United States women's national team and Chicago Red Stars starting goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher left Sunday's National Women's Soccer League match with an apparent leg injury, adding to a list of injury concerns for the USWNT just over two months before the start of the Olympic Games.
The Red Stars led the Utah Royals 2-0 in the 58th minute when Naeher came off his line to contain a pass to Utah forward Ally Sentnor.
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Naeher gave up the challenge on the edge of the penalty area and appeared to clutch his left thigh before cautiously walking away.
Naeher continued playing, but less than a minute later he slowly dove to the ground to shoot and stayed on the ground. She received medical attention and was replaced minutes later by Mackenzie Wood. Naeher left the field without help.
“No [update]”I'll leave it to the professionals, the medical staff, so I still don't know what's going on,” Red Stars coach Lorne Donaldson said after his team's 3-1 win on Sunday.
Naeher is a two-time World Cup champion and has largely been the USWNT's starting goaltender for the past seven years.
She has started seven of the USWNT's eight games this year. He helped the team win the Concacaf Gold Cup and the SheBelieves Cup just over a month apart.
Naeher made three saves in the shootout and converted a shot of her own on two separate occasions, both against Canada, to help the USWNT advance and win those tournaments.
Several USWNT players have suffered injuries in recent weeks.
Forward Alex Morgan (ankle) and defender Tierna Davidson (thigh) remain sidelined after suffering injuries on the same weekend of NWSL play in late April.
USWNT defenders Naomi Girma and Abby Dahlkemper, who are also Morgan's teammates on San Diego Wave FC, are battling thigh injuries that have kept them out of recent games.
Forward Midge Purce, who was on the USWNT's Gold Cup roster, tore her ACL in late March.
Several NWSL coaches have publicly denounced the placement of the Gold Cup during the league's preseason, and many continue to point to it as a reason for continued injuries to international players earlier this NWSL season.
“Once again we are paying the consequences of a tournament that should never have happened,” NJ/NY Gotham FC coach Juan Carlos Amorós said after Purce's injury.
Incoming USWNT coach Emma Hayes will take charge of her first training camp at the end of the month, ahead of a pair of friendlies in June against South Korea.
It is not yet clear which players he will have available for that roster.
Naeher had played every minute of the season to date with the Red Stars before his injury.
