From “Holy Shipp” to “Holy Chip.”
For a second consecutive season, Harry Shipp represented the Chicago Fire in the Chipotle MLS Homegrown Game, which on Tuesday pitted a collection of MLS' best young talent against the Club América U-20 side. Shipp was subbed into the match by head coach Landon Donovan in the 72nd minute and made a favorable impression on the crowd gathered at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colo.
After replacing Sporting KC defender Erik Palmer-Brown, Shipp took over the left side of midfield and within minutes came close to giving his side a lead. Shipp chested down a chip from Toronto FC’s Jay Chapman inside the box but couldn’t get quite enough power on it to beat León Quiñones.
Match Highlights and Statistics
In the 79th minute, Shipp took a short corner and spun around a defender before setting up Columbus Crew SC's Ben Swanson for a shot from about 20 yards out that went just high and wide.
After last year's inaugural Homegrown Game played out to a scoreless draw, the 2015 edition ended level at one after 90 minutes, leaving the outcome to be determined on penalties. Donovan called upon Shipp to lead off the shootout for the Homegrown side, and the 23-year-old stepped up and confidently chipped the ball straight down the middle as Club América goalkeeper Jonathan León Quiñones dove helplessly to his left.
“Straight out of the playbook,” commentator and former MLS goalkeeper Joe Cannon said. “Honestly, it takes a lot of guile, just a lot of character to do that.”
The Club América U-20s went on to win the penalty round, 5-4.
Shipp returns to Chicago Wednesday to join his teammates in preparing for Sunday's clash with Western Conference-leading FC Dallas. Shipp is the only Fire player to start all 20 regular season games in 2015 and has played 1,726 of a possible 1,800 minutes.
For more coverage and match highlights from Tuesday's Homegrown Game, visit MLSsoccer.com.
WATCH: Harry Shipp on MLS Homegrown Game
