Following Week 4 of the NWSL regular season, Chicago Red Stars defender Tatum Milazzo earned the Save of the Week honor as Alex Loera earned the Goal of the Week award, which marked her first goal in club history for Bay FC.
Milazzo Prevents A First-Half Goal
On Saturday evening, the Red Stars hosted Angel City with a clean track record as they hadn’t lost a game so far in the opening weeks whereas their opponents had yet to win their first game.
Angel City opened the first half with several attempts on goal and with the build up from Claire Emslie, the ball from Meggie Dougherty-Howard was chipped directly to the net. Although the shot was on frame of the goalpost, it ricocheted off Milazzo and with goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher down, the ball was inches away from giving Angel City the lead.
However, Milazzo was able to correct the play and outran forward Alyssa Thompson to slide through and prevent Angel City from scoring the opening goal.
Despite the match resulting in their first loss of the season, the Red Stars hold a fourth place standing in the current NWSL ranks.
This marks the second Save of the Week award for the Red Stars as Naeher earned the award following Week 1 of the NWSL regular season.
Loera Scores Her First Goal For Bay FC
Bay FC hosted their second home game at PayPal Park on Sunday evening where they recorded their second win of the season.
Although Bay concluded the first half with a 1-0 setback against Seattle Reign FC, their performance in the second half included several first goals from players.
With a 1-1 standstill, Bay used a corner kick to pressure the Reign in the box. As the Reign attempted to make a clearance, Loera was able to pose another counterattack on goal as her one-touch shot darted through the box to find the back of the net.
Loera’s goal in the 58’ minute allowed Bay to hold a 2-1 lead into the second half. Although the Reign scored another equalizer in the 83’ minute, Bay midfielder Joelle Anderson secured the game-winning goal just four minutes later.
The long strike from Loera marked the captain’s first goal for Bay to lead the expansion side to add another three points to their NWSL record.
The NWSL will resume on Friday, April 19 as the Orlando Pride host San Diego Wave FC at Inter & Co Stadium at 5pm PT/8pm ET.