Bad news for Ella Masar and the Chicago Red Stars.  An MRI yesterday revealed that the former Illini soccer standout suffered four torn muscles in her hip from a collision on Sunday and will miss 4-6 weeks.  That would put her return sometime in mid to late July.  The WPS regular season ends for the Red Stars on August 5 against St. Louis Athletica.

The collission occurred in the second half of the Red Stars' 1-1 tie against FC Gold Pride in Santa Clara, CA.  It was the second straight tie for the Red Stars, who are now 2-3-4 on the season.  The Red Stars are currently in sixth place in WPS with 10 points, one point behind a three-way tie for third place (Boston, FC Gold Pride and St. Louis) in the seven team league.  Interestingly, the Red Stars have the second best goal differential in the league at zero.  The league-leading Los Angeles Sol have the WPS' only positive goal differential at +11.

Masar had scored her first WPS point with an assist in a game on Wednesday June 3 against the Los Angeles Sol.  She has played in all nine games so far for the Red Stars, making three starts.  Masar is the only former Illini to see action to this point in the inaugural season of WPS.  Mary Therese McDonnell is also on the Chicago roster, while Christen Karniski is on the roster of the Washington Freedom, but both have yet to appear in a WPS contest.

I'll try to catch up with some of the other current and former Illini playing this summer in the W-League, the top non-professional womens soccer club league in the US.  Thanks for reading.

bmoline@wdws.com