NC Courage captain Abby Erceg.
Cary, NC- The North Carolina Courage came into Week 7 of the season looking to celebrate a win in their home town and remain in first place in the NWSL standings. After losing their last two matches and allowing six goals, the Courage steered themselves in the right direction, earning three points and staying in first place.
Unlike the Courage, their opponents Sky Blue FC had won their previous two matches by a 5-2 score and stood just behind the Courage in second place with hopes for continued success.
The weather saw scattered storms and was slightly windy and the field was wet, which gave somewhat of an advantage when sliding. Although Sky Blue had a nice shot within the first minute, the Courage managed to dominate the field and came back even stronger from their last two losses.
In the 20th minute, forward Lynn Williams took a strong shot that went between the Sky Blue defense and soared to the left side of the net and past goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan, which gave the Courage a 1-0 lead after numerous attempts. Even though matches will not resume until this weekend, this goal by Williams has already gained much attention for the NWSL Goal of the Week.
Forward Jessica McDonald also had a very close shot on goal that hit the crossbar and then was deflected by Sheridan. Shortly after in the 42nd minute, a corner was taken and Samantha Mewis’ whose shot was also initially blocked by Sheridan. However it wasn’t enough to fully clear the ball as Mewis was able to successfully reach the back of the net in the midst of the chaos to increase the score for North Carolina with a 2-0 score by the half.
The Courage came out in the second half prepared to score and in the 57th minute, midfielder Debinha De Oliveria had a solid one on one with the goalkeeper. As she confidently dribbled the ball, Sheridan used the wet field to her advantage and slid just in time to make an incredible save for Sky Blue. In total, Sheridan had 11 saves of the night and her tenth save blocked the shot of forward Ashley Hatch in the 84th minute just before the half came to an end.
After seeing two consecutive losses and still remaining in first place, head coach Paul Riley shared his input about the comeback for the Courage, “I thought it was a really good, professional performance,” said Riley. “We talked about a couple of things since the game on Sunday, which was not like us at all. We didn’t press well and had low energy. Tonight, we had high energy and we made it difficult for them.”
Sheridan had her work cut out for her as she remained on her toes the entire match to face all the challenges. Although Sky Blue took a loss, their goalkeeper made remarkable saves with incredible effort and dedication.
While Sky Blue had the first shot on the Courage goal early on in the match, they weren’t able to see the back of the net. This 2-0 loss for New Jersey knocked them down to third place in rankings with 10 points. The Courage still stand in first place and will see the second place team, the Chicago Red Stars in their next match.
SCORING SUMMARY:
NC-Lynn Williams 20′
NC-Samantha Mewis 42′
BOOKING SUMMARY:
NC-Abby Erceg, yellow 26′
NJ-Sarah Killion, yellow 47′
NJ-Nikki Stanton, yellow 59′
NC COURAGE: #9-Lynn Williams, #10-Debinha De Oliveria, #14-Jessica McDonald (#12-Ashley Hatch 70), #7-McCall Zerboni, #5-Samantha Mewis, #15-Jalene Hinkle (#26-Sam Witteman 77), #20-Yuri Kawamura, #6-Abby Erceg, #13-Abby Dahlkemper, #11-Taylor Smith (#3-Makenzy Doniak 65), 0-Katelyn Rowland
Subs not used: #1-Sabrina D’Angelo, #8-Rosana Dos Santos Augusto, #23-Kristen Hamilton, #25-MeredithSpeck
SKY BLUE FC: #1-Kailen Sheridan, #22-Mandy Freeman, #3-Christine Rampone, #8-Erica Skroski, #15-Kayla Mills, #7-Nikki Stanton (#5-Maya Hayes 73), #16-Sarah Killion, #10-Daphne Corboz (#11-Raquel Rodriguez 65), #21-Leah Galton, #19-Kelley O’Hara, #2-McKenzie Meehan (#20-Samantha Kerr 55)
Subs not used: #27-Caroline Casey, #33-Erin Simon, #6-Taylor Lytle, #73-Madison Tiernan
TOTAL SHOTS: NC 21-2 NJ
SHOTS ON GOAL: NC 13-2 NJ
FOULS: NC 7-12 NJ
OFFSIDES: NC 1-0 NJ
CORNER KICKS: NC 6-2 NJ
SAVES: NC 2-11 NJ
Referee’s: Kevin Broadley, Benjamin Wooten, Gregory Bridgman, Javier Rodriguez
