Bouncing back from its 4-3 loss to Gotham FC, the North Carolina Courage beat Racing Louisville 3-2 behind a late own goal on Monday, April 16.
After conceding a 75th-minute equalizer from Louisville’s Jorian Baucom just a minute after she was subbed into the game, the Courage’s winning goal came off the boot of Racing’s Julia Ashley as her attempted goal-line clearance went off the post and into the back of the net.
While the Courage got the win, the performance was still not up to the team’s incredibly high standard.
“Overall, I think the players would be disappointed with their own performance,” said Courage head coach Paul Riley. “I mean there are high standards. We make standards for games and standards for practice, and we’re just not meeting those standards right now. So the good news is we’re not going to peak in April. I can honestly tell you that one. That’s for sure. We definitely didn’t peak in April. Hopefully May will be a better month and we’ll go from there. It’s nice to get a result. I’m not really result based, so I could care less about the result. Much more important about the performance for me. It wasn’t there for me tonight.”
For both Riley and his players, many of the issues with the performance stem from sloppy play.
“For our team, it’s never been about the result,” said Kristen Hamilton. “And Paul will be the first one to tell you that. He never talks about playoffs. He never talks about the end of the season. He doesn’t say we need to win. He never says any of those things. It’s always been about how we go out and perform. We’re all a little bit disappointed about the overall performance of the game tonight. It just can be better. It can be cleaner. We are so sharp at training on the week and then to come out and just give away error passes and unforced errors. It’s just not like us. We just need to clean things up.”
Following a poor defensive showing against Gotham, Riley made a pair of changes at the back, opting for Kaleigh Kurtz over Cari Roccaro at center back alongside Schuyler Debree and Katelyn Rowland in net over Casey Murphy.
“Casey will be back in on Saturday,” Riley said. “We thought we’d give them one home, one away in the Challenge Cup and then make a decision who goes in from there. I thought they both needed games. Casey has been away with the national team. She needs some games… For us, it was just a matter of Katelyn was going to play this game and Casey was going to play the last game.”
Hailie Mace also started the game on the bench as she was dealing with a minor injury with Hamilton starting in her place as a No. 10 opposite Debinha instead of her normal role up top. Mace did make a substitute appearance, but Hamilton made the most of the starting opportunity, scoring the Courage’s first goal of the game.
“It’s a very different position,” Hamilton said. “It’s a lot more difficult. Paul always says that he thinks it’s one of the most difficult positions on our team. We have a lot of responsibility there… For me, it’s just making sure I know where I’m at positionally. Making sure I’m in the right positions and going there. But attacking wise it’s fun. It’s fun to try to find little pockets and little holes. And obviously playing with Debinha is easy, she makes it easy for you. She just goes and I’ll just run where she’s not.”
Just like in the first two games of the Challenge Cup, the Courage conceded first before replying very quickly to level things up. Against Washington it took six minutes for the Courage to equalize, against Gotham it took four and against Louisville it took nine minutes for Hamilton to head the Courage level.
Picking up right where they left off against Gotham, Jess McDonald grabbed up her third assist of the Challenge Cup, setting up Debinha to score her third goal of the tournament and put the Courage ahead in the 57th minute, a lead that did not last. Debinha’s three goals and McDonald’s three assists are both league-leading numbers.
“[Debinha] is always fantastic, to be honest,” said Denise O’Sullivan. “It’s just really good to play with her. Just giving her those balls in there and her creating, getting in those spaces, her awareness. She’s fantastic, just her skill, her creativity. Defensively as well, she’s a workhorse. She would fill in for me if I’m up the pitch and vice versa. It’s great to play with her. She’s a fantastic teammate as well.”
Next up for the Courage will be a home showdown with the Orlando Pride on Saturday, May 1. The Courage does not control its destiny, as even with a win against Orlando, the team needs Gotham to lose one, or draw both of its last two games.
