Sept. 12--Red Stars coach Rory Dames made it clear to the team's three leading rookies before the season what their roles were going to be.
Sofia Huerta's was to score, especially after the team lost big gun Christen Press to the U.S. World Cup team for seven matches in the middle of the schedule.
Huerta had all six of her goals and two of her three assists when Press (10 goals in 11 matches) and U.S. World Cup / Red Stars teammates Lori Chalupny and Julie Johnston were absent.
"Sofia got hot and put us on her back," Dames said.
The Red Stars' 4-1-2 record during that stretch not only carried them into the National Women's Soccer League playoffs for the first time in the league's three-year history but also gave them a second-place finish to earn a home match in the opening round.
Chicago meets FC Kansas City Sunday at Toyota Park (FoxSports1, 12:30 p.m.). The winner goes on to play either runaway regular-season champion Seattle or Washington Oct. 1 in Portland.
"One of our goals as rookies was we've got to get the team to the playoffs," Huerta said. "Since we're also roommates, we talked about it all the time."
The roommates -- Huerta, Danielle Colaprico and Arin Gilliland -- had to adjust not only to the shift from college to the pros but also to a team whose dynamic shifted dramatically when the World Cup players left and again when they returned. The team struggled through a six-game winless streak (0-2-4) after the roster reassembled.
"It was like pre-season all over again," said Huerta, an Idahoan and June grad of Santa Clara University. "We had to go through a course of getting everyone back on the same page. Now that we all what we are doing, the last couple weeks have been really good."
Huerta, named with Colaprico among the league's three rookie of the year finalists, has felt a renewed burden to prove herself with the World Cup players back on every team.
"The games are more competitive," she said. "When the World Cup players weren't here, I knew I would get a few shots a game. Now I'm lucky to get one."
phersh@tribpub.com
