Lindsey Heaps Brace and a Janine Sonis Rocket Power Denver Summit Past Chicago Stars

Janine Sonis is listed as a left back. Somebody should break the news to her. Eight minutes into Sunday afternoon's trip to Evanston, the Denver Summit FC defender drifted wide on the left, stared down an angle that most players would have filed under just cross it and bent a long-range, left-footed shot into the bottom right corner instead.

That was the opening scene of a 3-0 Denver win over Chicago Stars FC at Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium. Lindsey Heaps scored twice, Abby Smith pitched the shutout, and the three points lifted the expansion club to 38 for the season, which Denver says is a new NWSL record for an expansion team.

A Fourth-Minute Frenzy, Then a Laser

Denver played the opening minutes like it had a dinner reservation. Everything in the fourth minute alone: Yazmeen Ryan rattled the right post, Natasha Flint had two efforts from the middle of the box blocked, and Katie Atkinson had to stop a Sonis shot from outside the area. Chicago survived that flurry. It did not survive the next one.

In the eighth minute, Emma Regan found Sonis on the left, and the defender let fly from a spot that had no business producing a goal. The club called it Denver's fastest goal of the season and Regan's first assist of the campaign.

The Stars' afternoon got heavier in the 20th, when Michelle Alozie was booked for a bad foul, and heavier still in the 26th. Sonis turned provider, slipping the ball to Heaps in the center of the box, and the captain finished low to the bottom right corner. A defender with a goal and an assist inside 26 minutes is the kind of box score line that makes fantasy managers check whether the app is broken.

Chicago finally found its legs late in the half. Nádia Gomes sent a shot over off a corner in the 40th minute, Emma Egizii had an effort blocked a minute later, and Julia Grosso forced Smith into a save in the 42nd. Heaps nearly made it three in stoppage time, but Atkinson saved her shot in the top right corner, and it stayed 2-0 at the break.

The Ten Minutes That Decided It

If there was a moment when this match could have turned into something else, it came right after halftime. Chicago brought on Jenna Bike for Egizii and came out with real intent. Brianna Pinto sent one just wide in the 51st minute. Mallory Swanson, the Stars' captain, went close from a tight angle in the 54th, then forced Smith into a save in the bottom left corner in the 57th. Grosso tested her again from distance two minutes later.

Four looks in nine minutes, and Smith had the answer every time. One goal there and the final half hour becomes a fistfight. Instead, Swanson came off for Simone Charley on the hour, and the oxygen went out of the comeback.

Denver took the hint. Sonis forced another save from Atkinson in the 64th, Natalie Means had a header blocked in the 70th, and then came the scramble that ended the debate. In the 75th and 76th minutes, Delanie Sheehan had a shot blocked, Sonis fired over, and Heaps had a left-footed try blocked before she reacted fastest and headed in from point-blank range. Chicago's last real chance, a Charley header in stoppage time, was saved by Smith at the top of the goal.

Sonis, Heaps and the Wall Behind Them

Sonis finished with a goal, an assist, four shots and three on target, and the club's notes put her season in a frame that sounds made up. According to Denver, she now leads the Summit in both goals (12) and assists (6), her 18 goal contributions are tied for the third most in the league, and no other NWSL defender has more than five. That is not a full back. That is a cheat code wearing a number 6.

Heaps was just as sharp, putting three of her four shots on target and scoring with her right foot and her head. Per the club, her first goal was her fifth goal contribution across her last five appearances, and Sunday marked the third time in five matches that both she and Sonis found the net.

Smith deserves her own paragraph. She made four saves, two of them during Chicago's best spell, and the clean sheet was the 20th regular season shutout of her career. Denver says that makes her the 14th player in league history to reach that mark. Regan also earned a nod from the right side of midfield for the assist that started it all.

Stats That Matter

• Possession: Denver held 61.9 percent, which the club says was its second-highest share of the season.
• Shots: Denver outshot Chicago 17 to 10 and put six on target to the Stars' four.
• Passing: The Summit completed 464 of 552 passes; Chicago completed 251 of 335.
• Saves: Smith made four, Atkinson three.
• Tackling: Chicago won 17 of its 20 tackles, and the Stars noted that Alozie won all five she attempted. Effort was not the problem.

What It Means

Denver moved to 10-8-9 with 38 points and bounced back from a 4-1 loss at Kansas City the previous weekend. It also finished the season series with Chicago in emphatic fashion, adding this 3-0 win to a 6-1 home rout on Aug. 29.

The playoff math is still uphill. By the club's own count after the match, Denver sat 10th, two points behind ninth-place Seattle Reign FC and four behind the North Carolina Courage, who held the final playoff spot in eighth. With the October international window up next, the Summit's last two home dates were set for Angel City FC on Oct. 17 and Racing Louisville FC on Oct. 24.

Chicago dropped to 5-2-20 with 17 points. The Stars have not won since beating Racing Louisville on Aug. 23, a stretch of six matches with one draw, and their next home date is a visit from Seattle on Oct. 18.

Closing Take

Expansion teams are supposed to be the opening act, the band you hear while looking for your seat. Denver has spent this fall playing like the headliner nobody warned, and on Sunday its left back got the first solo. When a defender leads the team in both goals and assists this deep into a season, the script is gone. Denver is improvising, and the improv is landing.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Club notes from the Denver Summit FC and Chicago Stars FC match recaps.