Pride fall at Chicago

Chicago goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher set the NWSL career saves record in the Red Stars’ much-needed 1-0 home victory over the Orlando Pride on Saturday night.

Naeher finished with six saves for the Red Stars (2-6-1), who hadn’t won a match since April 15.

She has 520 career saves. Playing in front of the home crowd in Bridgeview, Illinois, the Red Stars went up in the 22nd when Yuki Ogimi Nagasato headed in Casey Krueger’s cross on the far post.

With the goal, Nagasato became the 12th player in league history to get 20 goals and 20 assists.

Naeher, goalkeeper for the U.S. national team, passed Ashlyn Harris for most career saves in the league early in the second half when she stopped a shot from Marta.

Orlando (3-5-1), which had been on a four-match unbeaten streak, outshot Chicago 19-2.

“Disappointed with the result,” Pride coach Seb Hines said. “It was a great opportunity for us to keep that momentum going. I thought any time you play a team like Chicago, who are short on confidence, you have to not give them any hope and that’s what we did. We gave them hope by allowing them to score first. But, at the end of the day, you can’t dominate a game the way that we did and not come away with three points and that’s the disappointing thing. The game is built on goals and we didn’t we didn’t take our opportunities tonight.”

The Pride took eight shots in the first half compared to two from the Red Stars, forcing Naeher to make four saves in the first 45. The Pride looked to be on the way to equalizing just before the break with a cross from Erika Tymrak finding the head of Adriana at the center of the area in the 41st minute, but her effort missed the mark over the bar.

Just after halftime, a corner from Marta found the head of Mikayla Cluff in the box, but her strike hit off the crossbar, with Marta’s rebound attempt doing the same. The woodwork also denied the Pride later in the second half when a shot from Adriana from outside the box was parried once again by the crossbar.

The Pride’s next match is Saturday at Houston as part of a three-game trip.