Cary, NC—It’s next to impossible to talk about soccer in the south during the summer and not mention the weather. Friday night the North Carolina Courage and Washington Spirit players were just 40 seconds away from finishing their pre-game warmups when the call came to evacuate the field and send fans for cover. The rain drops that had just begun to fall soon turned to a deluge as a powerful weather system, packed with lightning, formed over Cary and seemed to stall for two hours.

Summer in the South, y’all. A storm settled in over Cary for several hours, forcing postponement of Friday night’s game to Saturday afternoon.

It seemed that, just as North Carolina was readying a weather/restart update, another lightning strike would occur, setting the clock back another 30 minutes. Nearly two hours after the scheduled kickoff, officials decided to postpone the match until 4:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon, making it the first game of a doubleheader, since North Carolina FC and Indy Eleven were already scheduled to play at 7:00 p.m.

There was no sign of rain as the two teams reconvened Saturday afternoon. The Courage grabbed control of the match right off of the opening whistle. Whether it was the afternoon heat or spending another night in a hotel, the Spirit had trouble gaining a foothold in the game.

Merritt Mathias and Jaelene Hinkle—arguably the most lethal outside backs in the league right now—were giving Washington all kinds of trouble on the flanks with Debinha and NWSL Player of the Month Kristen Hamilton keeping the central defenders on their toes, but Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Bledsoe is playing in top form of late and kept the Courage off of the scoreboard. The Courage had their best chance in the first half in the 31^st minute when Hinkle played a gorgeous lob into the penalty area. Debinha got her head on the ball but it rang off of the post and bounced to Hamilton. Bledsoe recovered and made a spectacular stop on Hamilton from point-blank range.

Just as it looked like the Spirit were getting their feet under them, things went from bad to awful in the 24^th minute. Hamilton was pulled down while she carried the ball into the Washington final third of the field. The referee played the advantage when Hamilton regained her footing and continued play. Hamilton spotted Debinha making a run and strung a soft pass into her path. As Debinha moved toward goal, Paige Nielsen tugged her down at the edge of the penalty area. A direct free kick was awarded because the foul occurred just outside of the penalty area, but Nielsen was shown the red card on the play and Spirit head coach Richie Burke was livid.

Washington head coach Richie Burke was all smiles before the match but the red card to Paige Nielsen left him furious.

“I don’t think it’s a red card,” Burke said of the foul. “If he’s gonna call a foul, then it’s a yellow card because there’s cover. If she’s through to goal and it’s a legitimate goal-scoring chance, then it’s a red card, I understand that. But there’s plenty of cover on, we’ve looked at a video, we’ve watched it. Paul (Riley) was honest enough to say, ‘I think you got hard done by’. Abby Erceg, a class international footballer tells me, ‘you’re hard done by.’ So if football people are telling me that’s not a red card, then I would say there’s one person on the ground that’s made a huge mistake. My team got punished for that.”

Now down a player—and a defender to boot—Burke looked to shift tactics to help his club absorb pressure from the Courage and still try to grab points on the road. Burke went with speed and offense in the 35^th minute, bringing on Cheyna Matthews for Chloe Logarzo.

Just before halftime, it was North Carolina’s turn to be frustrated with officiating when McCall Zerboni looked to be in clear on goal but Meggie Dougherty-Howard got a fist full of jersey in the penalty area, preventing Zerboni from completing her play. Zerboni sat on the penalty area grass in disbelief at the non-call.

As the halftime whistle sounded, Burke made his displeasure known to the officiating crew while his team headed into the locker room to regroup.

Debinha was pulled down, resulting in a red card to Paige Nielsen.

“I don’t want to get fined by the league, but that’s absolutely horrendous refereeing and a terrible decision that impacted our match,” Burke said in his post-game remarks.

Being up a player, but still in a scoreless deadlock at the half, Courage head coach Paul Riley looked to bring different energy to the offense by bringing Swedish forward Julia Spetsmark in for rookie Leah Pruitt. Although they were getting through the Spirit defense, their combination play was lacking its usual punch. Even though she was kept busy, the balls getting through were relatively comfortable saves for a tack-sharp Bledsoe.

