BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – Abby Wambach scored a pair of goals as the Washington Freedom beat the Chicago Red Stars, 3-2, Sunday afternoon in front of 5,226 at TOYOTA PARK.  The loss eliminates the Red Stars from the Women’s Professional Soccer playoff hunt.

Red Stars forward Megan Rapinoe opened the scoring in the 15th minute, the earliest goal in Chicago franchise history.  After taking a feed from Carli Lloyd, Rapinoe danced around a Freedom defender and beat goalkeeper Erin McLeod to the right corner of the net for her second goal of the season.

Wambach tied the game later in the first half before putting Washington in front in the 56th minute.  It was the second multi-goal effort of the season for Wambach, who recently scored the 100th goal of her international career with the U.S. Women’s National Team.

Chicago fought back, knotting the game at 2-2 on a Karen Carney blast in the 69th minute.  Australian Heather Garriock, who had entered the game just seconds before, picked up the assist on a cross that found Carney wide open on the right side of the net.  Carney drilled a shot back across to the left side of the goal for her second tally on the year.

But it was another second half substitute that would decide the game.  In the 89th minute, Freedom midfielder Allie Long broke through a pair of Chicago defenders on the left side of the box and beat Red Stars goalkeeper Caroline Jönsson to her left for the goal, Long’s second of the season.

The two teams combined for 36 shots, which has become a hallmark of the rivalry.  Jönsson made 11 saves in the match, two shy of her franchise mark which was set in an April 11 draw at Washington.  Jönsson’s top four save totals of the season have all come against the Freedom.

With the loss, Chicago remains at 17 points with two games remaining in the regular season.  Washington moves into a tie with Sky Blue FC for 23 points.  Because those two teams still have a head-to-head meeting remaining, the Red Stars have been eliminated from postseason contention.

The Red Stars will host their final home game of the 2009 season on Sunday, August 2nd, when they welcome the WPS regular season champion Los Angeles Sol.  Led by three-time defending FIFA Player of the Year Marta, the Sol will make their only Chicago appearance of the year.  Tickets are available by calling (866) WPS-2009 or logging on to www.chicagoredstars.com.

Washington Freedom (6-6-5, 23 pts) at Chicago Red Stars (4-9-5, 17 pts)
July 26, 2009 – TOYOTA PARK

SCORING
                                        1              2              FINAL
Washington                        1              2              3
Chicago                              1              1              2                                                                                             

SCORING SUMMARY:
1. CHI – Megan Rapinoe, 2 (Carli Lloyd, 1), 15
2. WSH – Abby Wambach, 4 (Sonia Bompastor, 6), 35
3. WSH – Wambach, 5 (Lisa DeVanna, 3), 56
4. CHI – Karen Carney, 2 (Heather Garriock, 1), 69
5. WSH – Allie Long, 2, 89

Washington Freedom – McLeod; Gilbeau, Whitehill, Sauerbrunn, Singer (Long, 74); Moros (Lohman, 81), Sawa, Lindsey, Bompastor; Wambach, De Vanna.

Chicago Red Stars – Jönsson; Dalmy, Oakes, Dieke, Spilger (Östberg, 61); Carney, Lloyd, Klein, Rapinoe (Masar, 55); Tarpley (Garriock, 68), Cristiane.

STATISTICS
SHOTS:                            WAS – 21 CHI – 15
SHOTS ON GOAL:             WAS – 14 CHI – 4
SAVES:                            WAS – 2 CHI – 11
FOULS:                            WAS – 9 CHI – 7
CORNER KICKS:                WAS – 3 CHI – 2
OFFSIDES:                       WAS – 4 CHI – 3

MISCONDUCT SUMMARY:
CHI – Megan Rapinoe (Caution), 31
WAS – Sonia Bompastor (Caution), 90.

Referee: Sandra Serafini
Referee’s Assistants: Stephanie Toth, Kristine West
4^th Official: Pawel Wydra
Time of Game: 1:52
Attendance: 5,226
Weather: 81 degrees, sunny.

All statistics included in this box score are unofficial.

POSTGAME QUOTES

Chicago Red Stars Head Coach Emma Hayes

“I think everybody knows it was a must win game for both teams.  I think we started out relatively ok, but after the first goal we were very flat.  We looked quite tired and the heat seemed to drain us quite a bit.  We struggled to retain the ball and equally struggled to try to position when we lost it.  Credit to Washington, I thought they should have scored more than one goal in the first half.”

“I don’t think the back four had a good game today.  I thought as a unit they struggled.  But I also think that you have to work to deny service into them, in the front and the midfielders, and I don’t think we got close to them consistently enough in the first half.”

“I think for us as a team from this point on we want to make sure that we put in good performances for our fans and start the rebuilding process going into next season to make sure that we have the vital pieces that are going to push this team on.” 

Chicago Red Stars Midfielder Brittany Klein        

“Rapinoe scored a good goal early on in the first half, but we didn’t keep that momentum.  I think as Emma said our pressure on the ball from the front line to the back line wasn’t good enough and we just game them a lot of time and space with the ball.”

Washington Freedom Head Coach Jim Gabarra

 “I was proud the way the team played in the second half especially.  There was a lot of fatigue out there.  Chicago was in a desperate situation and threw everything at us.”

“Allie did a good job.  She was fresh to get into an attacking position.  It seemed like she weaved her way through three players and she’s got great technical ability.  I think she caught them a little bit off guard.  They probably were looking to see where she was going to play the ball and she weaved her way right too.”

Washington Freedom Forward Abby Wambach

“I think our team is starting to gel a little bit more.  I know that I had an 800 pound gorilla on my back considering the national team 100 goal thing.  Then I just have been playing pretty well and free.  I’ve been getting on the end of some good balls hit by my teammates.  This is the time of the season that you want to peak.”

“You could tell that there was a little sense of ‘oh no this could be the end of our season’ sort of feel and as an opposing team we wanted to take advantage as much as we could of that.”

“That’s the beauty of having such few teams in a league, you get to play each other quite a bit and get a good feel for each other.  I think Emma does a really good job of putting the best players on the field.”

“There are ties that probably should have been wins for one team or the other.  There are losses.  The games are very tight.  Right now with the end of the season the playoffs are in sight and every game is playoff contention.  One win you’re in and one loss you’re out.”

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