Despite season’s trials and tribulations, Chicago Stars ‘believe in what we’re doing’
For Chicago Stars forward Shea Groom, her team “lived through a whole season basically in the first half.”
Physically, the Stars played 13 games, winning only one contest, scoring just 10 goals and sitting 13th in the 14-team NWSL. Emotionally, Chicago has undergone two head coaching changes, most recently promoting former player Ella Masar to an interim position.
Masar, who has been on the team’s coaching staff since January 2023 and served as acting head coach to close the 2023 campaign, will helm a squad both she and Groom believe is stable but just needs to tighten up the details. The team hopes to accomplish this goal through accountability and empathy.
“I’ve never played with a group that I think has been through as much as we’ve been through,” Groom said. “There’s no quit in this team. Like Ella said, we’re at a point where it’s like, we get that no one else is going to understand, that people have written us off and things like that, but we believe in what we’re doing.”
The Stars will have an opportunity to transform their confidence into results this weekend when they travel to Kansas City for the inaugural Teal Rising Cup. Chicago will take on Corinthians SC, a club from Sao Paulo, Brazil, in a nonleague match Saturday. The league is taking a break during July to allow players to participate in international matches.
Masar admitted she sometimes loses her voice from yelling during practice, but she clarified her passion comes with a purpose.
“I want us to find joy. I think we make it so complicated,” Masar said. “But we want empowerment.”
Masar added she wants her team to forge a new identity, one that the opposition will remember after matches. But a new identity isn’t authentic until it's held accountable among players, and Masar said it's her job to monitor the standard. So far, her players have appreciated this role.
“I really do think Ella’s brought a lot of structure for us,” Groom said. “I think we craved that a little bit and just needed someone to enforce it.”
As a former player with more than a decade of professional experience, Masar holds an unspoken connection with her players. While the coach will approach her job with an analytical lens — examining how and why goals were scored or conceded — she also brings a degree of compassion.
As a player, Masar experienced both accolades, such as the Stars’ Golden Boot Award in 2010, and an ample amount of games on the bench. She said she doesn’t forget the times she felt “invisible” and wants all of her players to feel seen.
“They can do it if they believe they can do it,” Masar said. “And honestly through all of it, is to have grace because these guys are so hard on themselves.”
The NWSL season resumes in August when the Stars face Gotham FC. Masar said her players are working on a mission statement in the meantime. Regardless of the specific verbiage of the statement, the coach knows it will center on hope.
“It takes a lot for these women to be in this room and say, ‘Hey, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel,’” Masar said. “They want to come out here and prove something. A lot can change, but our core is strong.”