Ashlyn Harris smothers the play to prevent the Courage from scoring (photo by Victoria Klum).
Cary, NC– Not even Mother Nature was going to spoil the North Carolina Courage’s party.
Their Saturday night matchup against the Orlando Pride was slated to include honoring breast cancer warriors at halftime and the presentation of the NWSL Shield immediately following the match. But Mother Nature was not having it and when she delivers a summer storm to the South, she does not mess around. After a 90-minute delay, and with another menacing storm cell bearing down, the teams took the field with the hope of sneaking the match in.
Both teams went on the attack early, but it would be the Pride, a team that plays well on the road, who played the first 20 minutes of the match focused on collecting three points. By the end of the evening those points would become even more important since the Chicago Red Stars drew with the Portland Thorns, which moved them into fourth place in the standings, bumping the Pride to fifth place.
North Carolina and Orlando face off before the game was called for weather (photo by Victoria Klum).
As the game ticked past the first quarter hour, another storm drenched the area and officials abruptly pulled the teams from the field in the 22nd minute. The crowd of over 7,000 was again instructed to seek shelter from the lightning as officials from the league and both clubs met to decide whether to continue the match.
At 9:30 p.m. local time, officials announced that the game would be postponed until 10:00 a.m. the following morning. After further discussion, officials determined that rather than restart the match at 00:00, the game would resume from the 21:30 mark.
After a night when Courage coach Paul Riley said most of the players got little sleep, everyone reconvened under a cloudy, but peaceful, sky at Sahlen’s Stadium.
The game restarted with both teams getting their feet back under them. After a nifty run through midfield in the 27th minute, Sam Mewis slid a pass to Debinha who found a wide-open Lynn Williams, but she was called offside on the first good scoring chance of the morning.
Three minutes later, Marta took a pass 20 yards inside Orlando’s end of the field and carried the ball past midfield and lifted a cross to Alex Morgan, who made a run toward North Carolina’s 18 yard box. Morgan tapped a pass back to Camila but her shot deflected out for a corner kick.
Orlando Pride defender Ali Krieger tangles with Courage forward Lynn Williams (photo by Victoria Klum).
After that, the difference in play from the previous evening was like, well, night and day. North Carolina pressed the Pride and closed down Morgan and Marta to prevent them from creating viable scoring chances for most of the game.
Meanwhile, Orlando had to absorb North Carolina’s speed on the counter attack. Late in the first half, Mewis again took the ball through midfield and lifted the ball toward Jessica McDonald. McDonald tapped the ball over to Williams but Ashlyn Harris parried the ball away from the goal to keep the the teams at zero going into halftime.
Although one would be hard-pressed to find a weak spot for the Courage in the second half, Williams and Debinha put on a show for the faithful who made the trek back to Sahlen’s Stadium early on Sunday morning.
In the 54th minute, Crystal Dunn stripped the ball from the Orlando midfield and passed to Williams. Williams dribbled the ball into the Orlando 18 to open up a good angle for a shot. McDonald, at the far post, knocked the ball down and Debinha smacked the ball into the net. However, the goal was called back because McDonald was ruled offside.
In the 67th minute, after a short spell of possession for the Pride, Williams lofted a long ball to a wide open Debinha to run in on goal, but the play was called back for another offside.
The Courage had a free kick just outside of the Orlando 18 in the 71st minute. Debinha made a tack-sharp pass to the far post that found Mewis but Harris was able to keep Mewis’ header out of the net.
Pride players try and defend against a dangerous corner kick from the Courage (photo by Victoria Klum).
The Pride had a bit of a scare following the play when Harris brought the ball out for a goal kick but knelt to the turf in exhaustion. Haley Kopmeyer was observed loosening up on the sidelines, but after a couple of minutes, Harris was able to continue the match.
North Carolina got on the scoreboard in the 76th minute when Williams brought the ball deep into Orlando’s end of the field and took a sharp angle shot found the back of the net. The score was credited as an own goal by Shelina Zadorsky who had tried to slide the ball out of danger, but deflected it past Harris. “They say ‘whip the ball in hard because anything can happen’” Williams said after the game.
Now down a goal, Orlando was forced to open their game up even further to try to get those crucial points for the playoff race. Just one problem, though. Williams and Debinha were not done.
In the 81st minute Debinha spotted Williams making a run down the left side and lobbed a long ball into her path. Deep in the Pride zone, Williams skirmished with Ali Krieger before poking the ball through Krieger’s legs to a waiting Debinha who took a touch and then ripped a shot that beat Harris to the top right corner.
As the match wound down in the 88th minute, Kristen Hamilton (an 82nd minute substitute for Dunn) brought the ball into the Orlando box before knocking a pass back to Debinha. She sent the ball back to Mewis who tapped it over to Mathias, who then took a touch and spotted Williams just outside of the Pride’s six-yard box. Mathias lofted the ball toward Williams who headed it past a frozen Harris to cement North Carolina’s record-tying 16th win this season.
For match photo gallery click here.
Final Notes:
- How different was the first 20 minutes Saturday night from the 25+ played Sunday morning? By the 30th minute of the match (including Saturday night’s play) Orlando had 8 corner kicks to North Carolina’s 1. By the end of the first half, the Courage kept the Pride from earning any more CKs and outshot them 12-6.
- This was the third meeting between the Courage and the Pride this season. North Carolina traveled twice to Orlando and beat them both times 4-3 in May and 3-0 at the end of June.
- Sydney Leroux was back in the lineup for the Pride after being away for three weeks due to illness. She subbed for Camila in the 60’ but had to come out of the game in the 88’ after being injured.
- McCall Zerboni was back in the starting eleven for the Courage. Zerboni had another game where she was directing traffic all over the park, even after taking another clank to her ankle midway through the first half.
- There was a nice moment at halftime when the Courage recognized breast cancer survivors, and those still battling the disease, by having them stand for applause. The Orlando subs who were working out on the field applauded along with the crowd.
- Players from North Carolina FC, the club’s United Soccer League team, joined in the celebration of the NWSL Shield award ceremony.
- Riley emphasizes that the success of the Courage is a team effort. This was recognized during the Shield presentation when their trainer, Lindsey Tolman, and equipment manager, Vanessa Fulcher, were introduced along with the players and coaching staff.
Lineups:
North Carolina: K. Rowland; J. Hinkle, A. Erceg, A. Dahlkemper, M. Mathias; Debinha (H. O’Reilly 90+1), M. Zerboni, S. Mewis, C. Dunn (K. Hamilton 82’); J. McDonald (D. O’Sullivan 66’), L. Williams
Orlando: A. Harris; S. Zadorsky, A. Kennedy, A. Krieger; K. Edmonds, E. Van Egmond, D. Weatherholt, R. Hill (C. Ubogagu 76’); Marta, A. Morgan, Camila (S. Leroux 60’ (C. Nairn 88’))
Scoring:
North Carolina: Debinha 81’ (L. Williams); L. Williams 88’ (M. Mathias)
Orlando: OG (Zadorsky) 75’
Discipline:
North Carolina: M. Mathias (YC) 37’
Orlando: E. Van Egmond (YC) 28’
Attendance: 7,606
NC Courage
