Reign FC 2
North Carolina Courage 1
NWSL Regular Season
Cheney Stadium – Tacoma, WA
May 27, 2019
A beautiful late afternoon in the Pacific Northwest greeted the defending NWSL champions North Carolina Courage as they made their first trip to Tacoma for the Memorial Day match up at Reign FC in Cheney Stadium.
Reign FC entered the match needing some home points and to establish their home record the way the past several seasons at Memorial Stadium been. This third match was an opportunity to grab important points and to start off with three matches unbeaten in Tacoma.
The visiting Courage are still a dangerous side even without their internationals and the match would play out like a typical Reign versus Courage down to inches and stoppage time opportunities.
Bethany Balcer got a head on a a 13th minute cross that just got in under the crossbar for an early Reign FC lead. For Balcer, the journey from NAIA to the NWSL has been short, but eventful. She is the first NAIA player to play in the NWSL, and has already contributed two goals.
Internationals are missing for world cup duty across the league, but for Reign FC those losses have been mitigated by their internationals not actually playing much in the early season and there being little line up convulsion as a result beyond the goalkeeping situation.
New Reign keeper Casey Murphy, signed shortly before starter Lydia Williams left for world cup duty, was pressed into a first start with the season ending injury to Michelle Betos just a week ago. Murphy was praised for her work and preparation by Reign FC coach Vlatko Andonovski, noting that Michelle Betos contributed this week to prepping Murphy for the match. Given the international duty and loss of Betos for the season, the signing of Murphy might prove to be even more important than originally thought.
Even with world cup duty, the Courage still started the match with McCall Zerboni, Lynn Williams, and Merritt Mathias in the eleven. They still had the experience of Heather O’Reilly off the bench, and it looked several times like the equalizer would come. Courage teams have tended toward late rallies against Reign squads and this match nearly saw the match become level at two in stoppage much like late in a match in August 2018 at Memorial Stadium. Abby Erceg nabbed a goal to make it 2-1 in the 89th and history seemed possibly ready to repeat itself.
The return of Jessica Fishlock was an interesting angle to watch going into the match as the Reign has been playing reasonably well, but not getting goals. Would the return of the dragon play a roll in getting the offense on track against the Courage? Perhaps, but it was Fishlock who cleared the ball in stoppage as the Courage nearly leveled when Merritt Mathias struck the crossbar and the ball landed clean and alone in front of the Reign goal.
Both sides are now firmly entrenched in the mid table log jam at nine points each, with only two points separating six sides in spots three through seven. Houston is next up for Reign FC, as they try to take their match in hand and jump into the top four.
Photos by MEL
BOX SCORE
SEA (4-3-3): Casey Murphy; Kristen McNabb, Lauren Barnes ©, Megan Oyster, Theresa Nielsen; Morgan Andrews, Beverly Yanez (Maegan Kelly, 90+2’), Jessica Fishlock; Darian Jenkins (Ifeoma Onumonu, 77’), Bethany Balcer, Shea Groom
Subs not used: Christen Westphal, Morgan Proffitt, Kiersten Dallstream, Jaycie Jonshon, Scout Watson
NCC (4-4-2 Box): Katelyn Rowland; Jaelene Hinkle, Abby Erceg ©, Kaleigh Kurtz, Merritt Mathias; Kristen Hamilton (Heather O’Reilly, 70’), McCall Zerboni, Denise O’Sullivan, Cari Roccaro (Liz Eddy, 61’), Lynn Williams, Leah Pruitt (Julia Spetsmark, 83’)
Subs not used: Sam Leshnak, Ally Haran, Ryan Williams, Meredith Speck
Score:
SEA: 2
NCC: 1
Goals:
SEA: Bethany Balcer (Kristen McNabb, 13’), Shea Groom (Unassisted, 86’)
NCC: Abby Erceg (Jaelene Hinkle, 89’)
Cautions:
SEA: Theresa Nielsen 30’
NCC: —
Ejections:
SEA: —
NCC: —
Attendance: 3,032
