Late goal stuns Red Stars
LEESBURG, Va. — Jessie Scarpa scored her first pro goal in stoppage time to give the Washington Spirit a 2-1 victory over the Red Stars in a National Women’s Soccer League Fall Series game Saturday.
Sarah Luebbert took a cross from Kealia Watt and put it in the bottom right corner to put the Red Stars ahead in the 26th minute. It was Luebbert’s first NWSL goal.
Luebbert picked up where she left off during her college days. The former Missouri Tiger scored 29 career goals, making her one of nine players to score at least 21 goals at the program.
Bayley Feist pulled the Spirit even with a goal near the penalty spot in the 71st minute before Scarpa’s goal three minutes into stoppage time.
The Red Stars played with 10 players after Savannah McCaskill was shown a red card after a second yellow in the 41st minute.
Zoe Morse and Zoey Goralski led the way defensively for the Red Stars, preventing the Spirit from scoring for most of the game. Goralski led all players in tackles with six. She also had a clearance and an interception. Morse had the second-most clearances with seven while leading the game in interceptions (five). She won all four of her duels.
With their second-half substitutions, Red Stars Aerial Chavarin, Dani Rhodes and Camryn Biegalski earned their first professional minutes. Chavarin (35th overall) and Biegalski (16th overall) were selected in the 2020 NWSL College Draft. Rhodes signed a short-term deal with the Red Stars before the Fall Series.
The Spirit opened the series with a 2-1 loss to Sky Blue FC.
The Red Stars were playing their first Fall Series game. They played in the title game of the recent Challenge Cup tournament in Utah but fell 2-0 to the Houston Dash.
They were playing without Yuki Nagasato, who was loaned this week to an amateur men’s team in Japan, and U.S. national team defender Julie Ertz, who opted out of the tournament.
The Red Stars return home to SeatGeek Stadium for the first time in 2020 when they face Sky Blue FC at 1 p.m. next Sunday.