Courage Defeat Orlando, 3-0, on the Road Wednesday
September 21, 2022 – National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) – North Carolina Courage News Release
ORLANDO, Fla. – The North Carolina Courage earned a 3-0 road victory over the Orlando Pride Wednesday on a rainy night at Exploria Stadium. Debinha scored twice and assisted on another in a wire-to-wire win that goes as the sixth victory in the last eight for the Courage, keeping them in the thick of the playoff push with two matches left in the regular season.
The Courage (8-8-4, 28 points) bookended the first half with tallies. After withstanding a barrage off the opening whistle, the first look into the offensive end put the visitors in front in the second minute. Kaliegh Kurtz played a big ball over the top that glanced off the head of a Pride (5-9-6, 21 points) defender directly into Debinha’s stride and she put away the early chance for her eighth goal of the season. It was the quickest goal to start a match for the Courage this season.
Then in added time of the first half, the Courage took advantage of a Pride giveaway in the NCC attacking third and Tess Boade found Debinha at the top of the box, then made a run onto a flick through to finish off the give-and-go for her second goal of the season. Debinha turned goal-scorer again in the 53rd minute when a corner insert wasn’t fully cleared and found her wide in the box and she chipped everyone into the far side netting for her second goal of the day and second brace of the season. It was the sixth brace by a Courage attacker this season.
The Courage put five of their eight shot attempts on frame, held nearly 60% of possession and completed 482 passes (85% accuracy). Casey Murphy stopped all four shots that came her way as the Courage pitched their fifth clean sheet of the season as the Courage forced a season-series split with Orlando and handed the Pride their fourth straight loss.
Match Notes:
The Courage have now won five straight at Orlando, including a record four consecutive road multi-goal shutouts.
NCC pitched their third multi-goal shutout win of the season and pushed their goal-scoring streak to 12 consecutive matches, which remains the longest active streak in the NWSL
The Courage regained the outright lead for goals scored in the NWSL season (43) and picked up their league-best 30th assist of the year.
For the third straight time, the Courage followed up a loss with a shutout win
Next Match: The North Carolina Courage return to WakeMed Soccer Park for their regular-season home finale against NJ/NY Gotham FC and Fan Appreciation Night, complete with team poster giveaways and a post-match firework show. The match is set for 7:00 p.m. ET and tickets can be purchased online here.
Box Score:
NC (4-4-2): Casey Murphey, Jaelene Daniels (Kiki Pickett), Katie Bowen, Kaliegh Kurtz, Merritt Mathias, Meredith Speck, Denise O’Sullivan © (Malia Berkley), Tess Boade, Fuka (Brianna Pinto), Debinha (Rylee Baisden), Rikke Madsen (Brittney Ratcliff)
Subs Not Used: Katelyn Rowland, Carson Pickett, Diana Ordóñez, Ryan Williams
ORL (5-3-2): Erin McLeod ©, Kylie Strom, Carrie Lawrence, Megan Montefusco, Haley Hanson, Celia Jiménez (Meggie Dougherty Howard), Leah Pruitt (Haley Bugeja), Gunny Jónsdóttir, Jordyn Listro, Kerry Abello (Darian Jenkins), Ally Watt (Erika Tymrak)
Subs Not Used: Anna Moorhouse, Toni Pressley, Courtney Petersen, Julie Doyle, Reiss
Score:
NC: 3
ORL: 0
Goals:
NC: Debinha – 2′, 53′; Tess Boade – 45+1′ (Debinha);
ORL: –
Cautions:
NC: Rikke Madsen – 57′
ORL: –
Ejections:
NC: –
ORL: –
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