Spetsmark nearly scored on her first touch in the 53^rd minute when a long throw-in by Kayleigh Kurtz bounced in the penalty area and an unmarked Spetsmark got her head on it but the ball tipped over the crossbar. She would help the Courage get on the scoreboard ten minutes later when Hinkle once again served a perfect cross far side. Spetsmark flicked a stunningly precise header right to the feet of Debinha who volleyed a rocket past Bledsoe, who had been pulled out of position by the cross. At long last, North Carolina had a lead to show for their grip on the game.

“I looked for the goal the whole game and Spets gave me a good ball,” Debinha said. “And I think I was in the right spot in the right moment, so I’m happy for helping the team.”

Much to Riley’s dismay, North Carolina slowed the tempo after they gained the lead. Seeing some daylight, the Spirit made more aggressive runs into the Courage defensive end. Stephanie Labbé was called on to make two critical saves in the 79^th minute. Kurtz, who had been playing her best game this season, somehow lost her footing just outside of the Courage penalty area and the Spirit’s Ashley Hatch picked up the ball and ran in one-on-one with Stephanie Labbé. The North Carolina goalkeeper hadn’t seen much action in the game but she parried away Hatch’s shot and then recovered to stop Matthews’ close-range rebound shot to keep Washington scoreless.

Burke was pleased with the way the Spirit hung in the game, despite being down a player for over 60 minutes. “I thought we dug in, we had a couple of really good chances at the end, even though we were down a man, to get back into this match. It’s difficult; we’ll have to lick our wounds and go back up the road with no points.”

Cheyna Matthews provided offensive fire, despite her team being down a player for most of the game.

Labbé would come up big one more time when Matthews rolled through on a give-and-go and fired another point-blank shot at the Courage keeper who denied the chance and earned her clean sheet. At the final whistle, North Carolina had three points in their pocket, but they made it much more difficult on themselves than they needed to.

“Disappointed at the last 20 minutes at the management of the game, the turnovers, and the inability just to manage the ball in the last 20 minutes, it’s not like us,” Riley said afterward. “Happy with the result but not the performance and I’m more about the performance than the result.”

Labbé’s post-game comments reflected those of her coach. “I think we need to take care of games better when we’re in the lead,” she said. “Not to slow it down but keep the tempo, keep the speed, and keep wearing teams down.”

Final Notes

Both clubs were missing players to the USWNT for their victory tour friendly against Ireland. Mallory Pugh and Rose Lavelle were absent for Washington, while Jessica McDonald, Abby Dahlkemper, Crystal Dunn, and Sam Mewis were away. Courage midfielder Denise O’Sullivan was called for Ireland but the club declined the request because the match was outside of the FIFA window.
For those who remember last September’s #DrainageDerby, it is worth noting that, while the storm system dumped several inches of rain on the field at Sahlen’s Stadium, once the downpour subsided the field drained very quickly. By the time the decision was made to postpone the match, the field showed almost no sign of the pooling that occurred during the deluge and before kickoff on Saturday, both coaches asked the grounds crew to run the sprinklers.
The Courage win and Sky Blue FC’s draw at Portland leaves North Carolina all alone in first place with 28 points.
Next up for North Carolina is a trip to Portland and a battle for the top of the table. Then on August 15-18 they host the ICC Women’s tournament at WakeMed Soccer Park. They play Manchester City on August 15^th with the third-place and final games happening August 18^th. They return to league play when they host Reign FC on August 24^th.

Lineups

North Carolina Courage: S. Labbé; J. Hinkle, A. Erceg ©, K. Kurtz, M. Mathias; M. Zerboni, D. O’Sullivan, C. Roccaro (M. Speck 84’), Debinha (H. O’Reilly 90+2), L. Pruitt (Spetsmark 45’), K. Hamilton

Washington Spirit: A. Bledsoe; P. Nielsen, S. Staab, T. Huster, E. Kellond-Knight; A. Sullivan ©, M. Dougherty Howard (B. Feist 69’), J. DiBiasi, A. Hatch (C. Thomas 81’); D. Bailey, C. Logarzo (C. Matthews 35’)

Score:
North Carolina Courage: 1
Washington Spirit: 0

Goals:
North Carolina Courage: Debinha (64’ Spetsmark)
Washington Spirit: none

Discipline
North Carolina Courage: J. Spetsmark, YC 90+4’
Washington Spirit: P. Nielsen, RC 24’

Attendance: 4,393

Photo gallery: North Carolina Courage v Washington Spirit

All photos by Victoria Klum