NC Courage celebrate a goal against the Washington Spirit (photo by Victoria Klum).
Cary, NC — By all accounts, it was not the North Carolina Courage’s best performance of the 2018 season, but they held the visiting Washington Spirit off of the score sheet and extended their winning streak to four games.
Washington, winless since May 23rd, was at the end of a road trip, playing their third match in ten days. Their most recent results were losses at Orlando and Chicago. Coach Jim Gabarra had a tired team with a depleted lineup playing in over 90-degree heat at Sahlen’s Stadium; yet they played a measured first half, frustrating the Courage as they tried to generate plays in midfield.
The Spirit kept numbers back looking to contain a North Carolina squad that has started consistently finding the back of the net recently. “You can’t come in here and play their game and try to press them with a thin roster,” said Gabarra after the game.
However heavy their legs might have been, the Spirit came out strong against the Courage and had the better of the play throughout the first 45 minutes. Gabarra had praise for his players’ first half performance. “I think our team did really well, defended really well, and had a good share of the possession in the first half,” he said.
Washington created a good chance for an early score in the 9’ when Andi Sullivan brought the ball through midfield and made a pass right into the stride of an overlapping Taylor Smith who had space but Katelyn Rowland smothered the shot.
The Courage took a 1-0 lead into halftime on the strength of Debinha’s goal in the 12’. Lynn Williams got on the end of a lob pass from McCall Zerboni and took a couple of touches before tapping the ball over to Debinha, who had rushed into the 6’ box to support Williams. Debinha was able to touch the ball past Aubrey Bledsoe to give the Courage the early lead.
“I was disappointed with the first half,” Courage coach Paul Riley told reporters after the match. “We really didn’t come out with all cylinders going.” After some regrouping and reflection at halftime, the Courage came out on the front foot in the second half. Zerboni and her central midfield partner, Denise O’Sullivan, bottled up Washington’s attack in the middle of the park and Debinha and Crystal Dunn were able to use their creativity and speed to open up the attack for Williams and Jessica McDonald.
Jessica McDonald out jumps the competition to gain possession for the Courage (photo by Victoria Klum).
“Second half we got a grip of the game straight out of the gate,” said Riley. “We created five or six great chances in the second half.” Their second half domination was evident on the scoresheet which showed the Courage outshooting the Spirit 21-6.
North Carolina doubled their lead in the 60’. Dunn intercepted a Washington pass at midfield and dribbled the ball into space. She spotted McDonald on her right and flipped the ball to her. McDonald opened up the Washington defense and tried a shot. The ball deflected off of the Spirit defenders and looped over Bledsoe and the home team lead 2-0.
Two minutes later, McDonald brought the ball down the right side and crossed it into the box but Bledsoe was able to stop Williams header from point blank range and Debinha’s follow up on the rebound went over the crossbar to prevent the Courage from adding to their lead.
The Spirit created one more scoring opportunity late in the match when Rose Lavelle, who had come on in the 70’, brought the ball down the right side of the field and pushed a pass to Ashley Hatch who took a touch and then fired a shot that forced Rowland to make a save. When the final whistle blew minutes later, Rowland had earned her third clean sheet of the season.
“It was a good, professional performance: I wouldn’t say it’s our best performance,” Riley noted.
Courage captain Abby Erceg felt that, despite the hot weather, the team came back and did well in the second half. “(We) had a lot of chances. It’s just unfortunate, though, because we couldn’t finish them and we’ve been really good at finishing them lately, so we let ourselves down a bit. But we still got the win and we’re happy with that.”
For match photo gallery click here.
Final notes:
- Due to the heat index of 95 degrees, officials called for hydration breaks during the match. Late in the game, both coaches were advised of potential severe weather, but no lightning strikes reached the area during the match.
- Heather O’Reilly made her first start for North Carolina and played a full 90 minutes in place of the injured Jaelene Hinkle. Left back is not a position fans are used to seeing O’Reilly in but she contained Taylor Smith in the first half. Riley considered subbing her in the second half but decided to have her go the full 90 minutes when it looked like Smith was backing off in the second half.
- Debinha has scored three goals in her last three matches.
- Mallory Pugh (right knee sprain) and Francisca Ordega (concussion) were missing for the Spirit. Gabarra said Pugh could return to the lineup in roughly two weeks.
- Abby Dahlkemper collided with a Washington player late in the game and ended up with a split lip. She went off the field briefly for repairs but returned to finish the match.
- How does coach Riley continue motivate such a high-performing team? “I talked to the players about a guy called Ben Comen, a young guy who runs cross-country for high school who’s got cerebral palsy. He races against himself because he knows he’s gonna come last: he can’t race against others. We have to race against ourselves. We can’t race against anybody else in the league. We have to concentrate on ourselves and put ourselves in a position to perform every day and a little bit better each day. And if we don’t do that we’ll fall flat on our face when it really counts.” Riley talked about Comen before the game and again at halftime, when he felt their motivation could use some recalibration.
- Coach Riley’s words were echoed in Erceg’s post-game comments. “We don’t really set our standards off of what the rest of the league are doing. We set our standards off of what we’re doing and what we’re capable of.”
- Riley has the luxury of a commanding lead in the Supporters Shield and a deep, highly competitive roster. He is hoping to be able to rest some of his regular starters as the season winds down toward the playoffs.
- The Courage will be participating in the first ever International Champions Cup Women’s tournament July 26-29 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, FL. They will be competing against top European clubs Paris Saint-Germain, Olympique Lyonnais, and Manchester City.
Lineups
NC: Rowland, O’Reilly, Erceg, Dahlkemper, Mathias, Debinha (Speck 88’), Zerboni, O’Sullivan, Dunn (Hamilton 71’), Williams, McDonald (Mewis 65’)
WAS: Bledsoe, Dydasco, Church, Johnson, Smith (Eubanks 85’), Dougherty Howard (Solaun 73’), Huster, Quinn, Sullivan, Banini (Lavelle 70’), Hatch
Scoring
NC: Debinha (12’), unassisted
NC: McDonald (60’), Dunn (A)
Discipline
NC: O’Sullivan (YC 53’)
WAS: none
