The floodgates opened for the NC Courage in the second half of their May 28 showdown with Racing Louisville. After a dominant, but low-scoring, first half, the Courage put four past Racing in the second half, picking up their first win of the 2021 regular season 5-0.
The Courage were able to pin the visitors back and not allow Louisville’s creative players time to get the ball in dangerous areas. Across the 90, the Courage held 60.8% of the possession and outshot Racing 28-6.
“The midfield box was really good tonight,” said Courage head coach Paul Riley. “That’s the one thing I think that’s been missing for us is the complete box and tonight they were complete in every facet. They won the ball early. This swung the point of attack, they played through lines… I was really good. It was like old times, to be honest.”
The Courage’s dominant first half was highlighted by a seventh-minute headed goal from Abby Erceg, but despite outshooting Racing 14-1 and holding 52% of the possession, the Courage could not find that second goal.
After the break, the Courage finally started to find the back of the net consistently, scoring three between the 63rd and 75th minutes. After struggling defensively at the start of the Challenge Cup and offensively in recent weeks, the Courage were finally able to put it all together against Louisville.
“We did create quite a few chances in the first half, which we coughed up and didn’t get it done,” said Courage head coach Paul Riley. “The biggest thing for us was the three thirds were really good. The build third was good, the middle third was good and the final third was finally good and we took some chances in the second half.”
The second-half onslaught started with Lynn Williams scoring her first goal of the year in the 63rd minute. Williams used her insane speed to beat her defender and get a shot away.
“I felt like we were a bit more like ourselves tonight than we have in the past couple games,” Williams said. “I would be more worried if we weren’t creating the chances. It is nice to put away the goals. I feel like we really were focusing on that and not missing our opportunities. That’s what you saw last game, we missed our opportunities. We didn’t put the game away and we were punished for it. So we made a point to put the game away.”
After Debinha added a third in the 68th, Hailie Mace made it four in the 75th minute with an incredibly hard-hit ball from the top of the box.
Mace added another in the 90th minute, completing her brace and a wonderful performance off the bench. Mace’s pair of goals were her first since joining the team in 2020.
“It was a great feeling,” Mace said. “This is my first few goals. It was really fun to come off the bench and just score some goals for this team. I feel like that’s what we’ve been working on a lot and we just wanted to see the ball hit the back of the net more.”
Williams and Mace’s goals will be massive confidence builders as Williams has been poor in front of the net to start the year and Mace has not really been able to find her place in the team, moving positions a lot early in the season.
Sam Mewis made her return debut in the win, playing in the No. 10 role opposite Debinha. While Mewis was solid in attack, firing off more than a few rockets, her impact was mostly felt in the performances of those around her, none more so than Denise O’Sullivan and Havana Solaun, who were fantastic on the night, shutting down Louisville’s Savannah McCaskill.
“I think [O’Sullivan] again, was really good tonight,” Riley said. “[Solaun] might have pipped her in the second half. She had a great game too, but McCaskill was good, her workrate has improved dramatically, and she’s in great form and certainly one of the big players, there’s no question. I thought [O’Sullivan] did a good job on her. Most of the damage that she was doing was in their half of the field, she couldn’t really get possession in our half until late in the game… I thought they did a great job of moving around the field and opening the game up.”
Mewis’ presence also diverted defensive attention away from Debinha, who had more time and space on the ball with defenders having to worry about Mewis as well. Debinha took full advantage of that extra time, scoring one and assisting two.
After getting some limited minutes in the Challenge Cup, Diane Caldwell made her first start against Louisville. Partnering Erceg at the back, Caldwell was solid throughout the game and vindicated Riley’s decision to not rush her into the starting XI. As a pair, Erceg and Caldwell looked very good.
“We felt it was a good game for Diane,” Riley said. “She’s been training hard and we wanted her to get up to NWSL speeds which she’s just about done. I thought you had a great night tonight. Great positionally, reads the game terrifically well, and the distribution tonight was excellent, both on her side and diagonal balls playing with Kiwi. We know they’re both leaders. So sometimes there’s a lot of talking going on, but she organized the [Solaun] in front of her well, organized [Merritt Mathias] on the right side really well.”
Courage will hit the road again for their next game, travelling up to Chicago to take on the Red Stars on June 5.
