Quotes: Chicago Stars Defender Taylor Malham and Head Coach Lorne Donaldson

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NWSL Chicago Stars FC

Quotes: Chicago Stars Defender Taylor Malham and Head Coach Lorne Donaldson

April 25, 2025 - National Women's Soccer League (NWSL)
Chicago Stars FC News Release


CHICAGO - The Chicago Stars held a media availability with defender, Taylor Malham, and head coach, Lorne Donaldson, today, April 25 ahead of the team's match against San Diego Wave FC Saturday, April 26, at 6:30 p.m. CT at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois.

Who: Taylor Malham, Chicago Stars defender

Lorne Donaldson, Chicago Stars head coach

Quotes:

From your perspective, what defines a Jonas Eidevall team and what does he bring to the NWSL as a coach? (from Joe Chatz)

Coach Lorne Donaldson: Yeah, I mean, he's got a lot a lot of good players. And, he seems to get them to play the way he wants to play. He's got some of his European players that actually fit the league, which is good. Sometimes they don't, but his kind of fit the league. Especially the French players. They're really good players. But he's got some good young players, and some skilled players, and it seems to be working for them.

Is there a way you've been communicating or pushing mentality differently, know ing you want your results to change? (from Joe Chatz)

Coach Donaldson: Yeah, we still know it's early, but I mean, we can't keep saying that. We have to start getting results. To get results, you have to put it in the back of the net. So, we know we have been creating chances and we have been hard hit the last two games by giving up penalties. We know that in [our minds]. We can talk about last week and do all the stuff, but we just didn't get the result. So, we have to figure out how are we going to put it in the back of the net.

What is the mindset in the locker room as you guys are trying to turn things around after a slow start? (from Joe Chatz)

Taylor Malham: I think we're all together as a group, which is the most important part. Obviously, it's a long season, we go through a lot of ups and downs. But I think the most important part is staying together, and I think we do a pretty good job of that.

What has it been like understanding that you really have a massive role on this team as an outside back? (from Joe Chatz)

Malham: Yeah, I mean, I just try and do what I can to help the team, whether that's playing a lot of minutes or not. I think just staying positive throughout all the ups and downs and just listening to the people around me, taking in all the information I can and just growing year-by-year and game-by-game.

How are you feeling about what the team has been able to accomplish so far this season? (from Lesley Ryder)

Coach Donaldson: Well, I mean, if you talk about accomplished, we haven't accomplished much. But I think we're moving in the right direction to accomplish something. With sports or with anything, sometimes it's a slow start and you have to build on it. I think we're building in a positive way and hopefully we can continue that trend. We have to start getting some positive results, you know. We have to figure out a way. This group will stick together and this group goes on a fight. Coaches, players, admin, everybody; we know how to fight. So we're going to fight to get some positive results. But we also have to perform. That's what we're all about, and we're going to just try to get it done in a positive way.

Last weekend, Micayla Johnson got the most minutes she's had so far this season. How are you feeling about her development so far? (from Lesley Ryder)

Coach Donaldson: Yeah you know, she's national team player and she's got some talent. It's going to take a while to understand, just from the locker room and just from being on her own, and just being a professional, you know it takes some players a while to get used to this kind of environment. She's making the adjustment and players, like Taylor right next to me, and some of these older players are helping her through the tough times. As I told her, there's going to be bad times and she's going to do stupid things at times, on and off the field, and we're just going to make sure that we're helping her. But we like her progress and I think she has a lot to offer, you know, in the later times.

How is it being one of the older players when you have these younger players in the locker room, even if you may not feel like you're an older player? (from Lesley Ryder)

Malham: Yeah, I don't feel like an older player a lot of the times. But we do have so many young players, and it is nice getting to kind of help them out. Obviously, we've all been there, so we know what it's like. Being able to kind of take them under our wing and just help them out as much as we can is really great.

What is the message in the locker room this week as you try to rebound from last weekend? (from Lesley Ryder)

Malham: Again, I think just staying together and making sure we're all on the same page. Obviously, we want to have a positive mindset going into every game, but also know that things need to be better, we need to score goals and we need to play well together and defensively. I think just staying together is the biggest message right now.

Having coached at the professional, international and youth levels, how do you see the news of the NWSL looking at a DII league and how would you like to see it working, given your background? (from Jeff Kassouf)

Coach Donaldson: Yeah, I think there's a lot of things to pick from. You know, I can talk about this all day. [Having a DII league], I think it's good. It's going to be good for the league, but we have a lot of work to do; how to put this together and make it look good. Because what league and all of the logistics have to be good to make it work properly, because you still have college, and college is not going anywhere. You've got to work with colleges and work with some of the college rules to make sure this can work. For amateur players, professional players, first team players, it's great news for the women's game. I think we're moving in the right direction.

In your opinion, how deep do you feel like the player pool is with so many leagues proposing a launch soon? (from Jeff Kassouf)

Coach Donaldson: I think there are players there. If it takes, say players coming out of Africa, there's a lot of players. Not just in the USA, players coming out of Brazil. I think some of these young players would readily come over and play in these leagues, because they're not college bound. Most of those players, they're 15, 16, 17 and they want to go right into a pro league, like they do in their own country. I think if they have the opportunity [they'll come play in the United States], yes. But I also think we have enough players in this country. Lots of good players in this country, I don't see that as a problem.

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