The 2016

Chicago Red Stars Chicago Stars Football Club is an American professional soccer team based in the Chicago metropolitan area that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). A founding member of the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league as the Chic ...

season was the eighth season of the

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club and its fourth season in

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a women's professional Association football, soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system#Women's leagues, United States soccer league system (alongside the USL Supe ...

. After a banner 2015 season, the team expected to do well again. The club ended the regular season at third place, and played the play-off semi-final at

Boyds, Maryland Boyds is an unincorporated community in exurban Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, located approximately north of Washington, D.C. Its ZIP Code is 20841. According to the United States 2020 Census, the ZIP Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA) ...

against

Washington Spirit The Washington Spirit are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It is a continuation of the D.C. United Women of the USL W-League (1995� ...

on September 30, falling 2–1 and did not reach the championship match. This season the Red Stars returned to

Toyota Park SeatGeek Stadium is a soccer-specific stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois, about 12 miles southwest of downtown Chicago. It is the home stadium of Chicago Stars FC of the National Women's Soccer League, Chicago Fire FC II of MLS Next Pro, and th ...

for its home games, where it last played on a regular basis during its 2010 season in

Women's Professional Soccer Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 ...

league. In 2016 season, the Red Stars honored the retirements of several long time members;

Michelle Lomnicki Michelle Lynn Lomnicki (; born May 3, 1987) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a defender. Early life Born in Aurora, Colorado, to parents Pat and Sherri Wenino, Michelle attended Smoky Hill High School and played a ...

Julianne Sitch Julianne Marie Sitch (born September 18, 1983) is an American former professional soccer defender. She is currently head coach of the University of Denver women's soccer team. She was previously a coach for the Chicago Red Stars and head coach ...

Jackie Santacaterina Jacqueline Manny (; born December 29, 1987) is an American former professional soccer defender who last played for the Chicago Red Stars of the National Women's Soccer League. Early life Santacaterina was raised in Geneva, Illinois, where she ...

, and

Lori Chalupny Lori Christine Chalupny Lawson (; born January 29, 1984) is a former American soccer player. As a member of the United States women's national soccer team, she won gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup. She is curr ...

. The jersey number 17 worn by Chalupny, a 3-year captain, an Olympic gold medalist and a FIFA world champion was retired in honor of her accomplishments. After the season, National team coach

Jill Ellis Jillian Anne Ellis (born 6 September 1966) is an English-American football manager and executive who is the Chief Football Officer of FIFA and will serve as part of the world governing body's executive management team, driving the development an ...

called up 5 Red Stars, Christen Press, Alyssa Naeher, Arin Gilliland, Casey Short and Danielle Colaprico to national team training camp. On October 7, NWSL announced the voting results of NWSL Best XI and NWSL Second XI; while Press and Gilliland were named to Best XI; 5 Red Stars, Naeher, Julie Johnston, Short, Colaprico and Vanessa DiBernardo were named to NWSL Second XI. In the off-season 8 Red Stars, the highest number in team history, went to play in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

on loan to W-League sides; Samantha Johnson to

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory ...

; Jen Hoy and Arin Gilliland to

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from the Australi ...

; Alyssa Mautz and Vannesa DiBernardo to

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional Association football, soccer club based in Perth, Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under Professional sports league organi ...

; and Katie Naughton, Danielle Colaprico and Sofia Huerta to

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional men's soccer club located in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club was one of the eight founding members of the A-League Men and have competed in it concurrently since its formation, u ...

. Chicago Red Stars loaned the largest number of players to W-League, 4 more than any other NWSL club.

First-team squad

;Roster Players who are under contract to play for the club in 2016 NWSL season. ( C) ;College draft Players selected by the club in

2016 NWSL College Draft The 2016 NWSL College Draft was the fourth annual meeting of National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchises to select eligible college players. It was held on January 15, 2016, at the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Convention ...

. Naughton, Gorden and Raetzman joined the Red Stars first team; Flaws, Jordan, C Johnson and Ellenwood joined the Red Stars Reserves team which competes in

Women's Premier Soccer League The Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) is an amateur women's soccer league in the United States. History The WPSL is the longest-running active women's soccer league as it enters its 25th season in 2023. The WPSL is also the largest women ...

. Janelle Flaws played for 45 minutes in NWSL regular season, in an away match against Washington on July 9. ;Amateur call-up Amateur players listed below were called up during the absence of international players training or playing for the national team at the

2016 Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

or international friendly

Player movement

Management and staff

;Front Office * Owner Arnim Whisler ;Coaching Staff *Manager Rory Dames *Assistant coach Bonnie Young *Assistant coach Brian Kibler *Assistant and Goalkeeper Coach Jordi King

Regular-season standings

;Results summary ;Results by Round

Match results

Preseason

On February 8 Chicago Red Stars announced its preseason schedule.

National Women's Soccer League

Regular season

Postseason playoff

NWSL awards

Squad statistics

Source: NWSL Squad statistics are of regular season matches only Key to positions: FW -

Forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

, MF -

Midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, DF - Defender, GK –

Goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

Chicago Red Stars team awards

On October 5 Chicago Red Stars announced the winners of 2016 team awards. For the third time in 3 years Julie Johnston was the recipient of the award for Defensive Most Valuable Player. For second consecutive year, Christen Press was named the Most Valuable Player, and Vanessa DiBernardo the Unsung Hero. New Red Star Alyssa Naeher, with 75% save percentage, was named the Iron Women of Character, while another new Red Star Casey Short was named the Rookie of the Year. ;Team Most Valuable Player Christen Press (received this same award in second consecutive year) ;Defensive Most Valuable Player Julie Johnston (received this same award in third consecutive year) ;Rookie of the Year Casey Short ;Unsung Hero Vanessa DiBernardo (received this same award in second consecutive year) ;Iron Woman of Character Alyssa Naeher

Images

References

;Match reports (preseason) ;Match reports (regular season) ;Match report (postseason playoff) ;Notes {{2016 in American soccer

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...