You can’t score if you don’t have the ball. It is a rather simple statement, but it is what appeared to be the NC Courage’s approach to stopping NWSL MVP and Golden Boot winner Sam Kerr from finding the back of the net during the team’s 4-0 NWSL Championship win over the Chicago Red Stars.
“We all pitched in today to stop Sam Kerr from receiving the ball and to stop her from causing us trouble, and I think we did a good a pretty good job,” said Courage head coach Paul Riley.
This season, Kerr netted a record 18 times in the regular season and grabbed the Red Stars’ only goal in their 1-0 semifinal win over Portland, but against the Courage, Kerr barely saw the ball.
“They have a world-class striker in Sam Kerr,” Denise O’Sullivan said. “The plan was to try and keep her off the ball as much as we could. The team balance with the number sixes was very important for me and Sam [Mewis], and if one comes across to shut [Kerr] down, then the other one has to push out and just stay in that space and watch the weak side.”
Throughout the first half, Kerr was visibly frustrated on the field, as for long stretches, she was left on an island up top with no support. This ensured that even when she got the ball, she had multiple defenders to beat.
The Courage’s game plan for denying Kerr the ball revolved around the play of team MVP and Irish international O’Sullivan and USWNT star Samantha Mewis. The two holding mids were integral to stopping the play before it got to Kerr.
Earning the nickname Savage Sully, O’Sullivan is not someone who shies away from a hard tackle, and that ability to break up the play in the midfield was crucial, not only in the Championship but also in the Courage’s success throughout the regular season.
“I think [the nickname] just comes from being physical and getting into, they say ‘fights’ on the field,” O’Sullivan said. “I guess that is where that came from. Everyone calls me that now.”
When the ball did get past Mewis and Savage Sully in the midfield, the responsibility of stopping Kerr fell to the center back partnership of Abby Erceg and Abby Dahlkemper. The pair played fantastic on the night and held Kerr to just one shot on target.
“My first halftime conversation was to Abby Erceg and Abby Dahlkemper,” Riley said. “I go, ‘I’m just going to tell you two, you were absolutely effing brilliant in that first half. What you did to Sam Kerr in that first half, if you do that for 45 more minutes, we are home and dry.’”
In the second half, Erceg and Dahlkemper did just that. Kerr had a handful of chances here and there, but for the most part, she was unable to get much going forward. The one solid chance that Kerr did manage, she put wide of the goal without threatening Courage keeper Steph Labbe.
Overall, the Courage executed their game plan perfectly. They stopped the ball from getting to Kerr, and on those occasions where she did get it, they moved to shut her down quickly. By shutting down Kerr, the Courage were able to shut down Chicago as a whole and come away NWSL champions.
Midfielder, Denise O’Sullivan, greets some fans pregame on Sunday Oct. 27, 2019 at WakeMed Soccer Park. The NC Courage won 4-0 over the Chicago Red Stars, winning their second championship in a row.
