Kerolin’s Hat Trick Leads North Carolina over Red Stars

Bridgeview, IL-Chicago Red Stars were on a roll with a two-match winning streak in league play until visiting North Carolina got a hat trick from Kerolin. The Courage went on for a 5-0 shutout at SeatGeek Stadium on Saturday night.

The match result definitely didn’t sit well with Chicago coach Chris Petrucelli or the rest of the team.

“I think we knew that (New Carolina) would have the ball,” Petrucelli said. “We spent some time with our defensive organization. I’ve said this before and I say it again. The issue looks like it’s a problem in the back because of the number of goals that were scored. But we couldn’t keep the ball up front and it lead to a lot of pressure on our backs. Every day in training we’re working on trying to keep the ball.”

North Carolina Courage found the scoreboard first in the 11th minute of play, when the Red Stars turned the ball over. Milli Gejl Jensen found teammate Kerolin near the top of the box and she kicked the ball into the back of the net for the 1-0 lead.

The Courage added a second goal in the 31st minute off the leg of Gejl Jensen assisted by Denise O’Sullivan for a 2-0 advantage,

Then, Kerolin found a spot in the Red Stars defense after taking a ball from Kaleigh Kurtz. She beat a defense player. and made a move past Chicago keeper Alyssa Naeher to slot the ball into the open net for a 3-0 lead.

Denise O’Sullivan added a goal for North Carolina in the early part of the second half in the 52nd minute. As O’Sullivan scored off a pass from Natumi Miura.

Nicoli Found her third goal off a pass from Tess Boade that extended the margin to 5-0 in the 60th minute.

Trying to find the answers and playing competitive soccer are some of the questions that coach Petrucelli and his staff are trying to figure out at this point of the season.

“Ther’s two choices right, change the players or change the way you’re playing,” Petrucelli said. “We can set the team up attack more oriented or put more attacking players on, but we did that earlier in the year and gave up goals as well. The solutions are that we’re trying different things, different combinations of players and different systems. We’re just going through it the best that we can.”

The Red Stars (3-7-1, 11 points) return with a midweek game in the Challenge Cup Wednesday at the Kansas City Current 7 p.m. CT and Chicago returns to league play hosting Portland on Sunday June 18th at 5 p.m.

North Carolina (5-4-2, 17 points) travels to Washington Wednesday for a Challange Cup Match at 7:30 p.m. ET and will host Orlando Saturday at 7 p.m. ET.

NC-Kerolin (Milli Gejl Jensen) 11

NC-Milli Gejl Jensen (Denise O’Sullivan) 31

NC-Kerolin (Kaleigh Kurtz) 34

NC-Denise O’Sullivan (Natumi Miura) 52

NC-Kerolin (Tess Boade) 60