North Carolina Courage 5–1 Racing Louisville
Cary, NC— Kerolin Nicoli and Debinha threw themselves a Welcome Back to North Carolina party Saturday night, celebrating their return from international duty with first and second half braces.
With a chance at making the playoffs hanging in the balance, the Courage needed all three points against Racing Louisville to move them up the table. Getting out on the front foot was essential.
The Brazilian pair answered the bell, figuring into all five goals as North Carolina rained goals on Racing Louisville, bagging an emphatic 5-1 win.
It took Kerolin nine minutes to get on the board, thanks to some great team play. Kaleigh Kurtz started the play out of the back with a pass fed through to Denise O’Sullivan, who fresh off of her international duty for Ireland. O’Sullivan lofted a beautiful leading ball to Kerolin at the top of the 18-yard box. She took a sharp first touch to give herself some space before beating Katie Lund.
The Courage kept their foot on the gas for the entire game, outshooting the visiting team 22-5 (with 12 shots on goal), and making an eye-popping 555 passes with 84.5% accuracy. Debinha and Diana Ordóñez tested the Louisville back line, each coming close to doubling the Courage lead in the first half.
“I thought we were brilliant in that we were on the front foot, but we dictated the game. I thought our spaces were fantastic,” Head Coach Sean Nahas said in his post-match press conference. “Obviously, having everyone back was an energy lifter, with some really good spot passages of play.
“To have almost 560 passes in a game at this level, 65% possession, that’s not very often had. But I felt like the spaces we took up allowed for us to be fresher on the defensive side.”
Kerolin closed out the first half with a bookend brace in the 42nd minute. But it came after a scary collision between her and Racing Louisville defender Julia Lester that left both players on the floor. Kerolin was able to get up after a few moments, but Lester needed an extended period of treatment from the training staff. Once the Louisville defender was back on her feet, the referee awarded the Courage the foul and showed Lester a yellow card.
Carson Pickett sent the free kick into the penalty area, looking for a teammate to redirect the ball on a header. The ball landed in traffic in front of the Louisville goal then bounced out to Kerolin. With her full weight behind the shot, she unleashed a laser from the top of the box to send her team into halftime up 2-0.
In the second half, it would be Debinha getting in on the scoring, with a little help from her club and country teammate. In the 56th minute, Debinha drove through the Louisville defensive end of the field to the edge of the 18-yard box. Kerolin was motoring through the middle of the field into the box. They linked up for a saucy give-and-go play that put Debinha in alone on Lund to make it 3-0.
North Carolina’s team defense was solid through most of the game. But it only took one errant attempted back pass to spoil the Courage defense’s clean sheet. Merritt Mathias appeared to attempt a pass back to Kurtz but put the ball too far in front of her, giving Nadia Nadim all the room she needed to intercept the pass, create some space and beat Casey Murphy with a hard shot to the bottom corner in the 72nd minute.
Racing Louisville gained some energy from the Nadim goal, putting more pressure on the Courage defense, giving Murphy a little more work to do in goal.
But Debinha would take the wind out of their sails in the 84th minute. After drawing a foul on Jaelin Howell in the penalty area, she lined up to take the spot kick herself. She converted the penalty kick with a chip shot to the upper 90.
An absolutely ????? finish from @Debinha7 restores the hosts' three goal lead ?#NCvLOU | @TheNCCourage pic.twitter.com/EDEGkoUv2Z
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) September 11, 2022
After celebrating her goal, Debinha was replaced by Tess Boade, making her second regular season appearance for the Courage. After a strong showing last week at Gotham, Nahas was hoping to see her get rewarded for her hard work at training.
He wasn’t the only one. As the game approached the 90th minute, Kerolin delivered a stunning cross into the box, catching Boade making a run to the far post. Boade’s header sealed the 5-1 win for North Carolina, giving them three much-needed points to move up to 8th place.
Boade took reporters through her first professional goal during her post-game press conference. “I was, like, 30 seconds into being on the field—already out of breath,” she said. “And Kero got the ball on the sideline, did her magic, as she always does. And we made a little eye contact as I was running near [the]post, and we just kind of spoke through the clouds to hit a back-post chipper.”
“She put it on a platter, and I almost missed that platter. But thankfully it went in because Master Chef” Boade joked, referring to the team’s recent promotional video featuring her making “famous” orzo.
It was a satisfying result for the Courage that couldn’t come at a better time with the team needing results from their remaining matches.
Roster News: North Carolina signed Danish forward Rikke Madsen in late August. Madsen comes to the Courage from Madrid CFF, where she made 12 appearances, scoring one goal.
The Courage also re-signed veteran midfielder Denise O’Sullivan to a contract extension that will keep the Irish national in North Carolina through 2024. The club also bought out Jamaican midfielder Havana Solaun’s contract last week.
Final Notes
- There was another scary moment early in the second half when Racing Louisvile’s captain Gemma Bonner collided with Courage midfielder Brianna Pinto in the Louisville six-yard box. Both players were down for several minutes getting treatment for head injuries. Pinto came away with a nasty knot over her eye while Bonner finished the game with a bandaged head.
- Diana Ordóñez was named the NWSL Rookie of the Month. Ordóñez and defender Carson Pickett were named to the August Best XI.
- Next up for North Carolina is a road swing through Kansas City (August 28) and New Jersey (September 4) before they return to WakeMed Soccer Park on Saturday September 10 to play Racing Louisville FC.
Lineups
North Carolina Courage: C. Murphy; C. Pickett (K. Pickett 86’), A. Erceg©, K. Kurtz, M. Mathias (R. Williams 76’); B. Pinto (M. Speck 85’), D. O’Sullivan, F. Nagano, Debinha (T. Boade 84’); Kerolin, Diana Ordóñez (J. Daniels 77’)
Racing Louisville: K. Lund; G. Bonner©, S. Murray, J. Lester (N. Martin 46’), Z. Wyne (R. Holloway 77’); L. Milliet, J. Howell, S. DeMelo (E. Ekic 84’); W. Shuang (P. Goins 90’), N. Nadim, J. McDonald
Score:
North Carolina Courage: 5
Racing Louisville: 1
Goals:
North Carolina Courage: Kerolin (D. O’Sullivan) 9’; Kerolin (unassisted) 41’; Debinha (Kerolin) 56’; Debinha (PK) 84’; T. Boade (Kerolin) 90’
Racing Louisville: N. Nadim (unassisted) 72’
Discipline:
North Carolina Courage: none
Racing Louisville: J. Lester (YC) 41’; Z. Wyne (YC) 45+1’
