Red Stars more than ready to make first appearance in NWSL title game
Vanessa DiBernardo can't help but think of the difficult journey she and some of her Chicago Red Stars teammates have endured along the way to Sunday's National Women's Soccer League championship game.
After losing in the league semifinal four straight years, it was a relief to finally win the fifth and earn the team's first berth in the title game.
"Especially for the ones that have been here through all the other semifinals, it's definitely nice to wake up the next day on the other side," said DiBernardo, a midfielder from Naperville in her sixth season with the Red Stars.
The Red Stars defeated the Portland Thorns 1-0 last Sunday in the semifinal.
"There's a handful of us that have been through all the semifinal games, so just that journey that we've done together and kind of stuck through together. There's a core group that's maybe a little bit more excited than the rest," added DiBernardo, a Waubonsie Valley High School graduate.
That core group includes another Naperville native, defender Casey Short.
"It's just kind of one of those things that's been in the back of our heads the last four years," said Short, a Naperville Central graduate. "We wanted to get past it, and we haven't beaten Portland in a very long time either, so it was great to kind of knock both of those things out and get to the championship for the first time."
Getting to the championship game is especially sweet for Short after the disappointment of being left off the U.S. women's national team roster for the World Cup this summer.
"I had to shift my mentality from thinking I had a shot at going to the World Cup to, I mean I always wanted to win the championship for Chicago, but yeah, it definitely helps to still have this to go towards and taking that next step," Short said.
The Red Stars will play the North Carolina Courage at 2:30 p.m. Sunday (ESPN) in Cary, North Carolina. The defending champion Courage will play in its third straight championship game.
What was the difference for this year's Red Stars?
"I think this season was really interesting because we felt the highs and the low lows," said defender Sarah Gorden, a Conant High School graduate. "We had some of our worst losing streaks this season, and I think the way we recovered from them and came back with (two) five-game winning streaks, which is more than we really have done in the past.
"When we had the first five-game winning streak and then another losing streak and then we came back. Then we were kind of like, this is our season."