Chicago Red Stars Notebook: Riot Fest Fiasco, Lorne Donaldson on KC, Natalia Kuikka

The Village of Bridgeview just threw a wrench in the Chicago Red Stars’ 2024 season, scheduling Riot Fest at SeatGeek Stadium the weekend of Sept. 20-22 despite the Red Stars having a nationally televised match there on Sept. 21 against Alex Morgan and the San Diego Wave.

The Riot Fest announcement was made on Wednesday morning, and it appears to have caught the Red Stars completely off guard despite their current contract with Bridgeview for the venue.

Red Stars President Karen Leetzow released the following statement regarding the announcement:

“It is unfair and unfortunate to have our club put in this situation, shining a light on the vast discrepancies in the treatment of women’s professional sports versus men’s professional sports.

“We are committed to ensuring our players and fans have a first-rate experience on and off pitch, and we are working diligently to find a solution that will ensure our September 21st game is a success.”

Riot Fest’s years-long battle with the Chicago Park District has now ignited a new fight in Bridgeview.

The Red Stars just hosted over 35,000 at Wrigley Field and less than a week later find themselves without a home pitch for Sept. 21. Bridgeview just showed how little they care about maintaining their relationship with the premier women’s soccer club in the region.

From the rest of my notebook:

Lorne Donaldson on Matchup vs. Kansas City Current

The Red Stars begin the more difficult portion of their NWSL schedule this weekend when they face off against the undefeated league leaders at CPKC Stadium. Kansas City leads the NWSL with 31 goals scored, five more than the next closest team.

Temwa Chawinga has been a revelation for Kansas City since joining the club in the offseason . She’s scored seven goals, third-most in the NWSL, while contributing five assists to her side’s attack.

Red Stars head coach Lorne Donaldson knows his side needs to ensure Kansas City doesn’t have too many chances on Friday.

“They’re a very high-scoring team in the league so we have to limit their chances,” said Donaldson during his weekly media availability. “And we have to try to get something on our own…

“Our focus is just going to be overall team performance, we just have to be there.”

Chicago has only scored two goals in its last three matches (all losses) after scoring three in a win over Utah at home. It’s going to be tough but Kansas City has conceded five goals in its previous three matches after getting consecutive clean sheets in the two matches leading into that segment.

Natalia Kuikka on LB Role, Team’s Recent Form

Natalia Kuikka's role in Chicago’s backline has been changing lately, with Lorne Donaldson dispatching her at left back in consecutive matches after playing the entirety of the season at center back since joining in the offseason . The Finnish defender has been enjoying the re-acclimation process at left back.

“It’s definitely fun to be able to go a little bit higher up the field again,” said Kuikka. “It’s definitely good to have some training under [my belt] so it becomes more natural again.”

The Red Stars enter their match against the Current on a three-match losing streak. She thinks the players who were with the Red Stars when they finished dead last in the NWSL in 2023 have learned how to cope with the frustrations that arise in this league.

“Coming from last year when this team was losing quite a bit of games in a row. So I don’t want to say the girls are used to it but it definitely hits a little bit different now that we’ve had a really great start of the season.

“And now we have three losses but I think that just kind of fuels us even more. That we want to show up, that we maybe we had a couple of bad games or whatever but we are still able to raise back to the level that we were at the beginning of the season.

“Also, at the end of the day, it’s the game. It’s really hard to win every game. So at the end of the day we can’t just go down deep on the black hole of like, ‘oh my god we’ve lost games now.’ We just gotta pick ourselves back up and focus on what we have coming ahead.”

What’s On Tap Next?

The Red Stars face off against the Kansas City Current on Friday. The match kicks off at 7:00 PM CT and will air on Prime Video.

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