EDWARDSVILLE (April4, 2009) – Saint Louis Athletica fell 1-0 tonight before a capacity crowd of 5,008 at Ralph Korte Stadium. A Lindsay Tarpley goal in the 78th minute gave Chicago a late lead which they held for the final 12 minutes plus stoppage time.

“It happened so fast, Dalmy played a great ball into the box and I made a back post run and got through and was just there to finish it off,” said Tarpley.

Saint Louis Athletica set the tone early in the first half as they controlled play and took an early advantage on shots, at one point outshooting Chicago six to one. Angie Woznuk had the first attempt on goal of the game as she came in from the right and unleashed a shot that Red Star goalkeeper Caroline Jonsson parried over the bar. Saint Louis kept up the pressure throughout the half but were not able to get on the scoreboard despite outshooting the Red Stars nine to four in the first 45 minutes.

Chicago’s best opportunity in the first half came ten minutes from the time. Carli Lloyd connected on a cross from Marian Dalmy and drilled a shot straight at Hope Solo who made the save. Lloyd’s shot rebounded off Solo into the air and fell to Lindsay Tarpley who headed it onto goal. Solo recovered to make the save and held on.

The second half saw Athletica keep up the pace as they out shot the Red Stars again, this time by a seven to three margin.  Athletica could never find the right sequence to get a ball past Jonsson who posted four saves for the game to earn the shutout. Meanwhile Hope Solo posted three saves for the night.

“We’ll rebound from this, it won’t be hard, said Solo.

“It was our first game. The goal we allowed shows you what happens at this level of play if you do not stay focused for 90 minutes,” said Athletica Captain Lori Chalupny. “Even if the outcome had been different tonight our goal remains to get better. You’ll see a completely different team at the end of the year.”

Next up for Athletica will be the Boston Breakers Saturday night April 11th at Harvard Stadium. The next Athletica home game will be on April 25 against the Los Angeles Sol. This match will be a 3:00 kick-off and will be played at Robert R. Hermann Stadium on the campus of Saint Louis University.
   
STATS

SHOTS ON GOAL     1    2    Total
Chicago        3    1    4
Saint Louis    3    1    4

SAVES        1    2    Total
Chicago        3    1    4
Saint Louis    3    0    3

CORNER KICKS    1    2    Total
Chicago        2    0    2
Saint Louis    3    2    5

FOULS        1    2    Total
Chicago        4    10    14
Saint Louis    4    4    8

Chicago Starters: Jonsson, Dalmy, Dieke, Ostberg, Krzysik, Klein, Rapinoe, Lloyd, Carney, Masar, Tarpley
Subs:  Adans (68th minute)

Saint Louis Starters:: Solo, Hanks, Larsson, McNeill, Stoia, Ellertson, Aluko, Daniela, Woznuk, Tancredi, Chalupny
Subs: Gray (65th minute), Francielle (80th minute)