Seattle Reign FC 1
North Carolina Courage 2
NWSL Regular Season – August 13, 2017
Seattle, WA – Memorial Stadium
Seattle Reign FC and North Carolina Courage took to the Memorial Stadium pitch in Seattle Sunday evening, playing the second of a back to back weekend home and home tilt.
Seattle was without Megan Rapinoe for the second consecutive match, but with the reason of knee surgery from national team duty now being the known reason. Seattle was also without Jessica Fishlock, who had returned from injury in North Carolina last week but was excused from this match. Depth has been cosidered a Reign strength, and with Rachel Corsie returning from Euro duty with Scotland and rookie Katie Johnson getting a start, there was still reason to believe Seattle could run with a very good North Carolina side pushing for a Shield run.
Both clubs entered the weekend fighting for playoff positioning knowing points are at a premium as the season winds down. Seattle is a notoriously difficult place for a road side to get points, but could not afford to drop any at home given their struggles getting road points and a schedule heavily tilted away as the season winds down.
Seattle Reign vs Sky Blue FC
Sam Mewis got the scoring off to a start for the road side with a solid volley from the top of the box, stunning the crowd in the 24th minute. “It felt good when I hit it and I could kind of see a path to the goal and it happened really fast and I could see it go in but it was a great build up I think. I need to see it again to be sure, I think we switched it, played forward, we got a cross, a layoff, and a shot. Such a great set up for everyone and obviously I couldn’t have done it without everyone else. It was great to get a solid finish and I haven’t really had many of those lately, so it felt good.”
Despite playing on short rest, the Courage had attempted to take the game at the Reign, making for a fairly back and forth early going. Each side had pressed the other’s goal, but Mewis’ volley was the finish to a nice sequence from North Carolina.
Seattle did not break after giving up the first goal, continuing to press and counter, breaking through to level the match at 1-1 on a sliding goal from Rumi Utsugi from a Lindsay Elston cross.
Seattle Reign vs Sky Blue FC
Courage coach Paul Riley stuck to his guns in the second half, despite conceding the equalizer just before the half, “I think we talked at half time about managing the game, slowing down a little bit, usually we’re always in a rush, if we just slow down on the throw and set pieces. Just control the game a little bit, control the speed of the game maybe drop it down a tempo or two which is not easy for us because we’re kind of young and we’re a bit naïve and we want to run forward all the time. I think we did a little bit better job of possessing, I don’t think either team did a good job of possessing in the second half, the ball was a bit all over the place but we’re not a possession type team, we’re not a super technical team, we’re athletic we have speed so you do what you’re good at. We talked at half time about turning their back around and getting behind them if we’re going to win the game, we’ve got to turn them around.”
Mewis got the brace in the 74th minute, giving the Courage a second lead. A weak clearance following a long throw left the ball right at Mewis’ feet and she neatly finished low to the near post.
Larissa Crummer entered the match in the 76th, marking her first 2017 appearance following injury. A few minutes in and Crummer got her first chance on goal, but it was neatly saved by Kate Rowland. “I felt fine. I’ve been fit for a while now, I’ve been in full training for a while. I’ve had the tackles and everything coming before I was put into the match, so it was no problem.” Seattle coach Laura Harvey was pleased with what she saw, “I wanted to give her an opportunity to come in. Against these kinds of teams, someone with her power and pace can cause them a problem like Katie Johnson had. When Katie Johnson got injured, it was too early for Crummer because of how long she had been out. I think she tried to find her feet, I don’t think we played to her strengths enough, because we haven’t played with her before, so it’s difficult to do that. But, it was nice to get her some minutes on the field.”
Seattle Reign vs Sky Blue FC
For North Carolina, 9 points in 8 days coming off the international break is a huge boost for the Shield run and a home field semi. Coach Riley shook off suggestions of pressure of defending the title or of making a run at the NWSL Shield and a home match, preferring to focus on the near future.
For Seattle, no points from the six possible in the home and home series with the Courage is a brutal blow to their playoff run as they enter a stretch with mostly road matches. They played well, said Harvey, “The hardest thing to take tonight is that I thought we did a lot of things really well. Last week we did a lot of good things, and we conceded a shocking goal. We could’ve gotten points last week and we should’ve won the game today, but we come away with nothing. With where we are in the table, we can’t afford to do that.”
Photos by Matt Ferris
NWSL Match Report
Match: Seattle Reign FC (6-5-6, 24 pts) vs North Carolina Courage (12-5-0, 36 pts)
Date: August 13, 2017
Venue: Memorial Stadium
Kickoff: 6:00pm PT
Attendance: 4,156
Weather: Cloudy
Scoring Summary:
NC – Mewis (Williams) 24’
SEA – Utsugi (Elston) 40’
NC – Mewis 74’
Lineups:
Seattle Reign FC: Kopmeyer, Barnes, Corsie, McNabb (Nairn 82’), Stott, Elston (Crummer 76’), Utsugi, Yanez, Kawasumi, Mathias, Johnson (Dallstream 61’)
Substitutes Not Used: Bauer, Pickett, Reed, Schiffel
North Carolina Courage: Rowland, Erceg, Smith, Dahlkemper, Hinkle, Mewis, Zerboni, Hatch, Hamilton (Debinha 87’), Williams, McDonald (Doniak 67’)
Substitutes Not Used: D’Angelo, O’Sullivan, Ochs, Witteman, Holstad
Stats Summary: SEA/NC
Shots: 12 / 6
Shots on Goal: 6 / 2
Saves: 0 / 5
Corner Kicks: 4 / 1
Fouls: 8 / 8
Offside: 4 / 0
Misconduct Summary:
Officials:
Referee: Karen Abt
Assistant Referees: Joshua Haimes, Chris Elliott
Fourth Official: Kelsey Harms
