Courage draw 2-2 in Washington, remain undefeated in NWSL Challenge Cup
Nicholas Schnittker, Sports Editor
The North Carolina Courage remained undefeated in the 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup on Wednesday, March 30, drawing 2-2 with the Washington Spirit at Audi Field.
The Courage (2-0-1, 7 pts) jumped out to a 2-0 lead inside of the opening half hour, but the Spirit (0-0-3, 3 pts) answered with a pair of second-half goals to take a share of the points.
“It’s not something that we’re going to take as a negative,” said head coach Sean Nahas. “Yeah, we were up 2-0, but how many times in the sport have you seen that happen? They’re a very good team. They have a lot of freedom of movement, they make things difficult, there’s a systematic thing in terms of what they’re doing, and the spaces they want to fill, and the freedom of players to be able to do that, the ability for the players to be able to do that and I just never felt [that] we took advantage of the moment where we actually had possession to do things.”
Playing on the road for the first time this season, and facing the reigning NWSL Champions, a draw is far from a bad result for the Courage. With seven points through three games, the Courage sit three points clear at the top of the East Division standings halfway through group play.
“I’m happy with how they’ve competed,” Nahas said. “I’m happy with how they put themselves in positions to win every single game. I’m happy that they didn’t break tonight in terms of giving up the third, because I think that would have been pretty harsh for them and there’s a couple of moments where we could have gotten the third, I felt.”
Debinha, who missed Saturday’s 1-0 win over the Orlando Pride with an excused absence, marked her return with a fifth-minute goal, tapping in a poor clearance from just outside the six.
While she wasn’t credited with an assist, Malia Berkely did well to get to the end line and cross the ball into a dangerous area, setting up the goal.
Just over 20 minutes later, Taylor Smith doubled the Courage’s lead with a confident finish following a killer ball from Carson Pickett.
The goal wasn’t just Smith’s first of the Challenge Cup, but also the first goal of her Courage career. Smith started her professional career with the Western New York Flash in 2016, where she scored two goals, moving to North Carolina with the club as it became the NC Courage.
The former UCLA Bruin was traded to Washington alongside current Spirit forward Ashley Hatch in the deal that brought Crystal Dunn to the Courage in 2018. During a loan in Australia after the conclusion of the 2018 NWSL season, Smith tore her ACL.
The Spirit elected to not retain Smith’s rights, allowing then-named Reign FC to sign her through the discovery process. In December 2020, OL Reign traded Smith, along with the rights to Jodie Taylor, for 2020 first-round draft pick Ally Watt.
In her second season back with the Courage, Smith has hit the ground running.
“She’s worked hard to get back to where she’s at,” Nahas said. “There’s probably been other games that she potentially could have had one, but Carson played a great ball into her, the space opened up, first touch was brilliant and she took the finish really well. You give Taylor a lot of credit for how far she’s come over the last two years and the work she’s put in both on and off the field to get there. It’s always good to see someone get rewarded for that. It’s a matter of being consistent. When things get a little bit more competitive now, with everyone coming in, if anything, it’s only gonna make her better and hopefully, she can make everyone else better.”
The Spirit’s comeback started in the 58th minute, with 2021 NWSL Rookie of the Year Trinity Rodman bringing Washington within one, setting up Hatch to level things in the 67th minute.
“I just felt like we had some sloppy clearances on the two goals,” Nahas said. “I thought we dropped off when we probably didn’t need to drop off and gave them too much time and space inside the 18.”
Rodman’s goal ended the Courage’s perfect defensive run to start the year, which saw North Carolina go 238 minutes without conceding a goal.
Jorian Baucom made her NC Courage debut in the draw, starting the game up front with Smith and playing 53 minutes.
“It was super exciting,” Baucom said. “I just knew that I had to go in and maintain and bring the energy like the team always does out there and just had to give my best effort. And we came out with a point, which was great. … It was good to get minutes in, coming in with a new team and learning the style.”
The Courage remain on the road for their next game, a Sunday showdown against NJ/NY Gotham FC on April 3. When the two sides played earlier in the Challenge Cup, the Courage won 2-0.
Nahas said in the team’s pre-match press conference that the team would not return to NC between the two games.
