Cary, N.C- During this partially cloudy afternoon, the Washington Spirit were welcomed to WakeMed Field in front of 3,530 spectators for Week 17’s NWSL Lifetime match. Midfielder Denise O’Sullivan marked her first cap with the North Carolina Courage for their 18th match.
After the whistle blew to kickoff the first half, both teams came out confident and ready to display their skill to see who would come out on top. The Washington Spirit had possession, but Courage forward Ashley Hatch was capable of gaining the ball and shot at the goal early on, which filled fans with excitement. However, the excitement soon simmered down as it had missed the net, sailing over the crossbar.
Goalkeeper Katelyn Rowland was on top of the game when unexpected shots came her way from the Spirit offense. At the 45 minute mark, the referee added three minutes of stoppage time.
In the 46th minute, Hamilton made her way through the Spirit defense and crossed the ball to Hatch on the left side of the field. Her shot hit the back of the net to give North Carolina a 1-0 lead at the end of the first half.
After halftime, both teams were off to a rocky start as two free kicks were lost by Washington and one was lost for North Carolina. Forward Lynn Williams made a cross to Hamilton, who was on the run and faced one on one with Spirit goalkeeper Stephanie Labbé. Williams took a shot that was just a tad off from reaching the inside of the bottom left post.
Forward Jessica McDonald had an opportunity on Washington’s goal, but it went too far wide. The Courage continued to take advantage of every opportunity that came their way, but nothing was successful. The Spirit in return had to maintain control of their defense to not let the Courage make their way through.
In the 84th minute, the second corner kick of the game was taken by North Carolina. The Courage attempted to get someone on the ball, but before they could, the Spirit worked to clear the ball, but then defender Kassey Kallman made an own goal for the Courage to stand with a 2-0 score.
With a minimum of three minutes of stoppage time added, the Spirit attempted to keep it from being a scoreless match. Rookie forward Mallory Pugh of the Spirit crossed the ball into the box and was the headed by fellow forward Cheyna Williams, who was so close to making a goal for Washington, but hit the side of the goalpost.
When the final whistle blew to conclude the match, the North Carolina Courage achieved their 13th win of the season. Courage goalkeeper Katelyn Rowland marked her seventh shutout of the season for the Courage after they dominated the Washington Spirit.
“It’s one of those performances at this time in the season in the heat where you just want to get the points,” said head coach Paul Riley. “Hats off to Washington. They did a good job, especially the first half. They had a lot of the ball in the first half. In this league, you have to make it count when you have the ball. Luckily for us, they didn’t make it count. In the second half, it was a better display. We changed things around and asked for more.”
The Courage continue to stand in first place with 39 points and the Spirt remain in tenth place with 16 points
SCORING SUMMARY:
NC-Ashley Hatch 46’
NC-Kassey Kallman 84’
BOOKING SUMMARY:
WAS-Caprice Dydasco 55’
NC-Abby Dahlkemper 92’
NC COURAGE: #9-Lynn Williams, #8-Denise O’Sullivan (#10-Débora Cristiane De Oliveira), #12-Ashley Hatch (#14-Jessica McDonald 67’), #7-McCall Zerboni, #5-Samantha Mewis, #23-Kristen Hamilton (#3-Makenzy Doniak 89’), #15-Jalene Hinkle, #6-Abby Erceg, #13-Abby Dahlkemper, #11-Taylor Smith, 0-Katelyn Rowland
Subs not used: #1-Sabrina D’Angelo, #2-Nora Holstad, #26-Sam Witteman, #22-Steph Ochs
WASHINGTON SPIRIT: #11-Mallory Pugh, #20-Cheyna Williams, #9-Hovana Solaun (#17-Cali Farquharson 67’), #10-Estefania Banini (#2-Arielle Ship 87’), #23-Tori Huster, #29-Meggie Dougherty Howard, #3-Caprice Dydasco, #6-Kassey Kallman, #4-Shelina Zadorssky, #24-Estelle Johnson (#22-Alyssa Kleiner
46’), #1-Stephanie Labbé
Subs not used: #21-DiDi Haracic, #5-Whitney Church, #8-Lindsay Agnew
TOTAL SHOTS: NC 10-11 WAS
SHOTS ON GOAL: NC 4-3 WAS
FOULS: NC 8-6 WAS
OFFSIDES: NC 4-2 WAS
CORNER KICKS: NC 2-5 WAS
SAVES: NC 3-3 WAS
