North Carolina Courage 1 – 1 Orlando Pride
CARY, NC— Any way you look at it, it’s been a topsy-turvy month for both the Orlando Pride and the North Carolina Courage.
Along with each club losing a chunk of their normal starting eleven to Olympic play, both teams experienced some upheaval on and off the pitch.
Ten days ago, the Courage acquired veteran star Amy Rodriguez from Kansas City FC in exchange for forward Kristen Hamilton, goalkeeper Katelyn Rowland, and midfielder Hailie Mace. The trade came as a shock to the players, teammates, and fans. On top of that, the Courage were forced to play last week’s match in Kansas City short-handed with veteran Jessica McDonald and Ryan Williams testing positive with breakthrough COVID cases. Havana Solaun and goalkeeper Sam Murphy were also kept back in Cary due to contact tracing.
Meanwhile, after dealing with rumors of Head Coach Marc Skinner getting set to head back to Europe, he announced he would be stepping down as Orlando’s coach on July 23rd. Days later, he signed on to coach Manchester United’s women’s team. The Pride appointed Florida Gators’ coach Becky Burleigh as interim head coach to see out the 2021 campaign.
Both teams looked to shake off the distractions and close out the month of July with a win at Wake Med Soccer Park. It was an evenly played first half with North Carolina generating more chances but Orlando having the edge on possession.
Making her home debut for the Courage, Rodriguez brought a lot of creativity to North Carolina’s offense. Working with Denise O’Sullivan, Carson Pickett, and Brittany Ratcliffe, they gave Orlando’s back line a lot to deal with as the first half wore on. But they couldn’t get that final touch to get past Pride goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris and the first half concluded in a 0-0 deadlock.
As the second half got underway, the Courage pressed the Pride back line. Orlando started to find ways to exploit North Carolina’s high press, making dangerous runs through the midfield an creating their own chances at the other end.
Orlando got on the board first in the 50th minute when Ali Krieger muscled the ball from the Courage press in Orlando’s final third. Krieger then made fantastic run through midfield and delivered an on-point pass to Sydney Leroux, who buried the right-footer past Casey Murphy.
But the Courage stormed right back two minutes later. Head Coach Paul Riley brought Meredith Speck in for Cari Roccaro at halftime and the adjustment paid off quickly. Merritt Mathias won the ball deep in the final third and tapped it over to Rodriguez. A-rod picked out Speck near the 6-yard box and as the ball got to her feet, she nudged it to an onrushing Ratcliffe who knocked home the left-footed shot to pull the Courage level.
After the game, Ratcliffe described her perspective on the play. “It was a good build-up from us, and Meredith had an amazing ball, a perfectly weighted pass right across to me.”
From there, North Carolina continued to pressure Orlando, with Rodriguez, Ratcliffe, and Speck creating chances that kept the Courage faithful at the edge of their seats. But the Pride kept finding ways to stretch out Riley’s box midfield and asking questions of North Carolina’s back line.
But captain Abby Erceg, just back from her stint with the New Zealand Football Ferns at the Tokyo Olympics, worked well with Kaleigh Kurtz to anchor the back line, while Angharad James quietly put in a solid shift at defensive midfield.
“I think Abby Erceg really brings that composure and leadership to the team,” Kurtz said in her post-match press conference. “It just sort of resonates through everybody and we can feel it and are more confident and more composed, just knowing that she’s there.”
Both squads put up a battle for the full three points, but when the whistle blew ending the game, North Carolina and Orlando had to be satisfied with a point each.
“Obviously not the result we want,” Kurtz observed, “There’s definitely things we need to improve on and a lot of things we can take away that were good. But, at the end of the day, we got a point, so we take the little victories where we can.”
While his players weren’t entirely pleased to not collect all three points from the game, Paul Riley was happy with what he saw from his squad. “The effort was brilliant, much better than last week. I thought we could have got all three tonight, probably a draw was a fair result.”
“So many players had big-time performance,” Riley said of his team, recognizing Angharad James, Carson Pickett, and Abby Erceg as being difference-makers for the team. “You say you only got a point, maybe it’s lost points, but I feel that this is a gained point tonight.”
Final Notes
- Brittany Ratcliffe opened her account with the Courage with her 53rd minute goal. She talked the understanding and trust she and her teammates showed during the game. “The good thing about the Courage…is the practices are awesome. You don’t just work with one player; you build relationships with the entire team. And I think that shows when we go out on the field: we know what someone wants or what someone’s tendencies are.”
- Kaleigh Kurtz put in another strong game for North Carolina. Among her more notable defensive plays was stopping a rocket from Sydney Leroux with her face. She was down for a moment but popped right back up and passed concussion protocol “…you just kind of like have to pick your moments of when you can tell when a player’s no longer going to pass and they might shoot it and that’s when you just have to run and put your face in front of it,” she laughed after the game.
- Coming up for the Courage is a trip to New Jersey to take on NJ/NY Gotham FC (another club that saw some shakeup in the month of July) on Saturday, August 7th.
Lineups
North Carolina Courage: C. Murphy; K. Kurtz, C. Pickett, A. Erceg ©, M. Mathias; C. Roccaro (M. Speck 45’), D. O’Sullivan, H. Solaun, B. Ratcliffe (T. Smith 76’), A. James, A. Rodriguez
Orlando Pride: A. Harris; A. Krieger, A. Turner, P. McClernon, K. Strom G. Jonsdottir; C. Petersen, M. Viggiano, J. Taylor (E. Tymrak 66’), S. Leroux, T. Kornieck (M. Dougherty-Howard 71’)
Score:
North Carolina Courage: 1
Orlando Pride: 1
Goals:
North Carolina Courage: B. Ratcliffe 52’ (M. Speck)
Orlando Pride: S. Leroux 50’ (A. Krieger)
Discipline
North Carolina Courage: C. Roccaro (YC, 39’)
Orlando Pride: A. Krieger (YC, 16’), K. Strom (YC, 45’)
