The North Carolina Courage drew 1-1 with the Orlando Pride on Saturday, July 31. The game was the final regular season meeting between the clubs, with each taking four points from the three-game season series.
After last week’s shorthanded game, the Courage got a bunch of players back for the showdown with Orlando. Abby Erceg, just days after arriving back in Raleigh from the Tokyo Olympics, started with Kaleigh Kurtz in the heart of the defense. Sam Murphy and Havana Solaun returned from COVID protocols, with the latter of the two starting. Lindsay Agnew appeared on the bench for the first time in months after being out with a foot injury, and Caeley Lordemann made her first appearance on the bench after signing a national team replacement contract earlier this week.
“Definitely better than last week,” Kurtz said. “We had a little bit of bite to us, a little bit more composure. I think Abby Erceg really brings that composure and leadership to the team. It just kind of resonates through everybody, we can feel it, and then we are more confident and we’re more composed, just knowing that she’s there.”
Last week against Kansas City, Amy Rodriguez was thrown straight into the lineup due to the large group of missing Courage players. Having never practiced with the Courage, she struggled to link up with the rest of the attack. In the first half against Orlando, Rodriguez, with a week of Courage practices under her belt, looked significantly better and caused Orlando a lot of problems.
“Well, I think she was much better this week than last week,” NC Courage head coach Paul Riley said. “I mean, that is what happens when you train with the team, four days, five days. I think she improved and I think she’s gonna get better and better… I think you saw glimpses tonight of where she can really go.”
Carson Pickett also caused Orlando issues with her marauding runs down the left flank, drawing two yellow cards in the first half. Despite the issues caused by Pickett and Rodriguez, the Courage were not able to find the back of the net in the first half.
Orlando had some chances of its own, but the best chance, which Casey Murphy made an excellent save on, was called back by the linesman’s flag after the fact.
Despite the deadlocked opening 45 minutes, the second 45 opened with a flood of goals. Sydney Leroux gave Orlando the lead in the 50th minute after a strong counterattack, but Brittany Ratcliffe brought the Courage level just two minutes later.
The goal was Ratcliffe’s first in a Courage jersey and came from some really good pressing from Merritt Mathias and Rodriguez. Mathias forced the turnover and Rodriguez picked it up, playing it into Meredith Speck, who found Ratcliffe in a bit of space, allowing her to score.
“It was exciting,” Ratcliffe said. “I think it was a good build up from us. Meredith had an amazing ball, perfectly weighted pass right across to me and like I said, it just happens so fast. You work everyday, practice like touch shoot, touch shoot, just for in the game that you just don’t think about it. You just kind of react.”
Speck, who got the assist on the Ratcliffe goal, came in at the start of the second half for Cari Roccaro and provided a huge creative boost for the Courage.
“[Solaun] was playing really well, getting on the ball a lot,” Riley said. “We felt there’s quite a bit of space with their back three and outside the perimeter of the two sixes we felt there was a bit of room to see if we could pull one of their center backs out and then get a two-v-two or even a two-v-one centrally. I think that’s what we really want to do. Get [Speck] and get some fresh legs. Get on the ball a bit more. When [Roccaro] got on the ball, she had her back to the play, we wanted to get faced up and facing their backline of three and getting the ability to maybe get a A-Rod in behind, to get [Ratcliffe] in behind, but that’s what [Speck] gave us. She is an experienced player.”
Both squads had chances to steal all three points later, but neither were able to get the final touch on the ball. Taylor Smith had the best of the late chances for the Courage. Rodriguez flicked an excellent ball in behind, but Smith slipped and wasn’t able to get the breakaway shot off.
“I was pleased with the overall,” Riley said. “Sometimes you say you only got a point, maybe it’s a lost point, but I think it’s a gained point tonight. This time of year with so many players missing, you have to stop the opposition from getting three points and I think we did that pretty well tonight.”
While Erceg’s quick return from the Olympics was the pre-game storyline, Kurtz stole the defensive show. Between blocking a Leroux rocket with her head and some excellent one-on-one defending on counterattacks, Kurtz played one of, if not her best, game of the season.
“Our team is giving up a lot of transition plays lately,” Kurtz said. “They’re definitely not easy to defend. Each one’s different. Sometimes Abby Erceg has to force her wide away from the players. Sometimes she has to force her into me. Sometimes I have to force them into her. In the run of play, it’s very quick communication between me and Abby Erceg… you just have to kind of like pick your moments of when you can kind of tell when a player is no longer going to pass and they might shoot it.”
The Courage will be back in action on Sunday, August 7, hitting the road to take on NJ/NY Gotham FC.
