Most people receive presents on their birthday, but NC Courage midfielder Debinha isn’t most people. Instead of receiving a gift, she gave one. And it was a big one. On her 28th birthday, the Brazilian international gave her team and their fans a spot in the NWSL Championship with her game-winning free-kick goal in the 99th minute of the Courage’s semifinal win over Reign FC.
“It was the right moment,” Debinha said. “Me and Jae [Hinkle] practice free kicks and that was the moment that I put in my head that I need to score. I was happy that I could score.”
The 4-1 final scoreline seemed far from possible going into the final minutes of regular time but in the playoffs, anything is possible.
The opening 88 minutes of the match were one-way traffic headed right for the Reign net but Reign FC keeper Casey Murphy played lights out and denied the Courage eight times before it eventually broke through.
“I thought we dominated start to finish, to be honest with you,” said NC Courage head coach Paul Riley. “I thought we were really good in the second half. Overtime I thought we played really well too. The midfield was tremendous in the second half and into overtime, created a ton of chances… We thought they would sit deep and they did sit deep.”
The would-be winner came from the penalty spot in the 88th minute after Lynn Williams’ cross was handballed by Lauren Barnes. Heather O’Reilly stepped up to the spot and sent the keeper the wrong way giving the Courage what looked like a sure winner.
“I have been pretty solid in my penalties at training so I knew that I was the first up to take it,” O’Reilly said. “I thought that would have been enough to seal it. Unfortunately, they came back and scored in the 90th, which was very unlike us.”
As is always the case in the playoffs, the drama wasn’t done with the penalty. With less than a minute left in stoppage time, Reign substitute Ifeoma Onumonu.
“We switched formation,” Riley said. “We thought we could get over the line but we didn’t. We had to show a little more resilience, a little more perseverance. But that is what we are all about. I said to all the players, ‘that’s why train hard in preseason. That’s why you do all these things. Because you need to play 120 minutes at some point, some place, some time.’”
In extra time, the Courage took over. Debinha’s brilliant free kick was the first of three the Courage would score across the 30 minutes of overtime. The free kick itself was fitting of the moment as Debinha placed it perfectly in the top corner of the net.
The second of the three overtime goals was an own goal by Barnes as she deflected substitute Kristen Hamilton’s cross between her keeper’s legs.
The final goal of the game came in the 108th as Crystal Dunn got on the end of Samantha Mewis’ header to make it 4-1.
“Ball was clear out to Sam,” Dunn said. “And Sam does what she does best and won the ball. I was just in open space and I just thought, ‘let me hit it low and hard’ because obviously Casey is pretty good at shot-stopping.”
By the end of the match, the Courage led every offensive category including, shots (33-7), shots on target (14-4), possession (57.5%-42.5%) and corners (11-2). Despite this dominance, the Courage was just minutes away from heading into overtime locked at 0-0.
The Courage will be back in action next Sunday as it hosts the NWSL Championship at 3:30 p.m. in Sahlen’s Stadium. The opponent for that match will be one of Portland Thorns or Chicago Red Stars depending on who wins their semifinal.
NC Courage forward Crystal Dunn shoots against Reign FC on Sunday, Oct. 20 at WakeMed Soccer Park. Dunn scored one goal and had five shots on goal as the Courage won 4-1 to advance to the NWSL championship final.
