North Carolina Courage 0 – 0 Orlando Pride

CARY, NC —It’s an unfamiliar feeling in Courage Country.

For a team that’s accustomed to commanding the opposition and controlling its own destiny, the North Carolina Courage found themselves hoping that Racing Louisville FC can pull off the upset against East Division leaders NJ/NY Gotham FC to clear their path to the NWSL Challenge Cup Final.

Going into their Saturday night tilt against the Orlando Pride, the Courage needed a win to ensure their place in the final. But after grinding with the Pride for 90 minutes, North Carolina came away with a scoreless draw and tied with Gotham at the top of the Eastern table with seven points.

“We put ourselves in a pickle where our fate is going to be decided by someone else, which is a little new to us,” Courage forward Lynn Williams said after the game.

In order for North Carolina to dislodge themselves from the jam at the top of the Eastern table and move into the Challenge Cup final, they need Gotham to lose at home by two goals to the newcomers from Louisville.

Given past performances in the pre-season tournament, many people—North Carolina head coach Paul Riley included—expected a shootout at WakeMed Soccer Park.

“I told the TV (crew) yesterday that it was going to be a goal fest, so obviously, I was completely wrong on that one,” Riley said in his post-match remarks.

Both teams came out battling to get on the scoreboard in front of a sold-out crowd. In the game’s third minute, Courage defender Schuyler DeBree conceded a free kick just outside of the penalty area. Marta rolled the ball over to Taylor Kornieck whose blast clanged off the crossbar. Moments later it would be Courage midfielder Carson Pickett taking the ball deep into Pride territory and having her cross bounce off of the hardware.

North Carolina’s usually prolific forward corps put plenty of pressure on Orlando’s defense throughout the first half but had trouble making the final connection to beat Pride goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris.

Their best chance to break the scoreless deadlock came late in the first half when Debinha found Kristen Hamilton in some space in the Pride 18-yard box. Hamilton’s shot was blocked and rolled into the path of an onrushing Kaleigh Kurtz. Kurtz’s point-blank shot was blocked out by the defense for a corner kick. The teams went into halftime sitting on a 0-0 scoreline.

Early in the second half it was Orlando who would create the first challenge. Alex Morgan slipped a well weighted pass into Sydney Leroux’s path, but Leroux couldn’t get enough of her body behind the shot to challenge Courage keeper Casey Murphy. A few minutes later Pickett would challenge her former team once more with a blast from just outside the penalty area that forced Harris to punch the ball away to safety.

Leroux and Morgan linked up for Orlando’s best scoring chance on the night. Leroux drove a low cross across the box. Taylor Kornieck set up the dummy and let the ball roll through to Morgan who was waiting just outside corner of the six-yard box. Her blast was ticketed to the lower left corner, but Pickett had positioned herself at the post and booted the ball out for a corner.

After five minutes of stoppage, the whistle sounded to end the game and begin North Carolina’s wait to determine their fate in the Challenge Cup.

Overall, Courage head coach Paul Riley was happier with his club’s performance compared to their showing against Racing Louisville earlier in the week. After a poor defensive effort that saw Riley uncharacteristically change out nearly his entire back line, the team worked on defending in training during the week.

“The big takeaway for me was the clean sheet and the two center backs—we stuck with them—at one point we were going to change one or even both of them. We stuck with them today and they came through. Kaleigh Kurtz was excellent. They absorbed space, dropping back a little bit earlier, which is what we talked about all week…we were able to absorb that space behind and we got good protection in front with (Hailie) Mace and (Denise) O’Sullivan, so that made it a bit easier for the center backs to deal with their forward line.”

Final Notes

• Before Saturday night’s game, Jessica McDonald and Debinha had contributed a goal or assist in every Courage match in the Challenge Cup. McDonald had two goals and three assists, and the Brazilian Debinha potted three goals, including a brace against NJ/NC Gotham.
• Carson Pickett faced her former team for the first time since her trade from Orlando.
• The Courage outshot the Pride 18-9 on the night.
• Next up for North Carolina is either a trip to Portland for the NWSL Challenge Cup final on Saturday, May 8^th, or to Tacoma for their NWSL regular season opener against OL Reign on May 15^th.

Lineups

North Carolina Courage: C. Murphy; K. Kurtz, S. DeBree H. Mace (C. Roccaro, 75’); C. Pickett, D. O’Sullivan, R.Williams (M. Mathias, 63’), Debinha, K. Hamilton (T. Smith, 83’); L. Williams, J. McDonald (L. Agnew, 83’)

Orlando Pride: A. Harris; A. Riley, P. McClemon, T. Pressley, G. Jonsdottir; M. Viggiano (M. Dougherty-Howard, 88’), J. Moore (C. Petersen, 76’) T. Kornieck; Marta, S. Leroux (C. Thomas, 83’), A. Morgan

Score:
North Carolina Courage: 0
Orlando Pride: 0

Goals:
North Carolina Courage: none
Orlando Pride: none

Discipline
North Carolina Courage: S. DeBree, YC 2’
Orlando Pride: none