Chicago City Wire

The Chicago Red Stars have secured a spot in the 2024 National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) Playoffs. This marks the team's eighth playoff appearance in its history, confirmed after the Washington Spirit's 4-1 win over Racing Louisville FC.

The Red Stars now hold the second-highest number of playoff appearances in NWSL history, with eight participations. They have been part of seven consecutive playoffs from 2015 to 2022, trailing only behind Portland Thorns FC, which has nine appearances. Lorne Donaldson, head coach of the Red Stars, is among a select group as the 17th head coach to lead a team to playoffs in their first season with an NWSL team. Alyssa Naeher, the team's captain, is heading into her sixth playoff series with all her appearances being with the Red Stars. The roster includes twelve players with prior playoff experience: Camryn Biegalski, Ava Cook, Chardonnay Curran, Sarah Griffith, Shea Groom, Natalia Kuikka, Tatumn Milazzo, Cari Roccaro, Sydney Schneider, Sam Staab and Mallory Swanson.

Chicago's last regular-season away game will be against Washington Spirit on October 20 at Audi Field. The team will then return home to SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview for their final regular-season match against Kansas City Current on November 3. Tickets for this match are available at chicagoredstars.com/tickets.

The NWSL Playoffs start on November 9. The top four seeds—Kansas City Current, New Jersey/New York Gotham FC, Orlando Pride and Washington Spirit—will host quarterfinal matches. Winners will move forward to semifinals scheduled for November 16-17 before culminating in the NWSL Championship on November 23 at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City.