Mallory Pugh scored the lone goal and the Chicago Red Stars knocked Gotham FC out of the NWSL playoffs with a 1-0 quarter-final victory Sunday.
Pugh’s goal in the 61st minute went into upper right corner, out of the reach of Gotham goalkeeper and Canadian Olympic champion Kailen Sheridan.
“For me, [it’s] bittersweet obviously, I would have liked to have kept going,” Lloyd said afterward. “But overall just really proud of the group and the future is really, really bright for Gotham FC.”
Lloyd choked back tears in the post-game, saying that it’s finally hitting her that her career is over.
The 🐐 sounds off for the final time 😢<br><br>Thank you for everything, <a href=”https://twitter.com/CarliLloyd?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@CarliLloyd</a> 👏 <a href=”https://t.co/cqh7Us5Hfm”>pic.twitter.com/cqh7Us5Hfm</a>
—@NWSL
The Red Stars move on to face the top-seeded Portland Thorns in the semifinals next Sunday. Chicago (11-8-5) finished fourth in the league standings, riding a three-game winning streak into the playoffs.
Gotham (8-5-11), which finished fifth in the standings, hadn’t been to the playoffs since 2013.
The teams met three times this season, with Gotham winning once and two scoreless draws.
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