The North Carolina Courage extended their unbeaten streak to six on Sunday, Aug. 29, drawing 0-0 against the Washington Spirit on the road.

After experimenting with a front three last week, the Courage made a last-minute formation change to a 3-4-1-2 following an injury to Abby Erceg. After the game, Courage head coach Paul Riley confirmed that Erceg’s injury was a minor hip flexor issue and they did not want to risk it getting worse, adding that she should hopefully be ready next week.

The formation change saw Carson Pickett slide in as the third center back alongside Kaleigh Kurtz and Diane Caldwell. Merritt Mathias and Meredith Speck operated as the wide players, while Cari Roccaro, Denise O’Sullivan and Debinha made up the midfield three. Jess McDonald dropped to the bench in favor of a Lynn Williams/Amy Rodriguez strike duo, but she made an impact as a second-half sub.

“Last time [Washington] had a lot of breakaways against us,” Riley said. “Tonight we kept them to the long shots and crosses coming in and we dealt with most of them pretty well. Another clean sheet for [Casey Murphy]. Backline was good. Diane came in, stepped in. We only decided 48 hours ago to change to a back three when Abby Erceg was not going to play in the game.

The goal of the formation change was to attempt to limit Washington’s fast and very dangerous attack, something the Courage struggled to do against Washington earlier this season.

“It was a bit of a last minute decision,” Caldwell said. “But it was, I think, the right one in the end, as you can see from the performance tonight. In the last away game to Washington, they really caused us a lot of problems down the middle and in behind us. The whole aim of the change in the formation was to just kind of stifle their most attacking players and keep the likes of [Trinity Rodman] and [Ashley Sanchez] quiet. I think we did a good job of that tonight.”

Although Riley was very hard on his team’s performance in last week’s 4-0 win over Kansas City, he had some good praise for this team after the draw.

“[Kaleigh Kurtz was] brilliant, Diane was brilliant,” Riley said. “Carson had to come inside which obviously is difficult for her to be a center back for us. [Speck] went a little bit wider, but it helped us. …Their midfield is really, really good. I thought Denise did really well tonight. Got a grip of the game at times. We had some good moments in the game in possession and otherwise it was just the workload was phenomenal. Cari Roccaro covered the field tonight.”

Following a back-and-forth, but ultimately uneventful, first half, things heated up in the second. Washington started things with a flurry of chances around the 60th minute, only to be denied by a mix of Casey Murphy and the post.

Throughout the second half, Murphy came up with big saves and helped to once again secure points for the Courage. Washington had more than a fair few opportunities to find a winner of its own, but Murphy stood tall, picking up her ninth of the season.

Shortly after, the Courage started to have some really solid chances of their own, including three potential penalty calls in the final 20 minutes of the game. The first stemmed from a blocked shot that appeared to come off the hand of a Washington defender. The Courage appealed for handball, but none was given. Just minutes later, Debinha took a touch around Aubrey Bledsoe as the keeper came off her line and was brought down before the ball was cleared by the Washington defenders. The Courage continued to create some good chances and had a third potential penalty waived off by the referee in the 84th minute.

“Obviously attacking wise we didn’t create a ton of chances, but a stone cold penalty for me,” Riley said. “Then the other one, the players said it was another penalty. I think we did enough to get something out of the game, could have won the game, could have lost the game.”

Although the Courage were not able to pick up the win, a solid performance, clean sheet and a point on the road aren’t too bad.

“The most important part is the clean sheet,” Riley said. “Another tie on the road. If you can tie your away games and win your home games, you’re in a pretty good spot. Looking at the scores right now from across the country, we’re sitting okay. Just keep chugging along and get Kiwi healthy, get Sam Mewis healthy and get a little bit more in form and I think we’ll be okay down the road.”

The Courage will be back on the road next week, heading to the Kansas side of Kansas City to take on, well, Kansas City on Sunday, Sept. 5.