North Carolina Courage 1 – 1 Utah Royals FC
Cary, NC—It was a hot, sticky afternoon at Sahlen’s Stadium as two teams who were still smarting after the previous week’s results took to the pitch. The Utah Royals were coming off of their first loss of the season to Houston, while the North Carolina Courage were defeated for the first time in 330 days when the Chicago Red Stars defeated them 3-1.
“You know we knew we were going to get the wrath of Paul and the team. So, I think from our perspective we wanted to show our wrath at the same point. And I think we did that really well,” Utah head coach Laura Harvey said in her post-game talk with the media.
Courage head coach Paul Riley greets Royals head coach Laura Harvey prior to the start of the match.
The Royals brought the heat off of the opening kickoff, giving North Carolina’s back line all kinds of trouble in the first quarter of the match. Seven minutes into the game, Kate Bowen intercepted a long pass from of the Courage end of the field and tapped the ball to Gunny Jonsdottir who flicked it to Katie Stengel. Another tap pass from Stengel into the stride of Vero Bouquete led to a final ball to an onrushing Amy Rodriguez whose sliding shot tucked just inside the near post. Less than ten minutes in, the Courage were facing a 0-1 deficit.
Seeing themselves down a goal early got North Carolina’s attention as they started to stabilize their form. As play restarted after the hydration break, the Courage began to get control of the game. They nearly pulled the game level in the 37th minute when Jaelene Hinkle launched a ball into the Royals’ 6-yard box. The defense cleared the ball but it was intercepted by Denise O’Sullivan at the edge of the penalty area. She headed a pass to Lynn Williams who sent the ball across to Kristen Hamilton, who made a well-timed run toward the goal. Hamilton got her foot on it but goalkeeper Nicole Barnhardt and a defender scrummed with Hamilton to clear the ball away, leaving Hamilton injured on the play. She was able to continue after being looked at by the training staff.
Despite being behind at halftime, there was good reason for optimism in the Courage locker room and they pressured Utah over the final 45+ minutes of the match. On the day, they outshot the Royals 18-2 and drew 15 fouls, including a yellow card to Rodriguez in the 40th minute after a harsh tackle on Abby Erceg.
For all of the pressure that North Carolina put on Utah, finishing their chances remains an issue with the absence of Crystal Dunn and Jessica McDonald, who will be playing in the Women’s World Cup next month for the USWNT. Riley acknowledged that their absence puts Williams under the microscope. “We’ve lost a lot of attacking weapons that can take a bit of the pressure off the forward line but right now the pressure’s on the forward line and we don’t have a ton of goal scorers in that midfield,” he said. “I think the key part is finding a partner for Lynn that could take some pressure on.”
NC Courage midfielder McCall Zerboni collects the ball while the Utah Royals celebrate Amy Rodriguez’s eighth-minute goal.
It would be a midfielder who prevented the Courage from losing two in a row. Elizabeth Eddy, who came on for Cari Roccaro in the 69th minute, got on the end of another impressive build-up play out of midfield. Erceg intercepted a Utah pass near the center circle and got the ball to Hinkle. She found Debinha all alone at the edge of the Utah 18-yard box and sent a lofted pass to her. Debinha flicked the ball into the path of Eddy, who had made a perfectly-timed run from midfield. Eddy’s shot from a difficult angle found the far, “upper 90-ish,” she recounted after the game. With many of her teammates in the stands on a break from USWNT duty, Eddy scored her first goal.
The game ended on a somewhat confusing note when referee Carol Anne Chenard blew her whistle several minutes into stoppage time and it appeared at first that it signaled the end of the game. As the public address announcer wished fans a nice evening and players looked to start their post-game cool-down, it turned out that Chenard had awarded a free kick. “I think we died when we realized we thought it was the game was over and it was really a free kick,” Riley said after the game. “I’m screaming at them to get the ball and get the everyone down the field and McCall was looking at me like ‘I don’t know if I can do it, coach’.”
Elizabeth Eddy celebrates after scoring in the 78th minute.
A minute later, her game-ending whistle was more decisive and the teams congratulated each other for surviving a long, hot game.
Final Notes
- Elizabeth Eddy’s goal was her first as a member of the North Carolina Courage. Debinha’s assist was her first of the 2019 campaign.
- Heather O’Reilly took advantage of the grounds crew preparing to replace the turf and secured a section of grass, which she gifted to Eddy to commemorate her first goal.
- Former Courage and current Utah Defender Makenzy Doniak entered the game in the 73rd It was her first appearance in Sahlen’s Stadium since her knee injury.
- The Utah Royals are the only team that the Courage haven’t defeated. The Royals were the only team to beat the Courage in 2018 and their other three matches have ended in draws.
- Royals coach Laura Harvey said after the game that much of her team had not trained consistently over the last week because of illness or injury. “[If] I could’ve made six subs I probably would have,” she said.
- The Courage say farewell to Sahlen’s Stadium for the next month. They will take on Reign FC in Tacoma on Memorial Day and then travel to Orlando for a June 1st Their next home game will be Saturday, June 15th against the Portland Thorns. The game will be the second of a doubleheader with their club mates, North Carolina FC, playing the early game against the Swope Park Rangers.
Lineups
North Carolina Courage: K. Rowland; J. Hinkle, A. Erceg ©, K. Kurtz, M. Mathias; Debinha, M. Zerboni, C. Roccaro (E. Eddy, 69’), D. O’Sullivan; L. Williams, K. Hamilton (J. Spetsmark,58’)
Utah Royals FC: N. Barnhart ©; B. Moros (M. Doniak, 73’), S. Johnson (G. Vincent, 46’), R. Corsie, K. Bowen; M. Laddish (M. Weber, 82’), L. LaBonta, V. Boquete, G. Jonsdottir; A. Rodriguez, K. Stengel
Score:
North Carolina Courage: 1
Utah Royals FC: 1
Goals:
North Carolina Courage: E. Eddy (78’ Debinha)
Utah Royals FC: A. Rodriguez (8’ V. Boquette)
Discipline
North Carolina Courage: none
Utah Royals FC: A. Rodriguez, YC, 40’
Attendance: 4,821
Photo Gallery: North Carolina Courage v Utah Royals
All photos by Victoria Klum.
