North Carolina overtake the Red Stars 4-1

NC Courage (Photo by Victoria Klum).

It was a steamy evening in Cary, NC that promised post-game fireworks but delivered match-delaying thunder and lightning. Officials held back the start of the match by nearly two hours as heavy storms made their way through the area. Once the officials gave the green light, the Courage put on a fireworks show of their own, beating the visiting Chicago Red Stars 4-1.

Despite the delay, the teams came out looking strong and focused, playing a fairly even first half. Both sides came close to finding the back of the net early on. Chicago’s Sam Kerr, who was a constant irritation for the Courage defense, nearly opened the scoring with a shot that glanced off of the crossbar in the 9’.

But it was Crystal Dunn who got the Courage on the board first in the 20’ when she took a pass from Jessica McDonald and dribbled the ball into space before unleashing a left-footed shot that beat Alyssa Naeher into the bottom right corner. North Carolina took a 1-0 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The promised fireworks display went on during halftime and it left a cloud of smoke over the Sahlen’s Stadium pitch early in the second half. The Red Stars came out of the locker room with both energy and creativity as Morgan Brian and Kerr created some early scoring chances. Once the smoke cleared the field, however, the Courage started to control the midfield and cause problems for the Red Stars’ defense. In the 67’ Jaelene Hinkle drove through Chicago’s midfield and sent a cross to McDonald, who was streaking toward the far post, but the pass just missed her.

Independence day match between the Red Stars and the North Carolina Courage (Photo by Victoria Klum).

Like fireworks, goals seem to come in rapid-fire for the Courage lately. Lynn Williams, who Courage coach Paul Riley said after the game is “back to her best form,” following her injury, neatly brought down a cross from Merritt Mathias and lifted a shot over Naeher that grazed the bottom of the crossbar and bounced into the net in the 69’.

Two minutes later Sam Mewis, who had just come on for Dunn, brought the ball through midfield and slid a pass to Debinha who got in behind the Red Stars’ defense and put a sharp-angle shot past Naeher to make it 3-0 for the Courage. Then, in the 87’ Williams brought the ball down, drew Naeher off of her line and beat Brooke Elby before lifting the ball toward Kristen Hamilton (a 79’ sub for McDonald) who headed the ball into the vacated net.

Despite the delay and the sticky weather, both teams maintained an impressive work rate during the match and even though the Red Stars were playing their second game in four days, they kept looking for ways to penetrate North Carolina’s defense late in the game. In stoppage time Chicago’s Yuki Nagasato drew a penalty when Abby Dahlkemper clattered into her in the penalty area. Nagasato converted the penalty kick, spoiling Katelyn Rowland’s clean sheet and the match ended 4-1.

Final Notes
Despite conceding the stoppage time goal, this was a huge win for the Courage since Chicago is one of the few teams that has been consistently difficult for the Courage to figure out. They beat North Carolina in all three regular season matches in 2017; North Carolina’s only win over Chicago in 2017 was in the NWSL championship semi-final. In their previous meeting eight weeks ago, Kerr gave the Red Stars an early lead and Naeher had a standout performance in goal with 12 saves. Only McCall Zerboni’s 83′ goal managed to preserve the Courage’s unblemished record.

North Carolina has outscored their last three opponents 11-2. Goals at home have been hard to come by for the Courage in 2018 as this is only the third game at WakeMed Park where they scored two or more goals.

Newly-acquired Heather O’Reilly received her International Transfer Certificate making her available for the Red Stars game and coach Paul Riley wasted no time getting her into the 18. She made her first appearance for the Courage in the 75’ when she came on for Debinha. O’Reilly is a local fan favorite who played college soccer for the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, where she won the college championship at WakeMed Park in 2006. She returned home to North Carolina via a trade with the Utah Royals, in which the Courage acquired rights to her. O’Reilly told reporters after the game that she heard about the team coming to North Carolina after she had committed to playing for the Arsenal women’s team, but she knew she would come back to play in her hometown.

When asked how the team dealt with the weather delay, Crystal Dunn said that the team stayed loose by having a head juggle competition and not focusing too heavily on the game. “For us, it’s always laughs and giggles, so the time went by really quick,” she said after the match.

North Carolina Courage: K. Rowland, J. Hinkle, A. Erceg, A. Dahlkemper, M. Matthias, Debinha (O’Reilly 75’), M. Zerboni, D. O’Sullivan, C. Dunn (S. Mewis 68’), J. McDonald (K. Hamilton 79’), L. Williams

Chicago Red Stars: A. Naeher, A. Gilliland, S. Gorden, K. Naughton, B. Elby, D. Colaprico, M. Brian (N. Stanton 68’), J. Ertz, V. DiBernardo (S. Green 74’), S. Kerr, R. White (60’ Y. Nagasato)

All photos by Victoria Klum: