To beat the defending champion North Carolina Courage, a team needs to do two things well: put forth a stellar defensive effort, and take advantage of the few goal scoring opportunities that come.
For 80 minutes, the Chicago Red Stars took care of the first part, only to be undone on header off the underside of the bar from New Zealand international Abby Erceg, from a ball floated to the back post by Jaelene Daniels.
As for the scoring, the Red Stars came up empty, extending their scoring drought to 209 minutes in a 1-0 defeat in their third game of pool play of the NWSL Challenge Cup.