Red Stars announce 2016 roster
The Chicago Red Stars announced their regular season roster for the 2016 season. A year after finishing the best season in team history (8-3-9), the Red Stars, led by head coach Rory Dames, are returning a core group of talent for the upcoming season.
The Red Stars return 12 players from last year's team, including Christen Press, Julie Johnston and Danielle Colaprico. The Red Stars team MVP and NWSL Best XI forward Christen Press, who ranked second in the league in goals scored despite playing in just eleven regular season matches, returns for her third season in Chicago. Johnston, the breakout star with the U.S. Women' National Team in 2015, who was also named to the NWSL Best XI, now becomes a veteran on the Red Stars backline. The 2015 NWSL Rookie of the Year, Danielle Colaprico, enters her second-year with Chicago and recently earned her first call-up with the U.S. Women's National Team.
Fellow U.S. Women's National Team member Alyssa Naeher will join the Red Stars after being acquired in a trade with the Boston Breakers. After being named the 2014 NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year she came back just as strong in 2015, managing to rank second in the league in saves despite missing games due to the FIFA Women's World Cup.
The Red Stars will look to continue to build its young talent with the signing of NWSL College Draft picks Katie Naughton, Sarah Gorden and Courtney Raetzman. Chicago was able to find the best talent from the local clubs in the 2016 draft, who all hail from Elk Grove.
Naughton, the 19th overall draft pick, returns to Chicago after an amazing career at Notre Dame. Naughton and Raetzman each played for Sockers F.C. during their youth club days and will receive the opportunity to play professionally alongside each other back in Chicago. Gorden, drafted out of DePaul, will play for Dames once again after playing her club career for Eclipse Select.
Chicago also announced the signing of trialist Taylor Comeau. Comeau appeared in nine games for the Portland Thorns as an amateur call-up in 2015. A standout at University of California, Berkeley from 2011-2014, she was named to the NSCAA Second-Team and All-Pacific Team her senior year.