North Carolina Courage beat Chicago Red Stars 6:0 in the NWSL Group Stage on Saturday at Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium. The visitors were never in doubt after Ashley Sanchez opened the scoring in the eleventh minute. Chicago had not won since their last fixture before a series of heavy defeats.
The hosts went behind twice in the opening period, Sanchez's strike followed by Chioma Okafor's goal in the seventeenth minute. By then the game was already slipping away, and Chicago tightened things up only to concede more. Jenna Bike saw yellow before the break, but the damage was done.
Shinomi Koyama restored the two-goal cushion in the sixty-first minute before Ryan Williams added a fourth in the sixty-third. Then things came to a head with Érica Meg Parkinson winning a penalty after VAR review. Sanchez converted in the sixty-ninth and added a sixth in the eighty-first, ending a barren spell.
The statistics tell you everything. The visitors dominated possession at sixty-one per cent and created nine big chances compared to one. Chicago managed only two shots on target from seven attempts, while the Courage hit nine from twenty-four. The hosts made 342 passes with thirty-nine per cent accuracy; guests completed 474 of 535 attempts.
And here's the thing, the result keeps Chicago rooted to sixteenth with sixteen points from twenty-three games. North Carolina move closer to the top with thirty-nine points, sitting third. We had called for the away win at fifty-nine per cent confidence, and the pattern held.
Chicago have not won since their last fixture and face a difficult run. The Red Stars conceded twenty goals in their last five matches, including this one. The Courage, meanwhile, showed why they sit third with that kind of efficiency.
