Red Stars close home season with win

The Chicago Red Stars saved their best for their last home game of the season, scoring a 3-1 victory Sunday night over the best team in Women's Professional Soccer, the Los Angeles Sol.

They also did it in front of the best crowd (7,959) of the season.

Still, it won't be enough for the Red Stars, who were eliminated from the playoffs last week despite big expectations at the season's start.

"It's tough when you have pressure right from the start of the season. Today there was no pressure, honestly," said Red Stars midfielder Carli Lloyd. "This was like the first game where there was no pressure. Sometimes that actually helps. We just went out there and played hard."

Lloyd gave Chicago (5-9-5, 20 points) a 1-0 lead in the 24th minute off a Lindsay Tarpley assist, then the Red Stars went up 2-0 just after halftime when Tarpley's header beat goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc.

Los Angeles (11-3-5, 38 points) got a goal back in the 90th minute when Han Duan finally beat Red Stars goalkeeper Caroline Jonsson, who had a typically strong game.

"She's one of the best goalkeepers in this league, and she came up big tonight a lot on point-blank shots," said Sol forward Brittany Bock, a Naperville native, "and I think she saved us from getting a couple in."

The Red Stars quickly scored their third goal, in stoppage time. This time it was Cristiane earning her team-high seventh goal of the season.

"It's a credit to the team to show their character in a game that on some levels is meaningless, to us at least because we're not in the playoffs," said Red Stars coach Emma Hayes. "For me that will be the bench mark moving forward."

Marta, the league's leading scorer who's generally considered the best player in the world, was frustrated by Jonsson and the Red Stars' defense.