Midfielder Manaka Matsukubo tallied the lone goal for the NC Courage in her first game back with the team after winning the AFC Women’s Asian Cup with Japan.
Although NC Courage (1-1-1) put in a solid second-half effort, it fell short against Bay FC (2-1-0), 3-1. Allowing three goals in the first half made it nearly impossible for them to come back, even though they shut out their opponent in the second half.
“I’m very happy to be back,” Matsukubo said. “Today’s game [was] sad, but I think we need to be better.”
In the 65th minute of play, the Courage midfield passed a ball in deep on the outside of the pitch for defenseman Ryan Williams to run on to. Catching up with the ball just before it rolled out of bounds, she curved the ball back into play with a long ball into the box. Matsukubo — the reigning NWSL Midfielder of the Year — shielded off defenders and got a shot off into the back of the net to claim her first goal of the season.
“We talk about forward leaning a lot, going forward, getting in behind and facing up,” Williams said. “I believe it was [midfielder Riley Jackson] who played me the ball, which was a great ball. I just knew [Matsukubo] was going to be there. I felt like I was at a point where I could get the cut back in, and I knew she would be there to finish it.”
A dominant first half from Bay FC gave them a comfortable lead over North Carolina, allowing it to shift the focus to defense in the second half. A clean tackle pushed defenseman Sydney Schmidt off the ball, leaving it loose for Bay forward Cristiana Girelle to pick up and dribble into the box. Weaving around the defense, she got a firm pass off to forward Keira Barry, who easily passed the ball into the bottom left corner of the net to double the lead and notch the game-winning goal.
10 minutes before Barry’s goal, Bay defender Sydney Collins received the ball at the midfield line and found forward Alex Pfeiffer out wide. Pfeiffer dribbled into the box, faked out the defense, and sent a left-footed shot into the bottom right corner, out of reach of goaltender Kailen Sheridan, putting up the first goal on the board.
The final goal from Bay FC came in the 34th minute off a header from midfielder Dorian Bailey. Pfeiffer, recording the assist, got the ball on the run and sprinted down the field. A cross from Pfeiffer perfectly fell towards Bailey for her to head it past Sheridan to put Bay FC ahead by three.
“There were many things that didn’t go our way,” head coach Mak Lind said. “It’s hard to go back and talk about all of those features. So, more or less, we just need to reset…If you’re down 3-0 at home, everybody knows that it was not good.”
The NC Courage will host the Portland Thorns on Saturday, April 4th, with a 6:30 p.m. kickoff.
