Cary, NC—In many ways, Saturday night’s game between the North Carolina Courage and Reign FC was remarkably similar to their meeting six weeks ago at Sahlen’s Stadium. The Courage held court for the better part of 90 minutes and Casey Murphy had another standout performance in goal that kept Reign FC in the game until the 82^nd minute. Perhaps the biggest difference was that the a cool, persistent rain made the atmosphere feel more like Puget Sound than the Piedmont.

From the opening whistle, the Courage took control of the midfield and pinned Reign back in their defensive third. North Carolina fired off 18 shots in the first half, including a point-blank volley from Samantha Mewis on the edge of the six-yard box that went just over the crossbar in the 32^nd minute.

North Carolina Courage goalkeeper Stephanie Labbe secures the ball in a crowd to preserve her clean sheet.

The always-dangerous Debinha nearly got the Courage on the board late in the half but was denied by Murphy’s heroics. Reign FC had withstood North Carolina’s infamous press and the two sides went into halftime scoreless.

North Carolina picked up where they left off in the second half, clearly unwilling to settle for a draw at the point in the season when every point is dear. Courage head coach Paul Riley brought Jessica McDonald in for Kristen Hamilton in the 60^th minute. Although Riley has expressed concern that her fitness level dropped during the World Cup, McDonald has brought a late scoring punch to the lineup in recent games. This was most notable during the recent Women’s ICC Tournament, when her stoppage time tally put North Carolina through to the championship game against Olympique Lyonnais. McDonald also provided a big target for several of the 32 crosses the Courage pitched into the Reign 18-yard box.

Also coming into the game late was Heather O’Reilly, who replaced Merritt Mathias in the 74^th minute. O’Reilly’s vision and ability to pick out targets were also integral to North Carolina’s play during the ICCW. Between the two subs, as well as Crystal Dunn and Mewis, who each turned in stellar performances, the Courage asked a lot of the Reign defense. And Murphy had an answer every time.

“She’s been big time,” said Allie Long about Murphy. “She’s a rookie this season and I think she’s done phenomenal. She’s stepped up huge. She had no time to prepare. She pretty much came here, (Michelle) Betos got an injury and she just stepped up. So much credit to her for being mature enough and being able to step up into this role—it’s a huge role—and having such an impact.”

“In the 75^th minute, I saw a lot of heads kind of going down,” Dunn said after the game. “Ultimately I was [telling her teammates] ‘there’s plenty of time to get one. At least one, I know we can get.’”

The Courage expressed some frustration with game officials during Saturday’s match against Reign FC.

The Courage finally pushed the Reign defense to the breaking point in the 82^nd minute with another play that looked like it was copy/pasted right from the training ground.

It started with McDonald getting the ball on the right side, about 25 yards out. She turned the Reign defense around and slipped a jaw-droppingly perfect pass to a streaking Dunn, who drew Murphy toward her. Dunn dropped the pass back to a rushing Lynn Williams who tapped the ball in for the only score of the game.

Dunn described the play leading to the goal. “…a couple of passes, passes, passes, Jess gets on the ball, some way, somehow, and I saw a pocket of space that I thought she could find me in. She had a great slip ball through to me and I was able to pick Lynn out and happy I didn’t mess that one up.”

At the end of stoppage, North Carolina took away all three points from one of their Pacific Northwest rivals. At the beginning of her post-game comments to reporters, Long was asked about her takeaway from the match. She paused for several seconds and let out a big sigh before answering, a perfect expression of the exhaustion and dismay her club seemed to be feeling throughout the evening. Although she felt they played fairly even with the Courage, she noted that they lost focus for a minute and that North Carolina is a team that will punish that.

It seemed that Long’s frustration went even deeper. “It’s been, probably, a season that I’ve never experienced before,” she said of the injuries her club has been besieged with during the 2019 season. “With injuries and new people having to step in—and I think the new players have done great—it’s always an adjustment, every time there’s someone new. It’s been really tough, but I’m really proud of the girls.”

Reign head coach Vlatko Andonovski looked to match up with the Courage with a tactical change during the run of play. “We were changing from a 3-6-1 to 5-4-1, with a box in the middle; something we’ve never done before. We knew, with the team that we have, that we were going to have to give up something to North Carolina and it seemed like [the formation change]worked out, to a certain extent.“

Final Notes

Kristen Hamilton was named to the USWNT U-23 for the 2019 Nordic Tournament. Hamilton is one of two overage players added to the squad. UPDATE: On Monday it was announced that Hamilton has been called up to the USWNT. The World Cup-winning squad is dealing with injuries including forward Alex Morgan, who is in concussion protocol.
As the league heads into another international break, Paul Riley indicated his club may lose more than the six players expected to head to their national teams and that an announcement may be forthcoming.
Allie Long had some thoughts about her team’s fitness in relation to their injuries in her post-game remarks. “I actually don’t think our team is fit enough. I think that our load during the week is a little bit too low, and that way, in the game, we’re kind of expending ourselves to the maximum. I think we need to get a little bit fitter and I think that will help with the injuries, overall.”
Long went down late in the game with an apparent ankle injury after getting tangled with Sam Mewis, though she was able to continue. When asked after the game she said she would be evaluated. The injury, apparently, happened during the World Cup in the celebration of Megan Rapinoe’s goal against France.
Courage rookie forward Leah Pruitt underwent successful minor surgery on her right knee earlier in the week. Riley said he expects to have her back in roughly 4-6 weeks.
Next up for North Carolina, following the international break, trips to New Jersey to take on the resurgent Sky Blue FC and another trip to Portland before returning to Cary on September 14^th versus Orlando.

Lineups

North Carolina Courage: S.Labbe’; J. Hinkle, A. Erceg ©, A. Dahlkemper, M. Mathias (H. O’Reilly, 74’); Debinha (M. Zerboni, 85’), D. O’Sullivan, S. Mewis, C. Dunn; L. Williams, K. Hamilton (J. McDonald, 60’)

Reign FC: C. Murphy; S. Catley, L. Barnes ©, M. Oyster, T. Nielsen; C. Jimenez Delgado, A. Long, B. Yanez, R. White (R. Quinn, 80’); B. Balcer (I. Onumonu, 85’), J. Taylor (D. Jenkins, 63’)

Score:
North Carolina Courage: 1
Reign FC: 0

Goals:
North Carolina Courage: L. Williams (82’ C. Dunn)
Reign FC: none

Discipline
North Carolina Courage: none

Reign FC: none

Attendance: 6,743

Photo gallery: North Carolina Courage v Reign FC

All photos by Victoria Klum.