Chicago Red Stars to Host Soccer National Championship; Tri-Cities Players Lead the Way

The Chicago Red Stars will host the 2011 Women's Premier Soccer League Championship and Semifinals from July 30-31 at the Village of Lisle-Benedictine University Sports Complex in Lisle.

Among "stars" of the Red Stars are Julie Ewing (Batavia), Jackie Santacaterina (Geneva) and Red Stars goalkeeper Jamie Forbes (St. Charles).

The semifinal matches take place at 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. Saturday, July 30, and the WPSL Championship kicks off at 1 p.m. Sunday, July 31, at Benedictine University, 5700 College Road, in Lisle. Benedictine has served as the Red Stars' home pitch during Chicago's first WPSL season.

"We are thrilled to be able to host the WPSL Championship in Chicago," Red Stars Owner and General Manager Arnim Whisler said. "We've had a couple good years of practice staging big games for the Red Stars and wanted to make sure the WPSL teams and players had a nice championship experience. It was a tough call to commit to hosting when we couldn't yet be certain our Red Stars will be in the semifinals, but we are hopeful and confident we'll be playing that weekend."

The National Championship is the showcase event of the WPSL season, and WPSL Commissioner Jerry Zanelli is thrilled to have Chicago as the host team of this year's championship.

"It's been great working with Arnim and the Red Stars this year, and hosting our national championship is a class move on their part," Zanelli said. "With the quality of their organization, we know they'll do a fantastic job as hosts for the four teams who will compete for our championship."

The Red Stars have high expectations of playing in this year's WPSL Championship, and they will need to continue their winning ways. Chicago posted an 8-1-0 record to win the Midwest-North Division and is in the midst of an eight-game winning streak.