. |
| December 2, 2021 | Nikki Stanton | MF | OL Reign | Traded for a third-round pick in the 2022 NWSL Draft. |
| December 8, 2021 | Zoey Goralski | DF | — | Retired. |