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Chicago forward nets first two career WPS goals en route to team's second road victory

June 25, 2010 - Women's Professional Soccer (WPS)
Chicago Stars FC News Release


ALLSTON, Mass. -- Forward Ella Masar netted two goals and the Chicago Red Stars defeated the Boston Breakers, 2-1, on Friday night in Women's Professional Soccer action at Harvard Stadium.

For Masar, those were her first two WPS tallies in her season-and-a-half tenure thus far with the Red Stars. The Urbana, Ill., native made the most of her third start this season with goals in the 13th and 79th minutes, the second being the game-winner.

"She has been practicing really well, and I noticed that she was creating a lot of chances," Red Stars Head Coach Omid Namazi said. "I felt it was a good time to give her a start and see how it works, and it worked to perfection. She got behind the Boston defenders and she finished tonight."

With the win, Chicago improves to 3-5-3 on the season, while Boston falls to 1-5-4 and remains winless at home. The victory also is the first for Namazi, who has a 1-1-2 record in his four matches at the helm.

Next up for the Red Stars is a 4 p.m. CT match on Sunday, July 4, against the Washington Freedom in Boyds, Md. The match wraps up a four-game road trip, which started against Washington on June 12 and resulted in a 2-2 draw.

On Friday, the Red Stars got on the scoreboard first in the 13th minute. Defender Kate Markgraf started the attack with a long ball from the back to Red Stars forward Cristiane, who flicked a header to Masar, who made a run behind the Breakers defense.

"The timing was perfect," Namazi said. "That's how you draw it on the board."

Chicago's defense held Boston in check throughout the first half, allowing only one shot, which did not even hit the target.

"The first half was the best half I've seen in this team so far with me coaching," Namazi said. "We imposed ourselves, had possession, and got the early goal as a result of good play. We had some lapses toward the second part of the first half for maybe a 5- to 7-minute stretch. But I thought we played a good first half."

But at the start of the second half, the Breakers broke through when Fabiana notched her first career WPS goal in the 46th minute to tie the score at 1-1.

The two teams battled for a little more than a half hour without adding to the scoring column, until Masar broke the tie in the 79th minute off of Marian Dalmy's second assist of the season. Dalmy played the ball diagonally to Masar, who had a 50-50 attempt against Breakers goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher. Masar reached out and poked the ball underneath Naeher for the game-winner.

The Red Stars nearly broke the 1-1 draw in the 68th minute. Breakers goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher was forced to come out of the net and Red Stars forward Cristiane got the ball past Naeher. But the ball was not driven hard enough to get past Chioma Igwe, who came up with a huge stop while diving across the net to prevent a Chicago tally.

Naeher made three saves for Boston while Jillian Loyden made two saves for Chicago.

The Red Stars improved to 2-0 against the Breakers this season, and their two road wins already surpasses last year's road win total. Chicago's lone road victory in 2009 occurred during the team's season opener at Saint Louis Athletica.

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