North Carolina Courage 0 – 1 Portland Thorns
CARY, NC— With both teams battling for the top spot in the league table, the North Carolina Courage faced off against their West Coast rival Portland Thorns in a Sunday afternoon tilt at WakeMed Soccer Park.
There was plenty of energy on the field to start the game with both sides trading chances early on. Lynn Williams broke through the defense and looked to be going in on goal, only to get her feet caught up under her, sending her clattering to the ground.
Christen Westphal had a great opportunity for the Thorns in the 10th minute when her cross had just enough heft and spin to compel Courage goalkeeper Casey Murphy to tip the ball over the top netting to keep the team’s shutout streak alive.
Once the Thorns adjusted to the game, they began to take control of the first half. Sophia Smith, Christine Sinclair, and Lindsey Horan attacked the Courage defense in waves. Smith was sniffing for a goal and nearly opened the scoring in the 28th minute when she forced Murphy into a diving save.
North Carolina’s best chance in the first half came in the 30th minute when midfielder Cari Roccaro sprang Jessica McDonald with a long airball that landed perfectly in the Courage forward’s path. McDonald had a step on her defender and took the ball in on goal, but the sequence gave Thorns goalkeeper Bella Bixby just enough time to get set and deny McDonald the goal.
That was the brightest spot for the home team in the first half. As the teams headed into the locker rooms for the halftime break, Portland had outshot North Carolina 15-4 (5-3 in shots on goal) and lead in set pieces (5-1 corner kicks). The Thorns were by far the sharper team throughout the first half, but through tenacity, the Courage (backstopped by Casey Murphy) kept the game scoreless.
“I think everyone would put their hand up and say ‘we didn’t play well enough today,’” said Carson Pickett in her post-match remarks. “I definitely think they played better than us; we just didn’t create enough chances. And obviously letting in a goal is tough to come back from, but hopefully next time we play them we can get on top and score early.”
Sophia Smith continued to pester the Courage defense in the second half and connected with Crystal Dunn on another close chance right off the opening second half whistle. But once again, Murphy was right there to snatch the ball away from the onrushing Thorns forward.
Eleven minutes later, Smith would finally get her goal. The play started just inside the Courage half of the field when Sinclair airmailed a long ball to the Courage 18-yard box. The ball took a heavy bounce which favored Smith, who by then had outrun Kaleigh Kurtz to catch up to the ball. It appeared that Murphy had been in two minds about whether to come out to cut down the angle or stay back. Stranded at the top of the six-yard box, all Murphy could do was watch after Smith tapped the ball past her.
The Courage still had half an hour left in the game to find the equalizer, and it looked like 61st minute subs Meredith Speck and Amy Rodriguez would link up to bring North Carolina level.
Speck won the ball near midfield and tried to find Rodriguez with the outlet pass but there was too much weight on it, forcing Rodriguez to chase the ball down at the end line. ARod recovered the ball and pushed it back to Speck who crossed the ball into the penalty area and found Debinha making a run. The Brazilian climbed the ladder looking for the header, but her effort went wide.
With North Carolina putting on a late surge, and Portland having trouble seeing out the game, the Courage made one last run at the Thorns defense. Taylor Smith, who came on in the 81st minute for Roccaro, made a really nifty run through the middle of the park before nudging an inch-perfect ground ball over to Rodriguez, only to have her shot go right into Bixby.
And with the 1-0 victory, the Portland Thorns took all three points, solidifying their hold on first place in the NWSL standings.
Courage head coach Paul Riley was disappointed in the team’s performance. “It wasn’t a great performance, obviously. We didn’t create enough chances: we had two very good chances we didn’t put away. They (Portland) deserve to win the game, in my opinion. Their attack was a little bit more ferocious than ours. We were like in a scrimmage game at times.”
North Carolina’s struggle for consistent goal production has been a constant topic of discussion, over the last few weeks. Riley talked about the team’s issues with creating scoring chances.
“The 10s is where we really struggle, we get no production out of our 10s at the moment. And it’s not just from a goal perspective or assist perspective, but just passing a final ball, a creative perspective. I think that’s where we’re struggling most is in the 10s.”
For North Carolina, they acknowledged that this wasn’t their best showing but were looking forward to a short rest before getting back to work during the international break. Though Riley would prefer getting his squad right back out on the pitch, rather than letting this result simmer for two weeks.
“I’d rather play tomorrow morning, to be perfectly honest with you, and I think most players would probably say that,” said Riley before backtracking just a little. “Maybe not all of them, because it was a tiring game in that heat today. But I think some would say, ‘I want to get back on the horse and get going again.”
Final Notes
- Sophia Smith’s 57th minute goal broke North Carolina’s record-setting 546-minute shutout streak.
- Merritt Mathias picked up a yellow card in the 25th Due to yellow card accumulation, she will sit out North Carolina’s next match against NY/NJ Gotham FC on September 25th.
- Next up for the Courage is… a well-earned rest during the International Break. Then a trip to Red Bull Arena on September 25th when they take on Gotham FC. Kickoff is slated for 3 p.m. EDT and the game will air on Paramount+.
Lineups
North Carolina Courage: C. Murphy; K. Kurtz, C. Pickett, A. Erceg ©; M. Mathias (R. Williams 81’), D. O’Sullivan (A. James 88’), Debinha, H. Solaun (M. Speck, 61’), C. Roccaro (T. Smith 81’); L. Williams, J. McDonald (A. Rodriguez 61’)
Portland Thorns: B. Bixby; E. Menges (B. Sauerbrunn 85’), N. Kuikka, C. Westphal (M. Klingenberg 64’), K. Hubly; A. Salem, R. Rodriguez, L. Horan (O. Moultrie 76’), C. Sinclair © (M. Weaver 63’); S. Smith (T. Lussi 84’), C. Dunn
Score:
North Carolina Courage: 0
Portland Thorns: 1
Goals:
North Carolina Courage: none
Portland Thorns: S. Smith 57’ (C. Sinclair)
Discipline
North Carolina Courage: M. Mathias (YC 25’); C. Roccaro (YC 30’)
Portland Thorns: O. Moultrie (YC 88’)
Attendance: 5,161
